A comprehensive new ranking of countries labelled “Soft Power 30” by a London-based political consultancy, Portland Communications, carries a rude awakening for India. We are nowhere when it comes to being attractive and influential in the world, falling outside the top 30 nations for universally liked culture, widely admired political values and positively engaged foreign policy.
Developing countries like Brazil (ranked 23) and China (ranked 30) fare better and offer sobering lessons on where we have faltered. Portland’s index gives weightage to political freedoms, civil liberties and democracy, areas where a liberal state and social system like India’s would be expected to score above China and at least equal Brazil. Yet, thanks to ineffectiveness of governance and a host of other lacunae, India’s status in soft power is pathetic.
Soft power — a concept and phrase coined by Harvard University’s Joseph Nye as a means to co-opt and win followers to do what one wants without military coercion or economic inducement — is not alien to Indian policymakers and strategic elites. Yet, long after this notion has been mainstreamed as an important yardstick to measure how powerful a state is, we are punching below our weight due to strategic neglect of soft power and dearth of ideas in officialdom about raising our cachet.
The silver lining, according to Portland, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has been allotted a special mention in the “Soft Power 30” report as an international role model in using digital technology to communicate with the world and improve governance for Indians at home.
Portland praises Mr Modi’s social media skills and “selfie diplomacy” for not just making people around the world sit up and take notice but even for reflecting glory on other partner countries. It notes that “one of the most interesting trends on Facebook surrounding Mr Modi’s state visits is the boost that other world leaders receive on their pages following a visit of the Indian Prime Minister.”
His signature initiatives like the International Day of Yoga and Twitter campaigns like #selfiewithdaughter (to promote equality for girls and women) and #incredibleindia (to enhance awareness about India’s natural beauty) are lauded for “garnering global attention”. The report concludes that “although India did not finish in the top 30 this year, Mr Modi’s India is definitely a soft power player to watch in the years ahead.”
But how much burden of branding India’s appeal can be left to the one-man-phenomenon of Mr Modi? There have to be more dedicated stakeholders for India to be recognised as a genuinely likeable and praiseworthy nation, viz. the rest of the Indian bureaucracy which works on an antediluvian metric as opposed to the hypermodern Mr Modi, and India’s private businesspersons and academicians who adore Mr Modi’s forward-looking vision but are still disconnected from the untrusting bureaucracy.
Nye identified purposeful foreign policy as a crucial driver of greater soft power. In his 2004 book, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, he recommended that the United States alter both the substance and the style of its foreign policy to win more favourability across the planet. Avoiding arrogant and unilateral behaviour, eschewing trade protectionism, and adopting “broadly inclusive and far-sighted definitions of the national interest” instead of taking “a narrow and myopic perspective” were some of his substantive prescriptions to lift the sagging reputation of the US during the George W. Bush era.
On the stylistic side, Nye called for doubling meagre investments in public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy as part and parcel of a concerted plan for the US to become more seductive. At least under the presidency of Barack Obama, such sound advice was heeded and America is today ranked number 3 in Portland’s index, behind the UK and Germany.
What does India need to do in foreign policy substance and style to be up there among the leading lights in soft power? The most important change has to be overturning overcautious diplomacy that refrains from attempting solutions to pressing global emergencies and problems like war, terrorism that is far from our own borders, and other political conflicts.
India is mostly known to abstain or cast its vote one way or the other in international institutions on matters of security, without taking on a bigger responsibility of joining peacemaking. We “discuss”, “take note of”, “express concern”, “condemn”, etc., but do not proactively act to calm the maelstroms roiling the world.
Under Mr Modi, there is an explicitly stated ambition for India to “drive and lead on global issues, and be active and nimble rather than neutral or risk-averse.” The ministry of external affairs has opened itself lately to outside consultants to multiply its feeble manpower and strengthen its human capital base to take on grander missions. All good tidings, but it would be absolutely essential that the government inducts soft power specialists and brand management gurus from outside the career bureaucracy so that they bring in fresh thinking and new ideas to buttress Mr Modi’s creative juices.
It took just one secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to dramatically expand the US’ digital diplomacy footprint. Mr Modi and his foreign policy brains trust must also allocate more talent from outside government to beef up our running-on-a-shoestring-budget public diplomacy division, particularly by forming our own online “electronic army” that can win over international public opinion on how India is providing global public goods. It is not enough for our officials to dish out communiques that India is a force for strategic stability and balance. In a digital era, there must be dedicated personnel drawn from outside the government.
India’s own TV channel exclusively dedicated to world news coverage, India’s own Peace Corps-like volunteer force to be deployed in developing countries and India’s own state-endorsed private business and academic ambassadors who take on the mantle of “national social responsibility” are other ideas that merit due consideration. Cultural festivals, Yoga, Kamasutra, TV soap operas and Bollywood will take us only so far. If we are to reap the rewards of soft power, the main reform needed is in our foreign policy approach and narrative.
The writer is a professor and dean at the Jindal School of International Affairs
