> Force is the ultimate form of influence against which there is only force to stand against it
Gandhi would disagree with you.
The weakness of hard power is that it is expensive, blatant in application, and virtually guaranteed to create opposition. The strength of soft power is that it is indirect while being cheaper and less likely to create resentment. People are best manipulated through suggestion rather than coercion.
Hard power is ugly but at least it's obvious. Soft power can be just as ugly by being insidious.
Gandhi was a lucky guy because he was doing his opposition thing against a British Empire. Think for a couple of seconds what would have happened to Gandhi in the USSR. The British Empire had for a long time put itself in a position of bringing freedom and culture and when British trained Indians started to quote there own rhetoric back at them.
Gandhi had the extreme luck that WW1 and WW2 were happening effectively totally changing British culture, British power and so much more.
Soft power can be ugly and insidious but I still vastly prefer to deal with that then with a guy taking a baseball bat to my knie. If the worst problem liberals have to fight is the Google sort algorithm and the amazon recommendation engine then we are in a pretty good position.
Gandhi would disagree with you.
The weakness of hard power is that it is expensive, blatant in application, and virtually guaranteed to create opposition. The strength of soft power is that it is indirect while being cheaper and less likely to create resentment. People are best manipulated through suggestion rather than coercion.
Hard power is ugly but at least it's obvious. Soft power can be just as ugly by being insidious.