Soft Power

The prime minister has decided that international criticism is a price worth paying for pursuing his domestic agenda, but he shouldn’t be so sure.

The United States was already fighting with China for influence at global organizations, but the pandemic made everything worse.

South Korea’s soft power should be a model for Beijing.

Pandemics are not always transformative events. While some worrying preexisting trends could accelerate, it’s incorrect to assume that the coronavirus will end globalization, kill liberal democracy, or enhance China’s soft power.

When it comes to building international power, there’s growing reason to think that foreign policy barely matters.

Beijing is ramping up support for U.N. and a host of other international organizations, racking up more influence even as Washington is in headlong retreat.

An important new book details the carefully calculated rise of a modern-day tsar.

Protests against police brutality and systemic racism highlight what is seen as the United States’ accelerated decline.

We should be skeptical toward claims that the pandemic changes everything. China won’t benefit, and the United States will remain preeminent.

The outbreak has caused a PR crisis for China.

The term “posh” appeals to foreigners, but the British know there are teeth underneath the smile.

The Trump administration’s maximum pressure strategy is working—just not in the way that matters most.

Why the crisis in Hong Kong and a deterioration in relations between South Korea and Japan are just the beginning of a broader period of flux in Asia.

The decline in U.S. soft power didn’t start with Trump, but he accelerated it this week with his racist tweets.

The death of Mohamed Morsi is the latest milestone along the country’s slide into terminal irrelevance.

Iran’s ties with its proxies are far deeper than the Trump administration understands.

The era of unilateralism is over—and Washington is the last to realize it.

Washington’s extraordinary unilateralism is cracking the foundation of its global financial power.

What a late-night meal in Italy taught me about U.S. power in the Arab world.

Merkel and Macron come out far ahead in a new Pew Research survey.