Os conceitos de soft power e hard power se desenvolveram muito ao longo das últimas décadas, geralmente com discussões sobre os instrumentos de uso desses tipos de poder e suas consequências. Ao mesmo tempo, poucos estudos foram feitos para tentar identificar condições mínimas para que o soft power florescesse e o hard power diminuísse. A presente tese tenta corroborar empiricamente a ideia de que países mais desenvolvidos e com instituições mais sólidas teriam condições de ter mais soft power e ao mesmo tempo menos hard power ao longo do tempo. Basicamente, ter uma economia desenvolvida e estável daria condições para que um país conseguisse ser exemplo para outros países. Por outro lado, países mais desenvolvidos institucional e economicamente teriam mais demandas sociais em contraposição a mais gastos militares. Além disso, testes empíricos também indicam que o crescimento das democracias no mundo permitiu que o gasto militar americano caísse ao longo dos anos, sendo que a evolução das democracias foi exógena ao gasto militar americano, dando abertura para uma visão realista de menor interferência militar em outros países por parte dos americanos. / The concepts of soft power and hard power have developed a lot over the last few decades, usually with discussions about the tools for using these types of power and their consequences. At the same time, few studies were done to try to identify minimum conditions for soft power to flourish and hard power to decrease. The present thesis tries to empirically confirm the idea that more developed countries with more solid institutions would be able to have more soft power and at the same time less hard power over time. Basically, having a developed and stable economy would make it possible for a country to be an example for other countries. On the other hand, more developed countries, institutionally and economically, would have more social demands as opposed to more military spending. In addition, empirical evidence also indicates that the growth of democracies in the world has allowed US military spending to fall over the years, with the evolution of democracies being exogenous to US military spending, opening up to a realist view of less military interference in other countries on the part of Americans.

The Arctic is except being one of the Worlds’ most remote regions also experiencing the heavy impacts of climate change. This means an opportunity for the Arctic nations – access to a brand new ocean. The melting region is from a military perspective of strategic importance, as well as it provides new shipping routes and holds up to 30% of the worlds undiscovered natural resources being worth billions of dollars. One nation having taken a keen notice to this is Russia, it has claimed land in the Arctic several times and in 2007 it planted its flag on the seabed of the North pole declaring the Arctic belongs to them. This lays out the purpose of this report – to investigate how the Russian use of soft and hard power in the Arctic has changed during the years of 2007 to 2017. In order to examine this, Kristensen and Sakstrup at the Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhage along with several others, suggest analysing Russias military and diplomatic behaviour. The results finds that the Russian use of soft power in terms of diplomacy and cooperation with the other arctic states was mainly present, and increased in the years 2007 to 2014 prior to the Ukraine crisis, while again being present after a long haul in 2017. The use of hard power in terms of military might and presence has during the same period of time steadily increased.

The main aim of diploma thesis "China - real threat for American hegemony?" is to answer the question whether China is trying to threaten American position of world hegemon. After the dissolution of USSR and the fall of Iron Curtain USA became the only world superpower. Balance of power theory assumes that the occurrence of leading actor in the system will invoke attempts of others to balance the power of the leader, or to weaken him. In current world political system there are powers whose power potential is growing. One of them is China, mainly because its fast growing and prospering economy. Author of the thesis works with the concept of hegemony based on hard and soft power and three types of exercising of power - three faces of power - as means of achieving its goals. Author analyses Chinese use of hard and soft power resources, that can be classified under three types of use of power. All policies are then examined from "balance of power" theory view. Author tries to find out which one of behavior "balancing" attempts to balance, weaken USA or "bandwagoning" - support of USA is prevailing in Chinese policies. According to the prevailing tendency of Chinese behavior towards USA the author is capable to state whether China can be considered as a threat for US hegemony.

Before this study was conducted, there was a research gap in the current field of international relations. The purpose of this study was to examine why the EU has not established a common defence policy and a common defence. In order to address this, a theoretical framework based on realism and liberalism was created. Taken together, this study thus filled that gap and provided new insight on EU’s defence policy. The method that was used to conduct the research was a case study and the material consisted of the Treaty of Lisbon, EU key documents, as well as numerous of theoretical works concerning realism and liberalism. The study is of an explaining nature and the analysis seeks to explain the research question by testing it on the theoretical framework. The study concludes that the theoretical framework is able to explain the research question. Both realism and liberalism contributed with significant insight on why the EU has not established a common defence policy and a common defence. The main result shows that realism answers the research question by pointing out the role that member states play, and that liberalism, in contrast, points at the role EU as a unitary institution plays.

