Writing the words in the epigraph above the ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu was unlikely to mean the use of "soft power." However, this saying quite accurately describes the instructions for its use. Although elements of this power existed since the creation of the first independent formations for the first time its clear contours were marked by Harvard professor Joseph Nye in his eponymous book "Soft power".
For J. Nye, soft power is the ability to get the desired results in relations with other countries due to the attractiveness of its culture, values and foreign policy, not through coercion or financial resources. In his latest book "The Future of Power" he elaborates this definition by specifying that soft power is the ability to influence other states in order to accomplish individual goals through cooperation in certain areas aimed at the formation of belief and positive perception.
The concept of "soft power" by J. Nye is as follows:
However, most research institutes have expanded the components of "soft power." Thus, according to the study "New means of persuasion" conducted by The Institute for Government (The Institute for Government is a United Kingdom independent charity that aims to improve government effectiveness), "soft power" includes the following:
A more detailed analysis of the interacting elements of "soft power" was presented by Marina Larionova - Director of the International Organizations and International Cooperation Institute of the National Research University – Higher School of Economics (NRU HSE). In her presentation, she describes five areas of implementation of the policy "soft power":
1. Culture and promotion of language
This includes: carrying out large-scale cultural and sporting events, exhibitions and festivals, support for NGO projects, creation of centers of culture and language, etc.
2. Cooperation in the field of education, science and technology
It is intended to create a system on attracting foreign students, funding educational programs, development of a network of schools abroad, joint universities, conducting contests, etc.
3. Development of business contacts
Conducting business summits, programs to attract skilled labour force, improving the business climate, etc.
4. Development of Public Diplomacy
Promotion of youth NGOs, support for the Diaspora, youth programs in the field of sports, etc.
5. Promotion of International Development
Participation in the financing of infrastructure projects, representing the interests of developing countries in international organizations, etc.
If we compare these paragraphs with the work that has already carried out in Azerbaijan, it becomes obvious that our country is successfully implementing a policy of "soft power."
Surely, it is quite difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of "soft power". However, based on the last "East West Global Index 200" report (for 2011) (it ranks 200 countries and territories on the basis of media monitoring), Azerbaijan in this field ranks 51st surpassing even the United States (52nd), not to mention Russia (140th), Armenia (148th), Georgia (151st) and Iran (194th place). This figure clearly demonstrates that Azerbaijan has not only lost its geopolitical and geoeconomic significance, but has also become the subject of "soft power" in a short period since the declaration of independence.
Historian and professor of the Moscow State University Alexander Naumov writes in his article on "soft power": "There are two ways to promote foreign image of the state abroad: natural and artificial. In the first case, a state "automatically "improves its image on the world stage due to the success of the economy, development of culture, science, legitimacy of the policy pursued in the country and in the world. In the second case it is assumed to conduct various measures of information, advertising and promotional measures aimed at improving the international image of the state, that is a designed and purposeful policy of "soft power".
Azerbaijan in this regard was lucky, because the foundation of the natural development of the image and the importance of the country on the world stage was laid by the national leader Heydar Aliyev. He implemented the "oil strategy" in the days when the Armenian propaganda machine has had a huge impact in the world, and thanks to its disinformation the unfair 907th amendment has been adopted by the US Congress in such a meaningful time for Azerbaijan. Heydar Aliyev was well aware that only multinational oil companies could stand against the Armenian lobby in the world. Azerbaijan was set a very difficult task: to integrate into the international community and by right to take a worthy place in it. Heydar Aliyev realized that the most successful and effective way - is economic integration, as evidenced by his words: "A state having a strong economy can do anything".
This lapidary phrasing is reflected in the activities of modern Azerbaijan. In this regard, the Republic of Azerbaijan has done a phenomenal job under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev: for several years Azerbaijan worked its way from signing the Contract of the Century to achieving most dynamically developing economy. The outcome of this activity was the signing of the final investment decision on the 2nd phase of the project "Shahdeniz". However, the conclusion of such an important historical contract could not be achieved only through energy reserves; this was preceded by hard work in the first place - to establish trusting relationships at the international level. Today, Azerbaijan has established itself as a reliable energy partner.
Proof of this is article by Daisy Sindelar, a correspondent for Radio "Free Europe". It analyzes the relationship between the West and Azerbaijan, highlighting four main points which, in her opinion, make Azerbaijan an important partner. These are:
- Balanced external position of Azerbaijan, which allows to remain neutral and pursue an independent policy in the region, despite the fact that the country is surrounded by powerful neighbors such as Iran, Russia and Turkey;
- Azerbaijan is a secular country, where the majority of citizens are Muslims, and plus the entire country is in a good, partnership relations with Israel;
- Azerbaijan supports culture and sports, financing the restoration of the Louvre and the Strasbourg Cathedral, investing in conducting spectacular Eurovision Song Contest and the First European Games;
- Azerbaijan has influential friends who help it.
Among these factors quite unique is the second point. Thus, according to the report "Muslims of the world: religion, politics and society" prepared by the American Sociological center of the Pew Research Center, in Azerbaijan there are practically no problems between Sunnis and Shiites (only 1%, the lowest rate in the world).
