With a little over a year to go until the Americans choose their next President, it's a good time to be monitoring how U.S. foreign policy debates in Washington will evolve and take shape under the next leadership (all but certain to be a Democratic one, if you believe the pundits and poll numbers).
A great place to track this is the blog of the CSIS Commission on Smart Power. CSIS - The Center for Strategic and International Studies - is, of course, one of the biggest and most influential think tanks in Washington. It's always in the thick of national and global policy debates (with its lineup of past and future government heavyweights), and the Commission on Smart Power is its main vehicle this time around to frame the terms of discussion. It defines "Smart Power" as:
"The effective integration of 'hard power' - our military might - and 'soft power' - our ability to wield influence by attraction and persuasion."
At first sight there seems little that is new about the idea. Prominent experts have always exhorted policy-makers to strategically combine multiple instruments - from the very hard to the very soft - from the entire foreign policy arsenal. But as an attempt to set the terms of the debate, it just might work. For one, it's catchy. And it skates the objections of those who think soft power sounds too... well, soft. The intelligent use of power is something every political candidate can get behind. But whatever its success in shaping current and future policies, the blog offers quick links to the latest U.S. foreign policy developments, and copious analysis of burning issues by experts in and outside its think tank walls.
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