Hard and Soft Power Knowledge is power: but what is power? A basic distinction can be made between behavioral power—the ability to obtain outcome you want—and resource power—the possession of the resources that are usually associated with the ability to get the outcomes you want. Behavioral power, in turn, can be divided into hard and soft power. Hard power is the ability to get others to do what they otherwise would not do through threat of punishment or promise of reward. Whether by economic carrots or military sticks, the ability to coax or coerce has long been the central element of power…Asymmetrical interdependence is an important source of hard power. The ability of the less vulnerable to manipulate or escape the constraints of an interdependent relationship at low cost is an important source of power. Soft power, on the other hand, is the ability to get desired outcomes because others want what you want; it is the ability to achieve desired outcomes through attraction rather than coercion. It works by convincing others to follow or getting them to agree to norms and institutions that produce the desired behavior. Soft power can rest on the appeal of one’s ideas or culture or the ability to set the agenda through standards and institutions that shape the preferences of others. It depends largely on the persuasiveness of the free information that an actor seeks to transmit. If a state can make its power legitimate in the eyes of others and establish international institutions that encourage others to define their interests in compatible ways, it may not need to expend as many of its costly traditional economic or military resources. Hard and soft power are related, but they are not the same. Samuel P. Hungtington is correct when he says that material success makes a culture and ideology attractive, and decreases in economic and military success lead to self-doubt and crises of identity. He is not totally correct when arguing that soft power is power only when it rests on a foundation of hard power. Soft power varies over time and different domains. America’s popular culture, with its libertarian and egalitarian currents, dominates films, television, and electronic communications in the world today. However, not all aspects of that culture are attractive to all others, for example conservative Moslems. In that domain, American soft power is limited. Nonetheless, the spread of information and American popular culture has generally increased global awareness of and openness to American ideas and values. To some extent this reflects deliberate policies, but more often soft power is an inadvertent by-product. For example, companies all over the world voluntarily subject themselves to the financial disclosure standards of the US Securities and Exchange Commission because of the importance of American capital markets.

Keohane, Robert O. & Nye, Joseph S. Power, Interdependence, And The Information Age

Hard power is a concept which is mainly used in realism in international relations and refers to national power which comes from military and economic means.

It is used in contrast to soft power, which refers to power that comes from diplomacy and culture.

Hard power lies at the command end of the spectrum of behaviours and describes a nations ability to coerce or induce another nation to perform a course of action. This can be done through military power which consists of coercive diplomacy , war and alliance using threats and force with the aim of coercion, deterrence and protection. Alternatively economic power can be used which relies on aid , bribes and economic sanctions in order to induce and coerce.

Further reading

Joseph S. Nye, Jr, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics