Amara
Rojo
October
5th,2015
International
Relations 170
Power: From The School House to The
International Stage
Maybe if I hadn’t been sick this weekend,
mindlessly binge watching episodes of Gossip
Girl, I wouldn’t have been able to come to this parallel, but I have to
argue that the role power plays in international affairs can be translated into
the Mean Girls world of high school.
If the world stage was set up like a high
school cafeteria, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine. Western countries would form
a head clique with the US and Germany leading the pack, Russia would be a
powerful outlier, a former queen bee waiting in the shadows for her next chance
to dominate world politics again, and China would be a “frenemy” to the US—they
need each other, but let’s be real, their contact is always hidden behind fake
smiles.
Hard power in this context would mean
blackmail or some other form of coercion. Soft power could be seen through either
peer pressure or incentives, opportunities to join in the inner circle or even imitating
the of the look of the leading Western states. The ideal standard currently for
any nation would be the United States. Now I’m not saying that because we are
the best, but most global citizens want the freedoms and rights we take for
granted. The desire for that alone reiterates the soft power held by those at
the top. That saying, “you’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” also
applies to this analogy. No one wants to surround themselves with someone who
is constantly blackmailing or using their hard power. This would make them seem
untrustworthy and one would be cautious when around them. But with soft power,
showing that you are the standard of freedom, democracy, and that you are
thriving, everyone would want to be you. Using positive reinforcement gains more
friends and therefore more allies, than tearing others down with hard power.
The only time hard power would be the desired choice would be when a statement
has to be made and the same can be said when on the international stage.
Hi Amara!
ReplyDeleteI found your blog post very interesting. It was definitely insightful in the way that it drew comparisons between power and Mean Girls. I like how you represented the major world powers with a certain “character” or aspect from Mean Girls. I agree with all of the representations you had for each country, especially with China being a “Frenemy” to the United States. We do rely on each other, but there is certainly tension. Finally, I found it interesting how you defined hard power and soft power. I think it would be great if you could go into even more detail about this!
Good job!
Hi Amara,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post. I think the analogy you used really well explains the concepts we've discussed in class. I definitely think that the US employs soft power to acquire alliances and to harbor trust. You seem like you really understand the things we're learning in class which is awesome! This blog post makes me wonder if a state would benefit from using both forms of power, or if they could get away with just using soft power. What do you think?
Hi Amara,
ReplyDeleteI thought your blog post was interesting and I found your analogy to be very accurate. I agree with your idea that the use of too much hard power can make one untrustworthy and hard to get along with. However, do you think exclusive use of soft power makes for a more trustworthy ally? I feel like in your analogy, the blackmail could be more soft power and could actually cause more distrust between groups. What are your thoughts?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Amara! I love your post. I can definitely see the resemblance between states and teenaged girls in high school. I found Jonathan's comment about blackmailing to be more of a soft power to be interesting. I think that hard power and blackmailing are fairly similar. Blackmail would cause more distrust though so I see how it could be seen as more of coercion and hard power. I imagine soft power being like bribes for food because who won't do something for food. Food is attractive like how we talked about soft power is seduction in class. Very cool analogy.
ReplyDelete