Soft or Hard Power in Diplomacy

Introduction

With the end of the Cold War, the military-based structure, which was the only relatively single actor in the international system that went through a serious transformation, was replaced by a deepened structure with new actors such as individuals, companies, and international organizations alongside the state. This transformation of the system requires actors, especially states, to revise themselves through new security perceptions, and instead of military interventions, which are described as hard power, soft power resources such as education, science, sports, culture, art and economy come to the forefront. In a world that has become interdependent in many respects, countries need to both protect and defend their national interests and maintain relations with other countries in the face of the risks of biased, false news and incitement to societies caused by increasing information resources. For these reasons, states have started to focus on public diplomacy, a concept related to diplomacy, in order to create attraction and support in foreign policy by explaining their own culture, world views, interests and goals in the opposite society, and to protect the image they create by avoiding negative judgments. With the development of technology in the new international system, public diplomacy activities, which have roots in ancient times and have the capacity to produce soft power instead of hard power, have become an important foreign policy tool preferred by international actors today. Now, while developing their military capabilities on the one hand, the states have started to try to realize their international policies with soft power activities on the other hand. This has led to the increasing importance of public diplomacy activities. McLuhan's Global Village has caused political, economic, cultural, social and technological changes, and this has significantly affected and changed not only the course of international relations, but also the public diplomacy and practices that have developed in the discipline of international relations. Despite the difference between domestic and foreign policy in the postmodern period after modernization, when the analyzes made on the relationship between foreign policy and public opinion are examined, it is seen that ignorance and indifference about foreign policy issues are dominant in the public, and the main reason for this is expressed as that foreign policy cannot affect people as much as domestic policy decisions. Globalization has caused the difference between domestic and foreign policy to disappear, the borders between states to lose their importance, the interdependence of states to increase, and therefore the need to create a positive image in the international arena before the peoples of other countries. Especially after the 1945s, the idea of states to be the only actor in international relations began to be questioned, and governments that could not carry out public diplomacy alone, non-governmental organizations, foundations, associations, academia and the economy, the environment, sports, health, art, technology, education, youth, women's rights and humanitarian aid have started to operate in areas. These organizations, which also play a role in public diplomacy, influence the decisions and activities of the state and governments, carry out lobbying activities to change their policies, and can change public opinions in the desired direction. Because a successful public diplomacy activity is possible with the joint action of all these social actors for a certain purpose. In the globalized world, the expanding concept of public relations and public diplomacy intersect in many ways. Therefore, if we consider that two-way symmetrical and perfect public relations are considered as the models of the 21st century and are built on consensus, mutual understanding, participation, and two-way strategic communication, public diplomacy, which we can consider as the art of communicating with different societies, is discussed together in this study. The tool that states resort to in order to protect their country's policy, prestige and cultural integrity is generally referred to as diplomacy and public diplomacy. In this study, soft power and hard power concepts will be discussed and their place in diplomacy will be examined.