Joseph Nye | Understanding Global Power Shifts in 21st Century

CCG 全球化智库CCG 2023-05-13

On April 28, 2023, a new book by the father of “soft power” Joseph S. Nye Jr., former dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, titled Soft Power and Great-Power Competition: Shifting Sands in the Balance of Power Between the United States and China, was released at the headquarters of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) in Beijing. The book is part of the “China and Globalization” series co-edited by Dr. Henry Huiyao Wang, Founder and President of CCG and Dr. Mabel Lu Miao, Secretary of CCG. Dr. Wang contributed the Chinese preface of the book. The English edition of the book was published by Springer Nature, and the Chinese edition was published by the CITIC Press Group.

During the launch event, Professor Joseph S. Nye shared his thinking on the book’s theme, and discussed issues with Dr. Wang related to “cooperative rivalry ” between China and the US, the role of soft power, how to expand “friendly cycles” and shorten “adverse cycles”. Dr. Miao, William Achauer, Editorial Director for Business, Economics and Political Sciences, and Law at Springer Nature, Yonggang Hong, Chief Editor at CITIC Press Group and Leana Li, Regional Director for Books, China, Springer Nature attended the event and delivered speeches.

Soft Power and Great-Power Competition

Author: Joseph S. Nye Jr.

ISBN: 978-981-99-0716-8

Publisher: Springer Nature

Springer Book Download:

In the 21st century, flourishing globalization has made the world more interconnected and interdependent unlike any time in human history. Through frequent interaction, huge advances have been made in science, technology and society with many countries, especially those in Asia, achieving tremendous economic and social progress, changing the global balance of power. In particular, the rise of China and other emerging countries, has ushered in a historic shift in global power. Joseph S. Nye Jr., the father of “soft power” and Harvard University professor has posed a thought-provoking question: “How do we manage that power transition from the west to east in a way which is beneficial for all countries and which doesn’t break down into great power rivalries, which are destructive?”
Nye is well known for developing the concept of “soft power,” the ability to influence others through attraction rather than coercion or payment. In his view, soft power doesn’t happen to be zero-sum. If China becomes more attractive in the United States, and the United States becomes more attractive in China – that can help both of them overcome their differences.

This open access book consists of essays selected from Joseph S. Nye, Jr.’s last three decades of writing and illustrate a variety of perspectives on the nature of power, the role of the United States in the world and US-China relations. Through this collection, it is hoped that readers will gain a better understanding of today’s global environment and find that while great power competition may be inevitable in a world as centers of power shift, cooperating to address transnational challenges can be a positive sum game. On April 28, 2021, CCG hosted a dialogue between CCG President Wang Huiyao and Joseph S. Nye Jr. during which global power shifts in the 21^st century and the future of US-China relations were discussed. Nye presented his theory of a 20-year cycle in US-China relations and many other thought-provoking questions. The transcript of this dialogue is included as an appendix to this book for readers to explore and reflect.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. is the University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus and former Dean of the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, and earned a PhD in political science from Harvard. He has served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and Deputy Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology. His most recent books include Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump (2021); Is the American Century Over? (2015); and The Future of Power (2011). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the British Academy, and the American Academy of Diplomacy.

The contents of this book are divided into four main parts. Part One discusses the origins and political progress of the concept of “Soft Power”. Part Two explores soft power in the American experience, its sources and interaction with US foreign policy, as well as its ebb and flow in the age of Obama, Trump and Biden. Part Three examines the rise of and the opportunities and difficulties for Chinese soft power, focusing on China’s investment in soft power and how this demonstrates its commitment to a peaceful rise. Part Four provides a bird’s-eye view of power shifts in the 21st century and the interactions between the US as an established power and China as a rising power, while also reassuring readers that Thucydidean fears are unnecessary and a Cold War is avoidable. Ultimately, the US-China relationship is a “cooperative rivalry” where a successful strategy of “smart competition” is necessary and cooperation on transnational challenges like climate change, pandemics, cyberterrorism and nuclear proliferation, will serve to benefit not only China and the US, but the world as a whole.

Content

Part 1 The Role of Soft Power in Global Politics

Soft Power

The Limits of Soft Power

State Smart Power Strategies

Understanding Twenty-First Century Power Shifts

Soft Power: The Origins and Political Progress of a Concept

What is a Moral Foreign Policy?

