How about "Marketing"

Enhanced power techniques

I recommend "Cherry Blossom Power", because a Cherry Blossom is hard on the outside, but has a soft, persuasive center.

Imperial manipulation

Strategic engagement?

Flour Power (as in ensuring the world is fed)

Strategic rescue

Constructive influence.

Forget talking about what we call it. We need to reassess what our goals are; we may be exercising power, hard or soft, for the wrong objectives. In the age of Obama, I would hope we would scale back our power objectives, so that the exercise of power, whether hard or soft, would be less necessary.

Most of our power has been thrust forward throughout the world as a move to obtain or protect resources, mostly oil. From the middle east to all the stans surrounding Russia, we have projected our power. One of the main reasons we have spend so much on power is that we refuse to do the one thing which would make much of that power unneccessary --- a true and finally effective set of actions which would eliminate our dependence upon foreign oil. In retrospect, it would have been more cost effective than the path we have chosen.

I don't get what's wrong with "smart power." How is it any more jargony than anything else?

I think "smart power" works.

Civil(ian) Power

Hey, here's a radical solution. Rather than tying themselves in knots about the word "soft", they should address the word "power". Wielding "power" implies that *we* intend to be in charge and the other side will be answering to us. That's where the shades of imperialism and military force come from. Oh sure, we'd be using nice methods to build them up, but we're still limiting the options to either the carrot or the stick. The implied message is still, "Do it our way or we roll right over you."

I say, unless we're talking about self-defense then we shouldn't be invoking "power" at all. We'll restore our international respect when we start treating other people as equals, and stop treating them as minions who we can order around at whim.

Wow Chertoff almost sounds like a voice of reason.
The US is always a better nation when it leads by the power of its example rather than the example of its power.

"Diplomacy"

This sounds alot like spreading the wealth you global federal reserve note pinko liberal commies!!

/wingnut/spreading wealth/rant.dat

Plowshare Power

The word "power" implies coercion and is thus just as misleading as "soft". How about "Peaceful Engagement", or "Nonviolent Means".

Positive Influence

'Legitimate Power' - it addresses root causes, rather than bludgeoning symptoms.

strategic alignment, civic partnerships, neo-progressivism, image/value restoration, partner building, etc.

how about 'flexible power'

If TR's philosophy was 'speak softly and carry a big stick,' then GWB's (and RR's before him) is 'speak loudly and carry a big schtick.'

Thank you, I'll be here all week.

In all seriousness, though, I think that there's less of an issue w/the term 'soft power' than in its actual use. The Peace Corps is a brilliant example of the US' soft power at its best: idealistic young Americans going out to some of the roughest parts of the world and sacrificing of themselves to try and make things a bit better. As an example, expanding the Peace Corps would do more to help the US' standing in the world than any new military program, PR offensive, or change away from the term 'soft power' could ever hope to do.

Positive actions, not words,
-Z

I say kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out...

The Smart power frame works best for me.
It also has the added benefit of making people think logically about its opposite.

How about co-opting "anti-idiotarian." It would have the advantage of being accurate when used to describe this approach.

For centuries, people used the word "power" to denote a nation's capability to use coercive force, military or otherwise, and "influence" to describe its use of the other stuff. This worked. Let's go back to it.
Marketing language, even when used for a good end, is bullshit.

Goodwill toward others? Global outreach?

Power, especially in American hands tends to be synonymous with abuse.

Ju-Do: The Gentle Way

ahimsa see gandhi and mlk the power of non-violent direct action.

Global cooperation. Peace building. The Global Peace and Prosperity Program. Prosperity Assistance.

Bureaucratic Power. That should work well for us.

"National Attractivenes" better describes what Nye wrote about than does "Soft power." So long as the world at large admired our social mobility, our moral political system, our educational institutions, our economy, our neat stuff, and our sexy, vibrant pop culture we had a dramatic advantage over our rivals.

We still do, but that advantage has lessened as we abused our moral politial system by torturing any one we suspect of opposing us, eavesdroping on anyone outside the US and too many within it, and demonstrating in 2004 that we, as a nation, approved those thngs as well as a stupid, brutal invasion of a weak state which had done nothing to us. With our ecomomy in freefall, at least partly because of our boundless appetite for more and more neat stuff, we need to understand that the rest of the world has begun to believe other systems work better than ours. Our popular culture remains attractive, but many find that a problem in itself. I remember a Turk watching an MTV video (you remember when MTV broadcast videos?) and turning to tell me "I understand the Ayatollah. I love America, but I don't want my daughter to grow up to be a video dancer." We offend traditional societies.

Call it attraction or soft power, we can't control it or use it as a weapon. We have to live it, and hope the rest of the world comes to again like what we become. Right now, we don't have much of whatever you want to call it.

Here's a crazy idea. Let's call it humanitarian deplomacy...'cuz, that's what it is.

Well, I'd settle for just calling it "competence", but if you really, truly want to bring "Red Sate America" along, you have to call it something to rival the reassuringly masculine, beligerant simplicity of "kickin' ass." Might I suggest we start by referring to diplomacy as "swinging pipe" and foreign aid as "walking around money." They'll love it in Dixie!

If we are worried about what the world thinks, let's call it:
Anti-Bush Diplomacy
GWB Sucks Big Hairy Balls Persuation

For Real:
Common Sense Diplomacy
Economic Persuasion
Obama's Foreign Policy
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I had no idea Chertoff had come out of his coma ?? Must be looking for work.

It seems to be a contextual argument.

"Soft power" works when talking about influence a "Superpower" can exert on other nations.

If you want to change the tone, you have to start much more broadly.

Nurturing the concept of the world would as a community would is a good place to start.

Smart power works--but should also include military might. Building "strategic support" is what we need, and yes that's diplomacy, marketing, strategic engagement, cultural hegemony, etc.

Non-invasive persuasion. I like the first term when comparing surgery options. I think it works well here, too.

Non-invasive persuasion. I like the first term when comparing surgery options. I think it works well here, too.

so far, i like the suggestions 'constructive influence' and 'humanitarian diplomacy'. but, to add my .02, how 'bout 'gravitational power'?

Moral power. Framing it so the right has to argue for immorality, or that moral power is not really moral, or not really powerful (tell it to Gandhi, or MLK).

Substitute "persuasion" for "power" along with whatever adjective appeals to you.

Commensalism. Because we're all in this together.

Surely Bush's version of "walk quietly and carry a big stick" was "yell about reptiles and wave a goddamn marlinspike"?