Ever since it became a rising economic power, China started to realize the need for soft power in order to increase its global competitiveness. In Africa, Beijing found itself competing with Western companies backed by development agencies imposing good governance and human rights restrictions. Beijing sought to appeal to some African nations by offering to […]
Andrew Peacock/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Following its spectacular success as host of the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing’s successive attempts at increasing its “soft power” have often fallen short. Soft power is a concept developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University to describe the ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce, use force or […]
AP Photo: David Guttenfelder With the official death toll from Typhoon Haiyan topping 4,000 on Wednesday, nations from around the world are ramping up their efforts to help the Philippines deal with over 1,600 missing persons, 700,000 damaged houses and the nearly 10 million people affected. Australia, Britain and the U.S. have so far each […]