Part 2 Soft Power in the American Experience

Soft Power and American Foreign Policy

Get Smart: Combining Hard and Soft Power

Obama the Pragmatist

American Soft Power in the Age of Trump

Trump’s Effect on US Foreign Policy

Can Joe Biden’s America Be Trusted?

After the Liberal International Order

Part 3 The Rise of Chinese Soft Power

As China Rises, Must Others Bow?

The Rise of China’s Soft Power

Hard Decisions on Soft Power: Opportunities and Difficulties for Chinese Soft Power

Does China Have Feet of Clay?

Perspectives for a China Strategy

Part 4 US-China Relations and the Role of Soft Power

The “Nye Report:” Six Years Later

The Dollar and the Dragon

Is China Overtaking America?

The Financial Crisis and US-China Misperceptions

Work with China, Don’t Contain It

The Future of U.S.-China Relations

The Kindleberger Trap

The Cooperative Rivalry of US-China Relations

The Future of U.S.-China Relations After Buenos Aires

For the US and China, Interdependence is a Double-Edged Sword

Cold War with China Is Avoidable

The Logic of US-China Competition

Appendix: Dialogue on US-China Balance of Power

■ A Collection of CCG’s Publication:

China and Globalization series

The “China and Globalization” series, co-edited by Dr. Henry Huiyao Wang, Founder and President of CCG and Dr. Mabel Lu Miao, Secretary-General of CCG, seeks to create a balanced global perspective by gathering the views of highly influential policy scholars, practitioners, and opinion leaders from China and around the world.

The first volume of the series, Consensus or Conflict?: China and Globalization in the 21st century is an unprecedented work made up of contributed articles by 38 authors, ranging from distinguished opinion leaders to scholars from around the world such as Pascal Lamy, Joseph S. Nye Jr., Edmund Phelps, Kishore Mahbubani, Lord Jim O’Neill, Wendy Cutler, Mr. Zhu Guangyao and He Yafei. In this unprecedented period of human history, they provide insights, new ideas and recommendations to the challenges we face in terms of policies for changing the “rules based world order”, global public health, climate change, education and migration, the digital and biosphere revolutions, and global governance. Since its launch on September 30, 2021, to critical acclaim, this book has received more than 310,000 downloads.

In recognition of its innovation and impact in research on sustainability, it stood out among more than 800 works and won the “2022 China New Development Award” from Springer Nature Group.

Access to the book:

The second volume of the series is The Asian 21^st Century, authored by Singapore veteran diplomat Kishore Mahbubani. In his book, Mahbubani explains in detail how Asia will become the new engine of globalization in the 21^st century. He argues that the 21^st century will see the return of Asia to the center of the world stage, China’s peaceful rise and a reshaping of the world order. The book has received attention internationally and has been downloaded more than 2.91 million times since its launch on December 30, 2021.

Access to the book:

The third book of this series is Transition and Opportunity: Strategies from Business Leaders on Making the Most of China’s Future. CCG invited 22 contributors including CEOs of well-known multinational corporations and presidents of foreign chambers of commerce in China to share invaluable insights, offering balanced and diverse perspectives on a range of issues related to China’s domestic development, international economic cooperation, and China-US competition. These insights are useful not only for the wider business community, but also for academics, policymakers, students, and anyone trying to deepen their understanding of this exciting period of “transition and opportunity” and make the most of China’s bright future. The book has been downloaded more than 150,000 times since its launch in February 2022.

Access to the book:

The fourth volume of this series China and the World in a Changing Context: Perspectives from Ambassadors to China is made up of works from 24 Ambassadors to China, discussing a range of bilateral and multilateral issues, including trade and investment, regional economic cooperation, the “Belt and Road Initiative”, economic recovery from COVID-19 and China’s Fourteenth Five Year Plan. So far, this edition has been downloaded almost 130,000 times since its launch in March 2022.

Access to the book:

The fifth volume of the series is Dr. Henry Huiyao Wang’s work The Ebb and Flow of Globalization: Chinese Perspectives on China’s Development and Role in the World. This book focuses on globalization and China’s evolving role in the world, offering unique perspectives on a tumultuous period that began with Donald Trump’s election and ended with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This period saw the global landscape reshaped by China’s continued rise, intensifying great power competition, and a public health crisis that has changed how we live. The essays center on three interconnected themes – China’s remarkable development under its policy of Reform and Opening-up, China’s deepening integration into the global economy and rise in an increasingly multipolar world, as well as the quest to reinvigorate global governance and multilateralism to address the pressing global challenges of the 21st century. The book was released in August, 2022.

