The Routledge Handbook of Soft Power Routledge International Handbooks Series

The Routledge Handbook of Soft Power is the first volume to offer a comprehensive and detailed picture of soft power and associated forms of public diplomacy. The terms soft power and public diplomacy have enormous currency in media and policy discourse, yet despite all the attention the terms remain conceptually ambiguous for analysts of international influence. The consequence is that the terms have survived as powerful, yet criticized, frames for influence.

Divided into two main parts, Part I outlines theoretical problems, methodological questions, the cultural imperative and the technological turn within the study of soft power and Part II focuses on bringing the theory into practice through detailed discussion of key case studies from across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

This innovative handbook provides a definitive resource for students and scholars seeking to familiarize themselves with cutting-edge debates and future research on soft power and will be of interest to those studying and researching in areas such as international relations, public diplomacy and international communication.

Part 1: Theoretical Perspectives

Section 1: Theoretical Considerations

1. Soft Power, Civic Virtue and World Politics (Overview) Naren Chitty
2. Alternatives to Soft Power: Influence in French and German External Cultural Action Robin Brown
3. A Critical Discourse Analysis of Soft Power Fei Jiang
4. Understanding Soft Power Through Public Diplomacy in Contrasting Polities Efe Sevin

Section 2: Methodological Problems

1. Measuring Soft Power (Overview) Li Ji
2. A Methodological Approach to Nation Branding: Measurement and Issues Elif Kahraman
3. Challenges of a big data approach in mapping soft power Richard Davis & Li Ji
4. Social Media and E-Diplomacy: Scanning Embassies on Weibo Ying Jiang

Section 3: The Cultural Imperative

1. Cultural Approaches to Soft Power (Overview) Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob
2. Soft Power and Cultural Industries: Cultural Policy and Inter-Asian Regional Flows in Hong Kong and Singapore Peichi Chung
3. The Cultural Imperative: News Production and Soft Power Saba Bebawi
4. Legal Diplomacy and the Possible Approach of China Zhipeng He
5. The Soft Power of Elephants John Simons

Section 4: The Technological Turn

1. Technologies of Influence: The Materiality of Soft Power in Public Diplomacy (Overview) Craig Hayden
2. Digital networks and Transformations in the International News Ecology: A Critique of
   Agent-centred Approaches to Soft Power Marie Gillespie and Eva Nieto McAvoy
3. Social Media and Soft Power Politics in Africa: Lessons from Nigeria’s #BringBackOurGirls and Kenya’s #SomeoneTellCNN Matthew O. Adeiza and Philip N. Howard

Part 2: Case Studies

Section 5: Europe and the Americas

1. North America & Europe – The Soft Power Outliers (Overview) Katarzyna Pisarsk
2. Popular Culture, Banal Cosmopolitanisms and Hospitality: Notes for a Brazilian Soft Power
   Yuji Gushiken, Quise Gonçalves Brito &Taís Marie Ueta
3. International Challenges of Catalonia: Defining Its Public Diplomacy through Parliamentary Debates Xavier Ginesta, Mireia Canals & Jordi de San Eugenio
4. German Public Diplomacy: The Importance of Culture and Education Falk Hartig
5. Good Health is Above Wealth. Eurozone as a Patient in Eurocrisis Discourse Magdalena Bielenia-Grajewska
6. Of Extended Hands and Velvet Gloves: U.S.-Iran Metaphorical Wars Esmaeil Esfandiary

Section 6. Africa and the Middle East

1. Soft Power Mobilization in the Middle East and Africa. (Overview) Aziz Douai
2. When Soft Power Success and "Attractiveness" Cannot be Sustained : Zimbabwe and South Africa as Case Studies of the Limits of Soft Power Eric Louw
3. Nigeria, Public Diplomacy and Soft Power Tokunbo Ojo
4. Public Diplomacy and Soft Power in Algeria’s Foreign Policy Laeed Zaghlami

Section 7: Central and South Asia

1. Central and South Asia: An Overview of Soft Power Prospective (Overview) Dalbir Ahlawat
2. Indigenizing Soft Power in Russia Yelena Osipova
3. Bollywood Enabling India as a Soft Power: A Critical Overview of Pros and Cons of PostCritical Assumptions CSHN Murthy
4. Seduced by Bhutan’s Philosophy of Happiness Bunty Avieson & Kinley Tshering
5. India and China: Soft Power in an Asian Context Kishan S Rana

Section 8: North and South East Asia

1. An Overview of Soft Power in East and South East Asia Damien Spry
2. The Pivot Shift of Japan’s Public Diplomacy Yasushi Watanabe
3. The Korean Wave as Soft Power Public Diplomacy Hun Shik Kim
4. Vietnamese Cultural Diplomacy: An Emerging Strategy Gary D. Rawnsley & Chi Ngac
5. Beyond the Boats: Constraints on Indonesian and Australian Soft Power Murray Green

Conclusion Naren Chitty

Naren Chitty is Inaugural Director of the Soft Power Analysis and Resource Centre and Foundation Chair in International Communication at Macquarie University, Australia.

Li Ji is a Lecturer in International Communication and a Researcher at the Soft Power Analysis and Resource Centre (SPARC) at Macquarie University, Australia.　

Gary D. Rawnsley is Professor of Public Diplomacy in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, UK.

Craig Hayden is Chair of the Diplomatic Mastery Program at the Foreign Service Institute, US Department of State, USA.