Internationalizing Soft Power: An Indian Perspective

• In Event: Critical/Cultural Approaches to Soft Power, Nation Branding, and Public Diplomacy

Abstract

The US-originated model of soft power takes a rather narrow view of what is culture and how cultural power can be exercised in a rapidly changing world. Focusing on India, this paper will suggest that India’s assets in terms of civilizational and cultural capital have existed for centuries, with Buddhism being the most enduring export from India. India’s soft power, the paper argues, therefore has a civilizational dimension to it: the Indic civilization being one of the major cultural formations in the world. Added to this legacy, it will suggest, is contemporary India’s secular democracy, a globalized and voluble diaspora, as well as thriving media, IT and communications industries that can disseminate its soft power resources. India has emerged as a key exporter of human and intellectual capital to universities, transnational corporations and multilateral organizations. To what extent will the rise of India contribute to internalization of the discourse on soft power?

Author

• Daya Thussu, U of Westminster