Soft power is a significant aspect of India’s identity in the international community. Moreover, India has committed itself in being a cooperative, active member of the international community. In an alternative theory of power within the field of international relations, I argue that while soft power reasons that states are not only shaped by threats, bribes, persuasion, and co-optation, but also by norms. Strikingly, India was pushed by the United States and the Soviet Union to join the Security Council in 1950 and 1955 respectively as a permanent seat member. However, India refused these offers and instead, supported the People’s Republic China for the position. Since the early 1990s, India has actively pursued permanent membership to the Security Council and various reforms by convincing other countries to support its bid. Thus, in the case of India and its quest for permanent membership in the Security Council, an alternative way of thinking about soft power is the ability to serve as an effective player in international politics and influencing other countries’ long-standing positions and preferences on this matter.

Reform of the United Nations Security Council has already become an evergreen of international politics. There are many reform proposals, but it's impossible to find satisfactory solution. One of the main candidates for new permanent membership is Germany, which published its bid in 1992. During 90's also emerged first proposals mentioning the possibility of future permanent membership of the European Union. This thesis contributes to debate on Europeanisation of foreign policies of EU member states. The aim is to find out, whether has German bid for permanent membership in the UN Security Council been influenced by membership of Germany in the European Union. For a better recognition of possible Europeanisation effects is German case compared with Japan, which published its bid only one year later and shares similar characteristics to Germany. Content analysis method is used to compare German and Japanese argumentation with regard to four topics: equitable representation, economic power, multilateral cooperation and responsibility.