Question

What is a soft power? How did the United States use it to combat Communism during the Cold War?

Answer 1

Soft Power is a term that was created by Joseph Nye and American Political Scientist. He explained that Hard Power is military and economic sanctions. Soft Power, on the other hand, is a non-coercive way to create a favorable image of a country in the minds of people, it can come in culture, political values, and foreign policies.

Soft Power was used heavily during the Cold War by the United States. Many actions were taken to portray the “American side” as the best one. The US portrayed capitalism as the best economic choice and the American government system the best one. The US sold its culture as the best one as an opposite to the Soviet economy.

It indeed had a good outcome, there are famous pictures of huge lines in Mcdonald’s after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mcdonalds is the biggest image of US and of capitalism around the world.