Conservative soft power: Liberal soft power bias and the ‘hidden’ attraction of Russia

Katarzyna Barbara Kaczmarska, Vincent Keating

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

64 Citations (Scopus)
1063 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The study of soft power in international relations suffers from a liberal democratic bias. Throughout the literature, liberal concepts and values are assumed to be universal in their appeal. This bias has led scholars to underestimate Russian soft power by instrumentalising it, that is, to see it purely as the effect of government sponsored programmes, and to focus primarily on the cultural pillar of soft power. This paper argues, alternatively, that Russia’s conservative values and illiberal governance models generate admiration and followership, even outside of what Russia claims to be its post-Soviet sphere of influence. Crucially, this admiration and followership perform the traditional function of soft power: generating support for controversial Russian foreign policy decisions. Admitting that soft power can be based on conservative values is necessary not only to understand Russia’s foreign policy potential, but also the ability of non-Western states to challenge successfully the Western liberal order.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-27
Number of pages27
JournalJournal of International Relations and Development
Volume22
Issue number1
Early online date11 May 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Mar 2019

Keywords

  • conservatism
  • liberalism
  • russia
  • soft power

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Conservative soft power: Liberal soft power bias and the ‘hidden’ attraction of Russia'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this