Earlier this month the United Kingdom government launched an inquiry into the country’s soft power – that is, its tools of attraction and cultural influence. Soft power is an elusive form of influence in international relations, but it can be gained in various degrees through diplomacy, democracy, commitment to international rules and norms, culture, what a country produces, the media and education.
This new inquiry into the U.K.’s soft power offers Australia an opportunity to revive its own soft power review. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) launched a similar inquiry in August 2018. It received over 130 submissions from interested organizations and held numerous consultations throughout the country, before deciding to shelve the process. DFAT’s reasoning: “Following the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Government concluded that we should not continue with a review process that was no longer as relevant to the significantly changed global environment.”
Soft power is obviously a nebulous and subjective thing. Despite attempts to measure and rank countries’ soft power through indexes like the Soft Power 30, what people consider attractive differs from person to person and region to region.
Australia has often relied on broad assets like its unique landscape and fauna, an outdoor lifestyle, and stable and well-functioning institutions. The country is a trusted international partner, albeit with a smaller diplomatic footprint than its OECD peers. It is the fourth largest destination for international students, and despite being so far away from the rest of the world, it remains a major tourist destination.
Australia has been able to project a sense of national vitality to the world with its sporting prowess – it is able to excel at a range of global sports despite its small population. With arts and culture, however, the country is less attractive. Its cities are incapable of matching artistic hotbeds like Berlin or New York for being “cool,” and the country is unable to produce film or television that is deemed “essential viewing” (“Bluey” aside). Having a universally mocked accent may mean that the world finds Australia amusing, but it also may mean that no one takes Australians seriously – no matter how well accomplished in a particular endeavor.
While all these conventional elements of soft power are things that Australia could once again consider and seek to enhance, they also may be in vain. While the Australian government may have initially cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the force that created a new global environment and changed the parameters of soft power, it may be that we have also entered into a global environment where people’s attitudes toward the world have shifted so dramatically that what we would have conventionally considered soft power assets no longer hold any weight.
Instead, we may have entered into a period that could be best described as “the soft power of hard power.” A large percentage of people are not attracted to positive values, well-functioning institutions, or cultural excellence, but are instead drawn to the more visceral impulse that might is right. We have entered an era where strongmen leaders exercising brute force provides an irresistible emotional thrill. And it’s a spectacle that no artistic or sporting endeavor could match.
In such a world, niche concerns like Instagram-able beaches or cute furry animals seem trite. But it may make other elements of soft power more important. Despite the immense influence of these dark emotions that have overrun domestic politics in a number of powerful countries, as well as relations between states, they are also utterly exhausting and unsustainable.
The existence of soft power as a concept relies on a humanity that is invested in the positive elements of itself, in the innate pursuit of cooperative values and common goods. Of course, humans are easily sidetracked, but we also have the capability to learn from our mistakes – even if at present the brutal mistakes of the 20th century seem to have been forgotten.
Eventually there will be a backlash to our current global state of agitation, and therefore it is essential for Australia to remain a country that seeks to limit its own dark emotions, to provide a model that other countries can look toward to limit their own. This is why the defense of Australia’s political institutions is paramount. These are strong and well trusted – and should be the envy of the world – but they are not immune to attack and being undermined. Australia shouldn’t take them for granted.
It’s also why the Australian government should resurrect its soft power review. Global conditions may have changed in a way that makes soft power currently seem a luxury, but to overcome this fraught predicament humanity needs strong examples of positivity and cooperation. A sophisticated understanding of how Australia can position itself as such an example should be considered a critical tool of its international statecraft.
