Does China's domestic political situation constrain its generation of soft power - Essay Example

Such an interpretational model has become so important that leaders of some of the most powerful nations in the world have even begun using the term and describing it as a fundamental and foundational element with regards to how they perceive the best course ahead with regards to development and world relations for the future. However, as with any interpretational model of interaction or other international/foreign relations tool, the use and application of soft power cannot definitively be said to be on the whole effective.

This is of course due to the fact that different dynamics within individual countries, overall levels of democracy, and levels of emphasis that the decision-makers placed upon such a construct are all more important to defining the overall degree of success that soft power will enjoy within a specific system. Accordingly, the goal of this particular analysis will be to analyze and discuss the increasing role that soft power plays within the external relations of the People’s Republic of China and whether or not the current and past local dynamic that exist within this nation ultimately helps or constrains the overall level of soft power that it can hope to integrate within its foreign relations framework.

Rather than seeking to engage in a value judgment with regards to whether or not the Chinese governmental structure is “good” or “bad”, the analysis will instead seek to gain a level of inference with regards to whether or not the current model needs and facilitates a more cohesive application of soft power or whether the undemocratic and monolithic structure of the government necessarily constrains the degree and effectiveness of whatever soft power might exist or be practiced in the first place.

Soft Power and the Means Whereby States Engage with “the other” Soft power in and of itself is not a new concept. Ultimately, at least a basic understanding and interpretation of what this concept stands for has been engaged by many world powers over the past several hundred years. However, the work of Joseph Nye and the introduction into the global political lexicon of the term soft power as necessarily raised this as an issue and approach that has helped it to gain a greatly increased share of notoriety.

For instance, in 2007, General Secretary Hu Jintao met with the 17th Communist Party Conference and specifically addressed the growing and extent need for an increase in the exhibition of Chinese soft power. In such a way, the reader can come to the understanding that regardless of what the preceding analysis might illuminate, the Communist Party of China and General Secretary Hu Jintao are keenly aware of the benefits that it can provide and the need to integrate with it on a more effective level as a means of furthering the individual goals that the People’s Republic of China hopes to see affected within the world.

Likewise, before delving directly into the means by which soft power is furthered or produced by the Chinese system of governance, the reader should first consider the key differentials that separate the People’