Moreover, according to the special issue “The best Muslim countries on women’s rights” of a new educational and documentary online channel owned by Discovery - “Test News”, Azerbaijan ranks in average 6th in the world by a factor of a better life for women. This fact is unlikely to surprise an ordinary citizen, as yet in 1918 Azerbaijan became the first democracy in the East, where women gained the right to vote earlier than in the West. And even more so it is not surprising that the flag of Israel flashes in the capital of Azerbaijan on the symbol of the country - Towers of Lights. This only confirms the high level of tolerance and multiculturalism in the country.
However, the view that such behavior of the people is natural in itself, is not so much mistaken, as is not showing the complete picture. Above all, this is due to the fact that the President of Azerbaijan is a model of progressiveness, which certainly is one of the elements of "soft power." According to New York Times, «Mr. President Ilham Aliyev has qualities that are admired in the West. So, he is fluent in English, polite and elegant, cooperates with Europe and Israel, there is moderate Islam in his country, where international events are conducted and hosted". Indeed, today, in the period of world globalization and at the same time - almost permanent turbulence in the region, we should not wait less from the leader of the country and people. He has just to be a man of two worlds, two civilizations - the West and the East. As stressed by Mr. President in his speech at the III World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku "Azerbaijan is located at the crossroads of civilizations, cultures and religions. We are located between Europe and Asia. Of course, a geographical location played its role in the cultural diversity of Azerbaijan. Representatives of all cultures, religions and ethnic groups have lived for centuries in Azerbaijan in peace and dignity, like a family. "
The second component of this phenomenon is the level of literacy of the nation. So, according to UNICEF statistics, literacy in Azerbaijan is provided nearly at 100 percent level. Thus, Azerbaijan is the most literate country among states with a Muslim majority of the population. According to the President of the Azerbaijan Republic, education is one of the main priorities of Azerbaijan. That is why, 1825 people received the right to education abroad only in the framework of the "State Program on education of Azerbaijani youth in foreign countries in 2007-2015" .
Policy of "converting oil capital into human capital" is already yielding results - writes Gerald Robbins, senior fellow for Turkey, the Caucasus and Central Asia of the US Foreign Policy Research Institute. "We are observing significant changes in Azerbaijan’s approach to lobbying their interests - says G. Robbins. - Key processes in Baku are now managed by a new generation that mastered western methodology of marketing and promoting ideas ... ".
We should not forget about the country’s concept of development "Azerbaijan 2020: Vision for the Future", a key objective of which is to strengthen the state independence, increase the country`s prestige in the international arena, and transform it into one of the most developed and competitive countries". It is no accident that in 2011 Azerbaijan for the first time was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council; 155 countries of the 193 members of this organization voted for (with 129 needed). It was a tremendous achievement of the government of the Republic and a historic moment for the whole Azerbaijan. All the work done was embodied in a single success of the country. Since then, Azerbaijan has continued its relentless policy of "soft power", winning the hearts and minds all over the world.
Recently, however, when Azerbaijan continued to attract the attention of the international community even more, the country was faced with unjustified criticism from some foreign media and NGOs. These institutions and organizations, sometimes neglecting their own reputation, descend to the level of the tabloid press. They are on the bit of individuals or groups, whose are interested in denigrating the image of Azerbaijan, deliberately politicizing some of the processes in the country and artificially “inflating” them. This is to some extent brings limitations in the use of "soft power" of Azerbaijan.
The reaction of MM and NGOs became particularly acute during the first-ever European Games in Azerbaijan. This scenario worked out and is no longer surprising. Something similar happened during the Olympic Games in Sochi and Beijing. However, if the words of traducers really reflect the situation in these countries, and if this opinion is be supported by governments of these MM and NGOs, then Beijing would not have won the right to host the next Olympic Games in 2022. Simply put, these detractors are in clear conflict with the logic.
But the logic is simple. As the head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev writes in his book "The World Order of double standards and modern Azerbaijan", today the arguments of civil society - is a coded language of implementing the US’s "soft power" scheme. However, implementation in this way is incorrect.
According to Joseph Nye, the main difference between the "soft power" of China (analogously – Azerbaijan’s soft power) and the United States is that in China (and in Azerbaijan) it comes from the government, and in the US - from civil society, in particular – from universities, various funds, Hollywood and pop culture. However, the fact that the US government formally distanced itself from direct involvement in the "soft power" doesn’t mean that it does not control it by its "invisible hand" (i.e. provides direct funding for these sectors). Similarly, Europe simply cannot (but really wants to) create a team on the impacting and propagandizing in the CIS countries. It turns out that the problem of Azerbaijan – is in its openness and sincerity in working with partners, and not in its veiled image. According to Ramiz Mehdiyev, the fact that civil society institutions are supported by the state is quite natural.
The methods that are used today in the West have long gone beyond the "soft power" and took the form of public diplomacy Web 2.0, advocacy, information and network war. It already cannot be called "soft power".
