The purpose of this dissertation is to describe and analyze how the Soviet Union attempted to win the sympathies of the Swedish population during the period 1945-1958 through the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS) and the Sweden-Soviet Union Societies. The dissertation includes the central Soviet decision-making apparatus’ general formulation of strategy and what means were to be used to win the sympathies of populations in other countries. Concerning VOKS’s work targeting Sweden, this dissertation examines the general strategies and means used in practice. This dissertation links these activities with realism which serves as an analytical framework. Realism focuses states seeking their security in the international system. Security is considered achievable through strategies for using different means of force, in this case, diplomacy and its sub-instruments in the form of soft power and public diplomacy. Immediately after World War II, VOKS was seen by the Soviets as a tool for countering American and British propaganda. VOKS’s reorganization in the early 1950s led to more country-specific activities. Increasingly in the 1950s VOKS sought out partners from outside organizations associated with national communist parties. This strategy aimed to optimally convey the message and to popularize the Soviet Union. This also led to a decline in VOKS’s importance. VOKS during the period 1945-1958 can be viewed as a collaborative project between the state and the party.  The Soviet Union, through VOKS, used the Sweden-USSR Society to popularize the country among the Swedish public. VOKS took increasingly greater control over the societies’ activities, which were reviewed and approved by the Soviet Embassy in Stockholm and VOKS in Moscow. To develop these societies, VOKS increased its efforts to influence the Communist Party of Sweden (SKP) to take part in the societies’ activities. At the suggestion of VOKS in Moscow, the local Sweden-USSR societies formed a national organization in the autumn of 1950 called the Sweden-Soviet Union Federation. After 1953, VOKS’s interest intensified in implementing and developing cultural collaborations with other actors in addition to the societies. Near the end of VOKS’s existence, representatives from the Soviet Embassy and VOKS tried to establish an intergovernmental cultural agreement with Sweden. However, no such agreement was ever signed. The Soviet Union continued to channel most of its public diplomacy toward Sweden through the societies.

Increased international competitiveness to host sport mega-events indicates their perceived value in stimulating regional and national economic, social and cultural development. In the context of broader governmental public opinion management strategies, sport mega-events hold the potential to mobilize soft power resources of the host country, expressed in values, culture and policies, and engage with and influence the publics of other countries. This thesis investigates the significance of sport mega-events for the host country’s public diplomacy strategies and practice by exploring the concepts of public diplomacy, sport mega-events, soft power and national image within a multi-disciplinary conceptual framework. The analysis of scholarly literature, official and media reports reveals how aspects of reputation, credibility, and legitimacy guide both foreign public opinion and the practice of public diplomacy in conjunction with sport mega-events. Moreover, international reputation of the host nation, including status, prestige and image, appeared to benefit the most as a result of strategic application of sport mega-events to public diplomacy. This can be achieved by proving functional reputation though demonstration of financial and organizational success. Alternatively, social reputation of the host is at risk of sustaining considerable damage as a result of resistance from social activists groups, thus requiring extensive damage control efforts of the host country's image. The conclusions drawn from this study raise significant questions about the potential of sport mega-events being effectively used for public diplomacy and the experience of the host governments, revealing functional competence as having the greatest potential to influence public diplomacy strategy built around hosting sport mega-events.

Swedish nation branding has been studied with the main purpose to contribute to the research field of integrating the nation branding concept into IR. The study conducts a detailed description of Swedish branding strategies and its government’s statements of the migration policy change, during the peak of the migration crisis of 2015 through the theoretical framework of constructivism and soft power. This has been examined with the aim of describing the evolution of the strategy and the government’s statements during the migration crisis in order to clarify how a crisis can affect future branding strategies. The findings show that in a changing international arena, there is a significant need for nations’ branding strategies to be realistic and competitive in order to be able to obtain soft power.

The EU has experienced several terrorist attacks by Islamic fundamentalists since 2004 on its territory. Terrorism is threatening the fundamental rights that EU is based upon and has become not only a question of security but also a question of internal and external border security. This study seeks to examine the measures taken to fight terrorism by the EU and to see how terrorism has affected the security-, foreign-, and defence policies. The study is a theory consuming qualitative case study with both a descriptive and explanatory approach. The theoretical framework that the study is based on are theories about normative power, soft power and hard power but also the discussion about the external and internal security problem. The EU have taken several measures and policies in the fight against terrorism. The measures and policies are all influenced by the three theories in some way. The result of the study shows that EU has went from using only soft instruments and normative ways in the fight against terrorism towards harder instruments even if they still are using soft instruments in a harder way.

Since the US-led invasion began in October 2001, the United States has spent $440 billion on military operations in Afghanistan. Afghanistan still suffers from widespread corruption, ineffective government agencies, daily attacks taking place by both US-led forces and the Taliban - not to mention that 4 million refugees remain dislocated around the countryThe United States declared political objectives in the country are to -disrupt, disable, dismantle al- Qaeda in Afghanistan, to prevent it from using Afghanistan and Pakistan as a base to attack the United States. The U.S. and its military officials feel the best way to achieve this is by building a functioning Afghan Government that can secure its populations, protect its borders, keep Al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan and create a democratic social culture. For them to achieve this it is going to take a generational effort and billions of dollars. With the war entering its tenth year with no clear-cut victory in sight, the US-led forces will either have to leave Afghanistan due to enormous cost and domestic political pressure, or refocus its allocation of resources and redefine its objectives. The best way the U.S. will be able to leave Afghanistan but still help sustain and create a working stable and effective democratic government is through the...

