Soft Power : China\'s Emerging Strategy in International Politics

Contents: Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction: soft power: nurture not nature/Mingjiang Li. I. China\'s soft power: the debates at home and abroad: 2. Soft power in Chinese discourse: popularity and prospect/Mingjiang Li. 3. The discourse of China\'s soft power and its discontents/Yongjin Zhang. II. Soft power in China\'s rising strategy: 4. The new hard realities: "Soft Power" and China in transition/Yong Deng. 5. The practice of the mean: China\'s soft power cultivation/Jianfeng Chen. 6. Education: the intellectual base of China\'s soft power/Xiaohe Cheng. 7. China\'s soft power Dilemma: the Beijing consensus revisited/Zhongying Pang. 8. China\'s cultural exports and its growing cultural power in the world/Xiaogang Deng and Lening Zhang. III. Soft power and China\'s international politics: China\'s soft power in Africa/Joshua Kurlantzick. 10. China\'s warming relations with South Korea and Australia/Zhiqun Zhu. 11. China\'s soft power and neoliberal agenda in Southeast Asia/Ignatius Wibowo. 12. China\'s climate diplomacy and its soft power/Gang Chen. IV. Conclusion: 13. The prospect of China\'s soft power: how sustainable?/Suisheng Zhao. Index.

"Soft power attempts to analyze the domestic and international views of China\'s soft power, the main strengths and weaknesses of China\'s soft power, and the application of soft power in China\'s international politics. It provides a comprehensive exploration of the soft power dimension in China\'s foreign relations by integrating views from various disciplines, such as history, education, culture, political economy, comparative politics, and philosophy. The book argues that soft power has become a very popular concept in China, that China is contemplating and exploring an innovative strategy in its rise and international politics, and that there have been quite a few notable elements of this in China\'s diplomatic practice, including softer rhetoric, promotion of the Chinese culture abroad, economic diplomacy, and image building. The book also argues that the limitations of China\'s soft power primarily stem from political values and China\'s own transitions, and reflect the reality that views and opinions regarding China\'s soft power are fairly diverse both in China and in the international arena.

Soft power is a useful and important perspective by which to understand Chinese Foreign Policy and the future evolution of China\'s role in international politics. This study is a pioneering work, providing a new perspective for the study of Chinese foreign policy and the rise of China that will appeal to scholars of Chinese foreign policy, East Asian studies, and international politics."