Referring to analysts of American strategic research center RAND - John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt (who introduced the term "the network war"), Sergey Berezin in his article on the network war argues that the network wars are aimed at changing what enemy’s population and leadership know about themselves and the world around. A network war is primarily aimed at disorientation of the population and undermining the perception. According to the author, Arquilla and Ronfeldt highlight two types of network war. The first - it is a struggle for human rights. The second – is a struggle of crime, terrorism and ethno-nationalist networks against the state control.
The first type of network war is non-violent, the second – just the contrary.
Taking into account a balanced and independent foreign policy it is obvious that Azerbaijan found to be at the epicenter of "network war". And the above mentioned "black PR" is used as a lever of pressure on the government in order to accept political or economic decisions in favor of the West. It has become commonplace in the West. In general, the perception of the news has changed: a new principle of journalism says: "The best news is bad news". It does not matter whether they are true or not, because "the worse the better."
At the heart of this truly diabolical principle lays the philosophy of the Nazi ideologist Joseph Goebbels: "The lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth". If we use the concept of "effective frequency" (the indicator that displays the number of contacts with commercial for optimal influence on the target audience), it seems that today the West applies in full the technology of "jammers" borrowed from the USSR during the Cold War. Only instead of gnashing and wailing, news is now jammed through social networks, different platforms, tweets, blogs and tendentious articles.
However, response to articles in leading publications such as Foreign Policy, Economist, etc. (which are translated by 4npress editorial staff into Azerbaijani language) clearly indicates that people whose interests are directly affected in these articles, often do not agree with one-sided position of editions. And here the question arises: Who these written articles are intended for, if they do not reflect the reality? Apparently, at home they serve as an excuse for the further use of "hard power" by interested powers, in other words, for imposing sanctions or opening of hostilities.
This is confirmed by the recently published study on how the US is perceived in the former Soviet republics. It was conducted by Theodore Gerber - Professor of Sociology, Director of the Center for the Study of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Jane Zavisca - Associate Professor of the University of Arizona, and was partially supported by the US Army Research Laboratory. The researchers come to the conclusion that the United States has a serious image problem in the former Soviet republics, and not only in Russia but also in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and even Ukraine. Ordinary people perceive the United States as a superpower seeking to world domination, which is unceremoniously interferes into the internal affairs of other states, cynically pursuing its own interests. The authors offer a solution for the restoration of the US’s "soft power" in these countries: changing strategy and methods of its application, due to its inefficiency and the loss of urgency. Gerber and Zavisca recognize the fact that since the late 1980s, the US has provided financial and other assistance to non-profit organizations involved in social and political work, as well as supported independent election observers and opposition parties with the purpose of overthrowing the ruling regimes by means of "colour revolutions" in the name of "democracy". However, as acknowledged by the authors of the study this approach has proved to be less successful and significantly complicated relations of the US with other countries in the region.
Heydar Aliyev said that "Democracy – is a change of people’s mind. This change happens gradually, through evolutionary way, not revolutionary". BBC correspondent Humphrey Hawksley confirms this idea in his book "Democracy is killing". It tells how the West forcibly imposes its values of democracy to other countries, and with the same arrogance and peremptoriness as during the times of colonization. According to the colonizers, it made the local population civilized. Hawksley argues that one of the most important elements of the transition to real democracy is time, and the pressure from the outside running counter to the country`s history, its traditions and the complex mechanisms of self-regulation in society may lead to unpredictable consequences.
A similar view is shared by the famous French philosopher, lecturer at Harvard University Tzvetan Todorov. In his latest book "The internal enemies of democracy", talking about the problems of the Middle East (in particular, the "Arab spring"), he comes to the conclusion that even if some non-European peoples aspire to European values, they are ready to reject them if these values are used for the occupation of their countries. And it does not depend on race or religious affiliation of inhabitants of this country. According to Todorov, there is no ideal state with a democratic regime. There is only a perception of democracy: the missing part of democracy will always look better than one that is already there. However, according to the philosopher, democracy never claimed perfection, unlike communism. Todorov argues that modern democracy is in patient`s condition, unhealthy extravagance, when freedom becomes a tyranny, people turn into an easily manageable crowd, and constant desire to progress – in a crusade. According to him, European democracy loses the values on which it was built. Today, it leads to the dehumanization and that is why it becomes more and more alien and rejected by the rest of the world.
Referring to former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Ramiz Mehdiyev also highlights this statement in his book. In her opinion, the efforts to promote democracy became associated with its militarization, thus earning a bad reputation, especially after what had happened in Iraq.
We all have witnessed the changes in the style of iPhone democracy, which have occurred in the region (when territories, sovereignty are lost, or even the political system changes in the name of democracy), and none of revolutionary transformation in those countries produced the expected results. Despite the fact that Azerbaijan is a small country subjected to constant pressure of stronger countries, our government has not sacrificed its national interests placing them at the heart of its policies. Eventually, in spite of the policy of double standards, this has allowed to form our own concept of "soft power", along with which it is possible to apply "hard power" in relation to Armenia - neighbor-aggressor and occupier of our lands.
According to Joseph Nye, a symbiosis of two forces, "soft" and "hard" is called "smart power." Therefore, Azerbaijan uses today "smart power", not just "soft" or "hard". It will certainly deliver benefits. Another Chinese sage Lao Tzu quotes: "In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