Access to the book:

CCG Global Dialogues

To encourage calm, rational discussion to share views, make sense of the momentous changes that were occurring in our world, and find ways to work together, CCG launched CCG Dialogue Series and converses with experts from different countries and disciplines that could help us put current events in context and explore solutions to our shared challenges. We share these talks in the form of a book so that readers could absorb the insights shared by our speakers, compare and contrast their perspectives, and enhance their understanding of important issues such as globalization, global governance and multilateralism, the global economy, our shared transnational threats, and China-US relations.

The first volume of the series CCG Global Dialogues: Understanding Globalization, Global Gaps, and Power Shifts in the 21^st Century was a volume divided into three parts, with 10 dialogues between Henry Huiyao Wang, Founder and President of CCG and Graham Allison, David Blair, Kerry Brown, Anne Case, Wendy Cutler, Angus Deaton, Thomas L. Friedman, Valerie Hansen, Pascal Lamy, Chen Li, Kishore Mahbubani, Joseph S. Nye Jr., Adam Posen, J. Stapleton Roy, John L. Thornton, Martin Wolf and Zhu Guangyao.

Access to the book:

CCG Books

● Published by Palgrave Macmillan Singapore

● Editors: Wang Huiyao, Miao Lu

More Information

This book aims to help readers make sense of our changing world by sharing the views of global thought leaders on some of the most important issues of our time, from US-China relations and global governance to climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ten dialogues in this book were part of the “China and the World” series of online discussions hosted by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG). The series features CCG President Huiyao Wang in conversation with experts from a range of fields, from renowned scholars of international relations, economics, and history, to journalists, policymakers, and business leaders.

● Links：

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-19-3846-7

● Published by Springer

● Authors: Wang Huiyao

More Information

This book focuses on globalization and China’s evolving role in the world, offering unique perspectives on a number of developments during a tumultuous period that began with Donald Trump’s election and ended with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This period saw the global landscape reshaped by China’s continued rise, intensifying great power competition, and a public health crisis that has changed how we live.

The essays center on three interconnected themes – China’s remarkable development under its policy of Reform and Opening-up, China’s deepening integration into the global economy and rise in an increasingly multipolar world, as well as the quest to revitalize global governance and multilateralism to address the pressing global challenges of the 21st century.

● Links：

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-9253-6

● Published by Springer

● Edited by Wang Huiyao and Miao Lu

More Information

China and the World in a Changing Context-Perspectives from Ambassadors to China is the latest volume in CCG’s “China and Globalization” series, which seeks to create a balanced global perspective by gathering the views of highly influential scholars, practitioners, and opinion leaders from around the world on issues of policy and governance.

Ambassadors are a kind of vehicle and bellwether for globalization. These diplomatic envoys serve as pivotal contact points between nations across a wide range of fields, from economics and culture, to health and the environment. The special group of ambassadors in this book – all based in Beijing – are at the forefront of what, for many countries, is one of their most important bilateral relationships and the platform for one of the most striking and consequential developments in global affairs in the 21st century: the rise of China on the world stage.

● Links：

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-8086-1

● Published by Springer

● Edited by Wang Huiyao and Miao Lu

More Information

Released nearly two years after the outbreak of COVID-19, Transition and Opportunity brings together an array of CEOs and senior executives from leading multinationals, leaders of foreign trade associations and representatives of advocacy groups on the ground in China to share their views on the potential and risks China holds for business as the world economy recovers.

The 22 entries in this book include contributions from the heads of Beijing-based chambers of commerce representing the EU, the US, France, Switzerland and Brazil and others, CEOs and senior executives of MNCs like Airbus, Royal DSM, Michelin, LinkedIn and Herbalife as well as representatives of global consulting firms like KPMG, PwC, Accenture and Roland Berger.

Divided into three parts - ‘The Big Picture,’ ‘Analysis and Advice,’ and ‘On the Ground’ - content progresses from looking at how countries balance their own interests with China’s for that elusive ‘win-win’ formula, to the role consultancies and advisors play in helping companies succeed, then looking at the experiences of individual companies to see how they have adapted and thrived in China.

