Joseph Nye, a professor at Harvard and known for having coined the term "soft power", formerly Undersecretary of Defense under the Clinton presidency and president of the Trilateral Commission, gave an interview to Formiche.net where he comments on Trump's announcement to move the headquarters of the American Embassy in Israel in Jerusalem. “I believe there is a truth behind this statement. We have not seen results after the countless efforts of its predecessors. However, this does not mean that Trump's attempt will be successful ”. For the Middle East, Nye said, I don't think we can yet speak of Iranian or Russian pre-eminence in the region. We must not oversimplify the Middle Eastern scenario by dividing it in two ”. According to the president of the Trilateral, “Russia was able to prevent the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. But that of Damascus still remains a weak regime, which controls a small part of the country. The victory over ISIS is largely due to the efforts of the US military and the Iraqi armed forces. Professor Nye therefore claims “the cases in which it is necessary to use an iron fist with China, or when it does not respect the international obligations of reciprocity by directly financing its enterprises or when it forces the transfer of intellectual property. On this front, both the United States and the European Union should show themselves firm. After all, the One Belt One Road project is nothing more than a slogan to indicate Xi Jinping's geopolitical strategy ”. As for the European project and the relationship difficulties between Brussels and Washington, Professor Nye explains: "The European Union will have to take back on its own the rightful role it is entitled to in international relations, where apparently it is not a priority for Donald Trump but we hope it is for the Europeans.
Soft Power
Expression coined in the nineties of the 20 ° sec. by the American political scientist Joseph Nye to define the ability to create consensus through persuasion and not coercion. The attraction potential of a nation, in fact, is not represented exclusively by its economic and military strength, but is nourished by the diffusion of its own culture and of the historical founding values of reference. The concept of soft power, originally elaborated to define a political practice typical of the United States, achieved great popularity in the first decade of the 21 century, when other nations tried to invest in it to collect international consensus; on the contrary, at the same time, it was the Bush administration that chose the path ofhard power, ie the use of military and economic power, reputed to be more effective weapons in the war on international terrorism. With the presidency of Barack Obamahowever, this trend has reversed and, in the light of new attempts at international dialogue, the indices of global appreciation of the United States would seem to have come back after the explosion of widespread anti-American sentiment during the Iraq war and long occupation followed.