Cultural diplomacy has always been playing an important role in international relations. It is a phenomenon which has been becoming more and more actual recently and which has been permanently growing in significance. There is a huge probability that cultural diplomacy will play a crucial role in international relations of 21th century. This part of diplomacy should not be thus underestimated and it is certainly worthwhile to pay more attention to it. Significance of cultural diplomacy is growing in connection with the growth of importance of "soft power". The theory of "soft power" has been developed by Joseph S. Nye Jr. In his book Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, Joseph S. Nye Jr. calls for strenghtening of intercultural dialog as a reaction on 11th September 2001.

Orientador: Clodoaldo Bueno / Banca: Carlos Lessa / Banca: Shiguenoli Myamoto / O Programa de Pós-Graduação em Relações Internacionais é instituído em parceria com a Unesp/Unicamp/PUC-SP, em projeto subsidiado pela CAPES, intitulado "Programa San Tiago Dantas" / Resumo: A Política da Boa Vizinhança, lançada no governo Presidente Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945), sinaliza uma reorientação da política externa norte-americana para a América Latina. A postura agressiva dos Estados Unidos em suas relações com a região sul do continente americano desde o início do século XX mostrou-se contraproducente aos objetivos norte-americanos naquela área, especialmente considerando-se a crescente influência que a Alemanha nazista exercia entre os latinoamericanos. Nesse contexto, tomamos o caso brasileiro para demonstrar de que forma os Estados Unidos abandonam uma postura diplomática baseada no hard power (poder duro) e adotaram uma linha mais soft (branda) em sua política externa para a América Latina. Nesse sentido, busca-se, por meio desta pesquisa, apresentar a cultura norteamericana como um instrumento de poder dos Estados Unidos em suas relações com o Brasil à época da Segunda Guerra Mundial. / Abstract: The Good Neighbor's Policy, released in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's government (1933-1945), sinalizes a new orientation in North American foreign policy for Latin America. The aggressive posture of the United States, used in its relations with South America since the beginning of the twentieth century, was considered contraproducent to the American objectives in the area, especially considering the rising influence of the Nazi Germany among Latin Americans. In this context, we take the case of Brazil to show how the United States abandoned a diplomatic posture based on its hard power and adopted a softer line in its foreign policy for Latin America. In this way, this research aims to present the North American culture as an instrument of the United States powers in its relations with Brazil in the epoch of Second World War. / Mestre

As the People’s Republic of China begins to accumulate influence on the international stage through strategic usage of soft power, the history and application of soft power throughout the history of China will be important to future scholars of the politics of Beijing. This study will examine Beijing and its government official’s perceptions of its soft power and how there have been historical parallels between the modern People’s Republic of China and the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in regard to soft power politics and China’s search for its legitimacy as a rising global power. This study will use two examples that have similar parallels: The eunuch admiral Zheng He (1371-1433) and his journey’s through the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Middle East and the Confucius Institute, a teaching and cultural exchange program under the auspices of the Office of Chinese Language International, known colloquially as Hanban, an organization under the direct control of the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership. What connects these two topics is the subject of soft power, a term coined by Joseph S. Nye, relating to the kind of power wielded by countries that does not involve military force and uses a “Charm Strategy” to support favorable treatment amongst its trading partners. Zheng He sailed the oceans to neighboring countries, in an attempt to give legitimacy to Ming China through the imperial tribute trade system. The Confucius Institute continues that legacy today, teaching a view of China that is shaped in Beijing. I will show the parallels between this historical figure and that of the Confucius Institute, showing that the pursuit of soft power is not a recent phenomenon in Chinese politics but a theory and a motivation that has existed in China since medieval times in China’s endless search for legitimacy in the eyes of its neighbors. I will be researching the life and journeys of Zheng He, along with the controversies surrounding the Confucius Institute and how all of these factors relate to China attempting to re-instate a legacy that the nation has was lost over since the nineteenth century’s “Century of Humiliation”. This loss of prestige was a result of European colonial power’s ambitions in the area. I will also use evidence to prove the importance of Confucianism in regard to the development of soft power in China. As China seeks to find its legitimacy, we will see that this has been some centuries in the making and plays a crucial part of Chinese politics today. The re-assertion of China’s place in the world as a rising world power will have geopolitical implications for decades to come.

<p>The aim of this paper is to get a deeper understanding if research about international relations has any practical meaning. The main focal point is about the importance of the scholar idea soft power, and its meaning on foreign policy actions through expressions. A quantity and quality method is used. The point of the main theory that concerns international relations takes a rationalistic perspective, and expands it to the notion that ides can have an impact on policy outcomes. Three different types of research utilization can be traced to determine in which way an idea is getting implemented. Why certain ideas can be used lies in the foreign policy preferences with the political institutions and its policymakers. In the last ten years, policymaking preferences in the USA, Great Britain and Sweden have shifted due to change of governments, challenges by expanding institutions as the European Union (EU) and terror alerts. Soft power is an upcoming idea that can be traced in the countries policies. In conclusion, the concept is expressed in the political agendas on the margins. For the American and the British policy the importance with the idea seems to be utilized for mediation for the retention and the legitimating of there existing policies regarding hard power. The main purpose with the idea for Sweden seems to be the utilization for guidance to promote EU: s ability to act as a prominent actor in international relations. The idea is, acts and expressed foremost as a positive symbol for the countries, rather than a ground-breaking new idea that changes policies. Due to is variables already exist in the policymaking processes.</p>

This article compares two theoretical concepts of international relations: the Soft-Powermodel by Joseph S. Nye and the Turbulence-model by James N. Rosenau. They are both trying to study the impact of the revolution in information- and communication-techniques. Although both concepts are far-reaching in their explanations there are questions in both concepts that remain unanswered. The author tries to cover these gaps by turning to the other model, respectively.