● Links：

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-8603-0

● Published by Springer

● Edited by Wang Huiyao and Alistair Michie

More Information

This book brings together leading international scholars and policy-makers to explore the challenges and dilemmas of globalization and governance in an era increasingly defined by economic crises, widespread populism, retreating internationalism, and a looming cold war between the United States and China. It provides the diversity of views on those widely concerned topics such as global governance, climate change, global health, migration, S&T revolution, financial market, and sustainable development.

● Links：

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-5391-9

● Published by Springer

● Edited by Wang Huiyao, President and Miao Lu, Vice President, Center for China and Globalization(CCG), Beijing, China

More Information

The internationalization of Chinese enterprises is one of the most notable aspects of economic globalization in the 21st century. Despite the 2008 financial crisis and weak global outbound investment, under the “go global“ initiative, Chinese outbound investment has gone from strength to strength, while also diversifying in terms of investment modalities, destinations, and industries. However, growing anti-globalization sentiment in some countries has also created new challenges for Chinese firms expanding internationally.

Drawing on nearly 3000 data samples, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, this book presents unique insights into the features and patterns of Chinese enterprises’ globalization. The analysis provides a useful reference for enterprises that have already gone global and those that plan to. In particular, this book investigates challenges confronted by Chinese companies when doing business in foreign countries. It summarizes research covering three angles, namely: the current situation, causation analysis and corresponding solutions, and recommendations for firms, government agencies and other institutions.

This book provides a comprehensive overview to help readers to grasp the broad picture of the international expansion of Chinese enterprises. It has important reference value for enterprises to help devise foreign investment strategy, seize opportunities, and navigate challenges in the course of globalization.

● Links：

https://www.springer.com/cn/book/9789811546457

● Published by Edward Elgar

● Edited by Wang Huiyao, President and Miao Lu, Vice President, Center for China and Globalization(CCG), Beijing, China

More Information

An excellent guide for understanding the trends, challenges and opportunities facing China through globalization, this Handbook answers the pertinent questions regarding the globalization process and China’s influence on the world.

With contributions from leading experts and international researchers, each chapter covers key topics regarding China’s participation in globalization, including: China’s new role in global economic governance; outward direct investment; China’s soft power and the implications for foreign relations; global migration, diaspora and talent. An enriching range of case studies and extensive empirical research are used to explore the successes and failures of globalization in China, and to discuss the dilemmas facing decision makers in today’s globalized world. A major contribution to the field, this Handbook offers valuable insights to China’s often misunderstood globalization process.

An essential reference for academics and researchers looking for a go-to empirical resource, this Handbook provides scholars of economics, politics and East Asian studies with an exemplary selection of contemporary research on China and globalization.

● Links：

https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/handbook-on-china-and-globalization

● Published by Springer

● Authors: Wang Huiyao, President and Miao Lu, Vice President, Center for China and Globalization(CCG), Beijing, China

The first effort to address the gap regarding higher-end talent within the scholarly work on internal labor migration in China

Provides an essential overview of the major milestones in China’s talents attraction policies, as well as several recommendations to help further improve those policies

Investigates corresponding policies in Germany, Japan, and Singapore to serve as a basis for comparison

Provides a snapshot of first-hand reference material for relevant stakeholders involved in cooperation with China

More Information

This book offers the most comprehensive, up-to-date assessment of China’s domestic and international migration. Restructuring economic development requires large numbers of educated and skilled talents, but this effort comes at a time when the size of China’s domestic workforce is shrinking. In response, both national and regional governments in China have been keen to encourage overseas Chinese talents and professionals to return to the country. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has initiated a number of policies to attract international highly-skilled talents and enhance the country’s competitiveness, and some Chinese policies have started attracting foreign talents, who are coming to the country to work, and even to stay. Since Chinese policies, mechanisms, and administration efforts to attract and retain skilled domestic or overseas talents are helping to reshape China’s economy and are significantly affecting the cooperation on migration and talent mobility, these aspects, in addition to being of scholarly and research interest, hold considerable commercial potential.

● Links：

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811362552#aboutBook

Other CCG News:

New Book | The Global Power Shifts in the 21st Century

Josep Borrell’s scheduled speech at CCG on EU-China relations

Justin Vaïsse speaks at CCG on the eve of Macron's visit

Brazilian Ministerial Visiting Event Held at CCG

CCG Global Dialogue：Building a floor for China-US relations

CCG President in Dialogue with CFR President Richard Haass

Video | 7th Annual China Global Think Tank Innovation Forum

CCG 2nd International Visit in Pandemic 2022

Wang Huiyao in Dialogue with Fred Bergsten