Soft power

Some wise words from the President-elect today. Besides gathering a fine collection of centrist and pragmatic policy wonks around him and announcing them as his national security team, Obama spoke movingly of using America's appeal and "brand" in the battle for hearts and minds.

Aside from being a refreshing change from Bush's willy-waving, Obama's promised approach is far more likely to work. Joseph Nye, amongst others, has theorised about the potency of "soft power" in shaping the 21st century world. ETTL concurs. Everyone, it seems, likes Brad Pitt, the Statue of Liberty and cheesesburgers. Most non-US citizens are not too keen on being bombed back to the stone age however; thus it makes sense to use the market (damn efficient!) to bring people round to the liberal democratic side.

Of course US cultural domination can be argued to have gone too far; I myself am not proud of the four(!) Starbucks which dot Islington's Upper Street, a thoroughfare barely a kilometre long. Nevertheless, even those who blanch at the Pentagon's excesses watch Seinfeld. This is why China et al, however vaunted their military and economic progress and potential, will never match the soft power of the US. So reining in the military and spreading the love makes good strategic sense, as well as being change we can believe in.