Cinema and soft power: Configuring the national and transnational in geo-politics

Spicer, Andrew

Abstract

As the contributors to this valuable collection all attest, the concept of ‘soft power’ can be traced to the political scientist Joseph Nye, who, after an initial attempt in 1990, published Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (2004). Nye sought to analyse how governments were able to exert influence through attraction and enticement rather than coercion and how, increasingly, they attempted to mobilise a country’s ‘culture, political ideals and policies’ into a coherent strategy to promote a credible positive image, internationally and internally. Loosely extrapolated from Gramsci’s notion of hegemony, the instrumentalism of Nye’s approach – enshrined in its title – led inevitably to attempts at ranking, the Soft Power 30 Index being the most influential.

• Journal Article Type: Book Review
• Acceptance Date: Feb 24, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Feb 27, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Deposit Date: Mar 20, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 28, 2024
• Journal: Transnational Screens
• Print ISSN: 2578-5273
• Electronic ISSN: 2578-5265
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 81-82
• Item Discussed: Edited by Stephanie Dennison and Rachel Dwyer, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2021, 242 pp., £90 (hardback); £24.25 (paperback), ISBN 978 1 4744 56272
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/25785273.2023.2184921
• Keywords: Visual Arts and Performing Arts, Communication
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10537512
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25785273.2023.2184921