Soft Power Diplomacy | Civils Marg

📌 Background & Key Features

Concept: Ability to shape others' preferences through culture, values and policies rather than military/economic coercion (hard power).
Indian instruments: International Day of Yoga (UN-recognised, 21 June), Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarships, Buddhist circuit diplomacy, Bollywood/OTT cultural exports, and the 35-million-strong global diaspora.
Institutional push: Ministry of External Affairs' Public Diplomacy Division, "Voice of Global South" summits, and hosting of G20 (2023) showcased India's civilisational and developmental narrative simultaneously.

Term coined by	Joseph Nye (1990) — power through attraction/persuasion, not coercion
India’s key assets	Yoga, Bollywood, Buddhism, cuisine, diaspora, democracy, IT skills

India's G20 Presidency legacy (2023) and the "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (One Earth, One Family, One Future) theme continue to be referenced as a soft-power template for Global South leadership.
International Yoga Day and the growing global footprint of Indian cinema/OTT content, alongside diaspora-linked events (Pravasi Bharatiya Divas), remain recurring soft-power current-affairs pegs each year.
Critique: Analysts note soft power gains can be undercut by hard-power frictions in the neighbourhood (e.g., trust deficits with Maldives, Bangladesh at various points), showing soft and hard power must work in tandem.

Term coined by: Joseph Nye (1990) — power through attraction/persuasion, not coercion
India’s key assets: Yoga, Bollywood, Buddhism, cuisine, diaspora, democracy, IT skills

Year	Question	Marks
2019	“Soft power is defined as the ability to shape the preferences of others through appeal and attraction.” In light of the statement analyse India’s civilizational linkage in expanding its soft power.	15