Power Relationships

Power is used when A makes B do something B wouldn't do alone. Some see power as strength based on what a state can do. Others see power as an influence within these connections. Strength and influence are related ideas. Power between countries shows the balance of what each can do. Power is often judged by what states do and the results. This highlights the impact one actor has on another. It's not just about comparing their abilities. Power depends a lot on how things look. Countries act based on their view of each other's power. A country's image can keep it strong, even if its real power drops. Foreign policy can be wrong if power is misjudged. Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows this. Russia's power was thought to be greater than it was. Russia acted based on history, culture, and its ties with NATO. How Russia saw the threat was more important than the real situation.

Power may be exerted by the use of diplomacy which is connected to the notion of ‘soft power’ formulated by the American liberal academic, Joseph Nye, who defines this form of power in terms of the ability to achieve one’s end without the use of force or even coercion, effectively by winning ‘hearts and minds’

The two most prominent vehicles of public diplomacy in the UK are the British Council, which promotes British education and culture through offices around the world (see https://www.britishcouncil.org/), and the BBC World Service, which provides news and analysis in twenty-seven languages (see www.bbc.co.uk/news/world_radio_and_tv). Both receive funding from the FCDO (Foreign Office)

Trump turns away from soft power 

Broadcasting is also a major arm of public diplomacy with Voice of America (VOA), funded by Congress and administered by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) which oversees all non-military international broadcasting, reaching an estimated weekly global audience of 275 million with news, information, and cultural programming utilizing the Internet, mobile and social media, radio, and television 

As emerging powers, both India and China have also begun to engage in public diplomacy measures, although China has been far more proactive in raising its international profile over the last thirty years or so. This has been all the more important for a country with a poor human rights record and international image problems, especially following the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 when tanks confronted unarmed pro-democracy protestors. This incident left lasting impressions on a significant global audience through extensive media coverage.

To boost its image internationally, China in 2004 embarked on a project of developing ‘Confucius Institutes’ around the world. Modeled partly on the British Council, France’s Alliance Française, and Germany’s Goethe-Institut, these have been located mainly in established universities and, along with numerous ‘Confucius classrooms’ in schools, aim to promote learning of the Chinese language and culture. As of 2019, there were 182 Institutes in European universities (including 29 in the UK alone), According to China, its Confucius Institute is "a bridge reinforcing friendship" between it and the world.

But to its critics the government-run body - which offers language and cultural programmes overseas - is a way for Beijing to spread propaganda under the guise of teaching, interfere with free speech on campuses and even to spy on students.