Dr. Brent Lawniczak, Confronting the Myth of Soft Power

Brent Lawniczak, Confronting the Myth of Soft Power in U.S. Foreign Policy

Moderator: Maj. Gen. Walter Givhan, (Ret.), ALWAC President.

231 Montgomery St, Montgomery, AL.

Reception at 5:30 pm CT, briefing at 6:15 pm, and question time till 7:30 pm.

Webinar via Zoom: login and social time, from 5:45 pm CT. 

Dr. Brent Lawniczak is an Associate Professor of Military and Security Studies in the Department of Joint Warfighting at Air University’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). A retired Marine aviator, he served in multiple theaters in various capacities for over 21 years. Brent is a graduate of Michigan State University and the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and he earned his PhD from Auburn University. His interests and expertise include international relations, policy formulation, American politics, the U.S. Constitution, and U.S. military history. Brent is also an expert in joint operations planning, operational design, maritime and amphibious operations, and joint aviation operations. He is the author of the book Confronting the Myth of Soft Power in U.S. Foreign Policy and a number of articles in various military journals.

Brent Lawniczak, Confronting the Myth of Soft Power in U.S. Foreign Policy (Book)

The concept of soft power has caught the attention of policymakers, scholars, and political pundits for the last thirty years. Soft power studies most often focus on measures of public opinion toward a power-wielder and draw conclusions about a state’s level of soft power from that opinion. This research examines soft power influence by focusing on the elite discourse and the foreign policy decisions of states that are the target of soft power influence. Beginning with Joseph Nye’s conception that soft power is an attractive force that influences state policy decisions and its level of support for another state’s policies, Confronting the Myth of Soft Power in U.S. Foreign Policy examines whether U.S. soft power was part of key policymakers’ decision calculus. Soft power is tested against two plausible alternate explanations—balancing and state identity. Data from the discourse of key foreign policymakers in France and Germany indicate that U.S. soft power does not account for those states’ policy decisions to support U.S.-led policy interventions in Kosovo in 1999, or against ISIS in 2014. The results of this research are suggestive regarding the potential of soft power influence and its implications on U.S. foreign policymaking.

Available at: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666909531/Confronting-the-Myth-of-Soft-Power-in-U-S-Foreign-Policy https://www.amazon.com/Confronting-Myth-Power-Foreign-Policy/dp/1666909521