Nye Case - Smart Power

Nye, the author of the term "smart power," accuses Gelb of confusing "actions to achieve outcomes" with the resources used to produce them. The professor also points out that many types of resources, including military and economic ones, can contribute to "soft power." Criticizing Gelb's narrow definition of power ("getting people or groups to do something they don't want to do"), Nye lauds the importance of soft power and notes that even if soft power is often insufficient, it can create "an enabling or disabling context for policy." For Professor Nye, "contextual intelligence is the intuitive diagnostic skill that helps policymakers align tactics with objectives to create smart strategies" or to combine hard (military) power with soft (public diplomacy, broadcasting, exchange programs, development assistance etc.) power in an integrated strategy. The fact that the United States spends several hundred times as much on hard power as on soft power troubles Nye as he points out that in the information age, success is not just the result of "whose army wins but also of whose story wins."

In his book, Nye argues that soft power is a more difficult instrument for governments to wield than hard power for two reasons; First, many of its critical resources are outside the control of governments; Second, soft power tends to "work indirectly by shaping the environment for policy, and sometimes takes years to produce the desired outcomes.[9]" [10] The book identifies three broad categories of soft power: "culture,""political values," and "policies."

Military force can sometimes contribute to soft power. Dictators like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin cultivated myths of invincibility and inevitability to structure expectations and attract others to join them. A well-run military can be a source of attraction, and military-to-military