Soft power is the ability to coopt rather than coerce others in shaping the preferences of others with the unique ability of attractive ideas and healthy attractive appeal. The currency of soft power includes culture, values, political ideas, foreign behaviors, especially diplomacy, and conduct in apparent situations. According to the proponent of the concept of soft power, Professor Joseph Nye explained it, “The best propaganda is not propaganda”. The theory elaborates on the idea that a country influences and makes attractiveness on the global stage either through military might or economic might, but the concept of soft power has changed the traditional concepts of the powers simultaneously in this regard. There are different domains of soft power dynamics, and the main areas of soft power are cultural and ideals, political values and diplomacy, and media, education, and communication. Nye also gave the ideas behind the defectiveness of soft power, like its credibility, consent, empowerment attractiveness in soft power, and projection of power. In the context of the article of the study, there is a vivid picture of the soft power in the context of the United States of America in the comparison of China which is making the USA position its superior aromas.
Several distinctive factors make the United States appealing and attractive on the global stage propagating the importance of soft power in the new rationalizations of the power corridors. After World War Second, the USA has given projections of soft power materializations in the context of the new paradigm shifts of the powers. Anti-Americanism has been raised in some last decades, especially in the developing world. Seasonal Diplomate Thomas Picking says, “As high a zenith of the anti-Americanism as we have seen for a long time”. A new kind of review raised that the USA is projected as the new imperialist power after fall of the colonialism in the new century. An Australian observer says that the rise of war phobia in the elite mechanism of the USA is raised by the loss of the soft power projections of the United States of America. But at the same time, there is no denying the fact that the ultimate distinction that makes the USA an obvious result of the superiority index in the comparison of the rising China is only its soft power projection superiority ranks in soft power projection is vivid at the multiple tiers. At social levels, the values of the freedom of the people, the freedom of women, genders, and the freedom of the social values of the most versatile and complex social mechanism that is one of the attractive levels of soft power projection by the USA. At the political groundsheet is the values of democracy, democracy which is one of the most beautiful inventions of the human mind for the best projections of the highest stages of the civilizations in the modern world and the USA is currently the leading state of democracy in this context.
At economic tiers, the development of capitalism and then the success of capitalism in the modern century are speaking volumes for it. Religious freedom and the global diplomacy structure of the United States of America are another valuable proportion of the soft power projection in the context of the United States. Like that the USA’s role in the fighting against global menaces like terrorism, climate change, and poverty alleviation its role in the development of the global south is highly appreciable. The US projection of the soft powers in mass media and communication is also one of the highly appreciable additions to the soft powers’ mechanism.
In the comparative analysis of China with the United States of America in the paradigms of soft power, there can be a comprehensive understanding of the differences in the approaches in this respect. First, Western culture is dominant over the world, like the USA’s specters of the soft power by Hollywood with the massive attraction of the global audience, similarly, American brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald have worldwide recognition. then there is the top priority of the USA is making higher education as most effective pair of the soft power mechanism, The USA boasts the top institution in the world in all the fields that have no comparison in China, research and investment in education are highly appreciable inventions of the soft power by the United States of America. Though China is attracting the youth of the developing states by providing free education at higher levels of study, there are very less chances of getting grounds like the United States of America in this regard.
The international media reach of the United States of America is impeccable soft power production in this case of the comparison with China which distinctive elements of the USA in this way as the CNN, BBC, and The New York Times are the highly recognized sources of the news at the international arena but in the comparison, there is not a single person with common man mobility know about any of the newspaper in China even there is highly censored and controlled news agencies of China and there is again the state-owned media in this respective. Human rights and the flowering of democracy is another important position of the od United States of America that makes impressive footprints of the soft powers’ dynamics, Human rights are also very significant for the social and other developments inside and outside of the USA. On the contrary, there is worldwide news of the concentration camps, forceful conversions of religions, and other human rights violations by China in this perspective of the discussion.
To cut a long story short, there is clear historiography about the importance and the values of soft powers in the changing dynamics of the world, even some analysts think that the new war scenarios would also be fought in the areas of the soft powers’ mechanics. China also understands the importance of the soft powers, During Covid 19, China emerged as an aid provider for vaccines for Covid 19, similarly, it provided financial aid to developing countries in times of despair and especially in the aftershocks of Covid 19. This kind of attitude from China is highly depicting the understanding of China about the importance of soft power concerning hard powers. The changing power dynamics also changed the attractiveness of the common people to reimagining the values, now the values will be counted more than that of hard powers, by this all discussion it is a proven fact that there is a significant importance of soft power, and the United States of America has a vividly superior dialectically valued position in the comparison of China.
