101 Ways to Win a Chess Game Without Pawns: An Introduction to Soft Power

By: Manuela Medeiros

From the age of empires, when maps were redrawn over tea, to Silicon Valley’s era of megabytes: the currency of power has transformed. Military conquest is no longer the sole route to shaping international order. Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power—the ability to “get others to want what you want” through attraction rather than coercion, has become crucial for advancing political goals without paying the high price of war (Nye, 2017). This essay argues that the most influential states shape not only the world’s actions but its aspirations, using economic and cultural strategies, regardless of soft power’s limits and its interplay with hard power.

Economic instruments shape political behaviour through dependency, incentives, and the architecture of trade. China’s 2013 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), spanning over 150 countries and worth $1 trillion, offers infrastructure loans often tied to tacit political concessions, such as support for the “One China” policy (McBride, Berman and Chatzky, 2023). Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port, leased to China for 99 years after loan default, gave Beijing a strategic Indian Ocean foothold, provoking countermeasures from India and the U.S. Similarly, the United States leveraged its dominance in global finance (BBC News, 2021). Sanctions excluding states like Iran, Russia, and North Korea from the SWIFT banking network aim to alter behaviour without military force. Following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, sanctions helped trigger a 50% collapse in the rouble, demonstrating how market access remains a potent bargaining chip (Sullivan, 2024).

If economic tools open doors, cultural influence determines whether they stay open. Nations export language, media, and education to cultivate familiarity and goodwill. Hollywood, jazz, and hip-hop subtly project American ideals; France’s Alliance Française, Britain’s British Council, and Japan’s “Cool Japan” initiative extend cultural footprints(Cabinet Office, 2016). South Korea’s Hallyu wave, backed by government funding, integrates pop culture into diplomacy, BTS speaking at the UN exemplifies the fusion of art and statecraft (UNICEF, 2020) (Martin Roll, 2021). This exports values into regions like Southeast Asia; bearing influence through culture rather than ammo.

Education magnifies these effects. Scholarships and exchanges such as the Fulbright programs immerse future leaders in a country’s values and networks, creating long-term political returns (Anon, n.d.-a). Figures like former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan credited foreign education with shaping their diplomatic worldview, showing how such investments can yield influence decades later (Ethics and International Affairs, 2025).

Yet, soft power rarely works alone. Economic dependency can breed resentment, as with African criticisms of Chinese “neo-colonial” projects (Suri, 2024). Cultural exports risk being dismissed as propaganda, while sanctions can harden defiance, post-2014 Russia deepened ties with China and the Global South, developing parallel financial systems. Soft power is also slow to act: in urgent crises like Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, deterrence still relies on hard power (Genini, 2025).

History suggests soft power is most effective when underpinned by credible hard power. Britain’s 19th-century cultural reach and America’s post-1945 dominance both rested on military and economic primacy. Soft power is not a substitute but a complement, the persuasive voice gains force when backed by the capacity to act (Anon, n.d.-b).

Yesterday’s influence marched with armies; today it travels through trade deals, cultural exchanges, and shared ideals. But credibility and trust remain the true borders of influence (Nye Jr., 2015). In an age where the battlefield is as much ideological as territorial, the most powerful nations are those that make others believe their future is safest in partnership. Soft power, therefore, is not merely an accessory, but hard power’s most enduring counterpart, the ability to win without fighting.

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