How USA is winning the Soft Power wars

Kolkata: During a recent visit to the American Centre Library, I was reminded vividly of the cultural influences that were such a prominent part of our early years. A better definition of which is Soft Power (coined by Political Scientist Joseph Nye), the ability of a nation to co-opt the preferences of others through ‘appeal and attraction’ and not coercive might.

There were certainly a few others in the fray, unleashing their finest influences on impressionable Indian minds. Russian outposts were filled with Scientific journals like Sputnik while Chess was strangely identified as a potential intellectual unifier. The Alliance Francaise did engage with the deep-rooted romantics, while the Goethe Institute chiefly operated as a language training centre for those seeking higher education in Germany.

Asian giants like Japan, Korea and China never even tried to interact and in spite of continental brotherhood, the socio-cultural differences were always too vast. Nintendo and Pokemon did gain some slender currency while only recently, Miniso ( store) and the Korean content evolution ( dramas and pop) seem to be attracting a variety of seeking niches. The other organic influence was naturally the British Council, but they focussed strongly on Literature and Theatre, almost as an addendum to the school curriculum, while disposition was the rather stiff upper lip.

A notable factor for America winning the battle for the mind was surely language, but the British too enjoyed an identical advantage. The real reason, however, which persists unwaveringly, is what I would call the ‘continuum of inspiration’, ranging from Quantum Physics to Bubble Gum, a unique demonstration of the nation's DNA which gave us goosebumps. Which emanated from family anecdotes, credible narratives and of course the fascinating world of entertainment, and do let me spill a few more beans.

It started, on a serious note, with the educational institutions, offering the greatest diversity of talent and a universe of opportunities. The latter was particularly huge in pre-liberalisation India, and every urban family seemed to have at least one beneficiary of the American Dream. Its logical extension was affluence and the effortless ability to experience the state of art, the Ford Mustang parked outside the suburban home was an iconic aspiration. Word quickly went around that America was a genuine meritocracy, where talent and hard work were the only applicable stock in trade.

But the scalability of this inspirational ability was on relatively trivial products and services, capturing our fancy as curious wannabe adults. Wrangler and Levi’s topped the charts of flightful romance, the blue denim a statement of affirmative intent, while Archie comics in tandem with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were surely more energetic than Enid Blyton. Pizzas, burgers and shakes were their peers on the dining tables - I still remember Big Max and Invader Centre introducing such delights to Calcutta. Much later was Coke and Pepsi, and the brightness of the dark liquids was undeniably psychedelic, and so much more followed suit. But the most compelling leitmotif of this non-negotiable culture of inspiration was definitely the bubble gum, an accessible accessory for limitless flight, a trusted aid to concentration while being a beacon of attitude, for serious sorties as well as weekend dates.

Once the two extremes of the continuum were sorted, education and consumables, the entertainment paraphernalia took over, especially magical Hollywood. Everybody had a genre of appeal in the movies, from John Wayne to Robert Redford to Jane Fonda and Tom Cruise and the lure of big-screen exposure was too potent to resist. While the music played a similar part and the sheer diversity of content, especially the disco era for youth, was an able ally in cementing the relationship. Indians in cities developed a comforting duality in their cultural existence - full-fledged local preferences like Amitabh Bachchan and Kishore Kumar co-existing marvellously with Michael Jackson and Clint Eastwood, and thus shaping a genuine universal identity, shorn of prejudice. The latter, I sincerely believe, helped Indians become such prolific corporate travellers, and propelled them to C suites of global corporations, a factor way beyond speaking English better than the Chinese.

In recent decades, while some of the above have remained intact, the front-row influence of Soft Power is now technology, as in Apple, Google, Amazon, Linkedin, Facebook and the ravenously promising metaverse. This emanates physically from gadgets and tech-enabled services but inspirationally from two other significant aspects. The icons of the tech age like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk whose stories are as powerful as their achievements, which in turn provoke a million Indians daily to curate their own expressways to success. Truthfully, America remains the True North for ambitious entrepreneurs in this country, whether start-ups or otherwise and this is fundamentally a mental truth.

It is interesting to note that the hard realities of foreign policy changed dramatically over this period. In the early 1980s, upon earliest intellectual cognisance, the Soviet Union was decreed to be our designated ally but this scenario changed rapidly post the Berlin Wall termination, as we grow closer to the West, a no-brainer really given our democratic antecedents. China remains a closet adversary since the 1960s and while Japan and Korea are our preferred sources for branded gadgets, the connectivity ends right there. France, Germany and UK still persist with their cultural missions but the holistic spontaneous influence is way too meagre to be noted seriously. What further tilts the scale in favour of America is the prolific success of the Indian diaspora, in turn leading to a student funnel that is truly unfettered.

America is clearly winning the Soft Power wars for many decades now, and notwithstanding dilettante naysayers, this is clearly a good thing for us as a parallel, non-intrusive and enriching cultural influence. The story clearly resides, and I repeat, in the ‘continuum of influence’, the well-honed skill to effortlessly influence so many with so much, without imposition. Perhaps, the secret sauce is customer centricity, a mind-blowing culture of consumerism extending systematically to emotional global territories.