Analysis & Opinions - CNN

In an Information Age, Soft Power Wins

| February 14, 2011

"Egypt's revolution is momentous. In 18 days, a broad-based, nonviolent social movement overcame an entrenched, autocratic government. However, we are still in the first act of a long play.

As President Barack Obama noted in welcoming the revolution, nonviolent moral force "bent the arc of history," but genuine democracy will require revising the constitution in Egypt and laying out a clear path to elections that are fair and free.

For now, the military is in charge. It is unlikely that the Egyptian military will act like the Chinese at Tiananmen Square or the Iranian government in suppressing its opposition, but will the Egyptian army act like the South Korean military in the 1980s and usher in a genuine democratic process? And even if they do, could the process be hijacked by well-organized minorities as other revolutions have been in history?..."

Continue reading: http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/14/nye.egypt.power/#

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Nye, Joseph S..“In an Information Age, Soft Power Wins.” CNN, February 14, 2011.