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.

<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>

The conceptual divide between “hard power” and “soft power,” and the resources that constitute the basis of each, remain hotly debated topics among International Relations theorists as well as foreign policy advisors and analysts. Two developments in the last decade that have greatly influenced the study of the hard-power/soft-power dichotomy are: (1) the pursuit by many single-state actors of foreign policy strategies identifying and actively incorporating soft-power instruments, and (2) the realization by political theorists that individual policy instruments often exhibit unexpected hard and soft-power characteristics and effects, sometimes resulting in hard power acting soft and soft power acting hard. Exploring this dichotomy further, I examine the Russian Federation’s use of its hard and soft power with respect to the de facto independent Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia from 1999-2009 by identifying specific Russian foreign policy instruments employed in the bilateral relationship and analyzing how these instruments draw upon and project Russian hard and soft power. My findings support research addressing instances when traditionally defined hard-power instruments display soft-power effects, and vice versa, and highlight examples of individual policy instruments producing both hard and soft-power effects simultaneously; coercing a subject while they co-opt its interests. In addition, I find that the Russian Federation is actively employing soft-power methods of engagement in its contemporary foreign policy strategy, having substantially increased this employment between 1999-2009— particularly with respect to Abkhazia. Concerning the Russia-Abkhazia relationship specifically, I conclude that, based on Russia’s engagement of the region from 1999- 2009, ties between the country and the de facto state will continue to strengthen, however, with Abkhazia in an increasingly supplicant position. / text

Vast amounts of energy resources have equipped Russia with powerful means of influence on energy dependent Ukraine. This essay places Russia’s current energy policy towards Ukraine into a broader theoretical perspective. Drawing on the work of John Mearsheimers theory of Offensive Neorealism and Joseph. Nye’s theory of Hard and Soft Power, the essay explains why and how Russia as regional hegemon use its energy weapon to build regional spheres of influence. How Russia chooses to use its energy resources depends on the level of external pressure. Essays analysis shows that the essays chosen theories goes a long way to explain the overall pattern of Russia’s energy policy toward Ukraine from 2004-2014. The thesis concludes that Russia was in fact using its energy resources as a geostrategic foreign and security policy instrument.

The purpose of this essay is to explore China's foreign policy through Joseph S. Nye's theory of power applied on the Belt and Road Initiative. It aims to answer whether or not China's foreign policy has changed during Xi Jinping's presidency and in what way Belt and Road Initiative can be explained in terms of power behaviour and power resources. The method used in this essay is that of a case study. The empirical evidence shows that China's foreign policy has changed in a direction that is meant to strengthen Xi Jinping's influence and that Belt and Road Initiative is a project with the intention to accumulate economic resources. It also shows that China's government and domestic policies weakens its "soft power" resources due to restraints in its civil society.  The essayc concludes that the Belt and Road Initiative is China and Xi Jinping's expansion strategy whose main objective is to create incentives for Chinese domestic, economic growth. It also concludes that Chinese "soft power" would increase if the domestic policies would aim for a more democratic course.

After 1999 the situation in then relatively stable Dagestan started to deteriorate swiftly. However, unlike in the cases of previous separatist movements which sprung up in some parts of the Russian Federation after the demise of the USSS, Dagestani separatists did not officially gather under the flags of nation but under the flags of Islam. Soon, Dagestan entered a period of instability and violence which turned into a vicious circle of bloodshed. In a short period of time, Dagestan radically turned from stability to large scale violence, which makes it necessary for us to understand the factors responsible for the current situation. The following thesis analyses the development of Dagestan after the collapse of the USSR, from the stable period of the 90s till these days, which are characterized by omnipresent violence. Employing the theoretical knowledge collected by other scholars and analyzing similar separatist movements in other parts of the post-socialist world, taking into account the specifics the North Caucasus region, this study attempts to identify the factors (grassroots) which caused the rise of Dagestani insurgence. In comparison with the Chechen separatism of the early 90s, it uncovers the roots and the real face of the "new wave" of insurgency which flooded Dagestan and started to...