Monday, October 5, 2015

Power: From The School House to The International Stage

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.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Amara!

    I 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!

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  2. Hi Amara,

    I 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?

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  3. Hi Amara,
    I 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?

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  5. Hi 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.

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