The Soft Power Influence of the USA, UAE, Israel and China on Indians: An Opinion Study

From time immemorial, hard power has been seen as the key driver of international relations. However, in the early 1990s, Joseph Nye, through his concept of soft power, proposed that countries can persuade others to do what they desire without using hard power. Nations rely on economic, cultural or non-hard-power-centred approaches to achieve their goals. Cultivating soft power takes substantial effort and resources, and has the potential to have an immense impact on the intended country. The present study is based on a questionnaire responded to by 84 Indian nationals and one non-resident Indian on the soft power influence of the USA, UAE, Israel and China on Indian citizens. Though the study size is not substantial, the subjects chosen are largely intellectuals. Hence, the study results provided deep insights into the respondents’ degrees of association and disassociation with the four countries studied. Simple quantitative and qualitative tests were administered on the data. The results also have significant policy implications.