Analysis & Opinions - Project Syndicate

American Soft Power in the Age of Trump

| May 06, 2019

US President Donald Trump's administration has shown little interest in public diplomacy. And yet public diplomacy — a government's efforts to communicate directly with other countries' publics — is one of the key instruments policymakers use to generate soft power, and the current information revolution makes such instruments more important than ever.

Opinion polls and the Portland Soft Power 30 index show that American soft power has declined since the beginning of Trump's term. Tweets can help to set the global agenda, but they do not produce soft power if they are not attractive to others....

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Nye, Joseph S.“American Soft Power in the Age of Trump.” Project Syndicate, May 6, 2019.