By Jason Lim
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. _ Rebecca Hamilton is a joint degree student at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Law School. She worked in Sudan last year and is a cofounder of the Darfur Action Group. Rebecca is widely recognized as the person who began the difficult process of building the momentum of information and outrage at what was happening at Darfur. Almost single-handedly, she triggered the news cascade that crested over the critical mass of public awareness over the Darfur crisis. She did this all as a student. Recently, Rebecca spoke at my Followership class. What she said shocked me.
She didn’t shock me because she used words laden with vivid imagery of the killings, rapes, and brutal violence. She didn’t shock me because she presented us with numbers of those suffering that seared into our hearts. In fact, Rebecca was passionate but very matter-of-fact, something that made her words harder to ignore. No, Rebecca shocked me because she said that the image of the U.S. in the world is so negative that a U.S. based movement to alleviate the suffering in Darfur has actually dampened enthusiasm in the E.U. for the same cause.
Let me restate this in plain words. Firstly hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered and millions displaced in Darfur. Second, conscientious people in the U.S. have mobilized to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Third, many Europeans have disengaged from the issue because they either dislike or don’t trust the U.S.
In short, recent U.S. mishaps in foreign policy _ not the least the ongoing morass in Iraq _ have degraded the traditionally positive reputation of the U.S. so much in Europe that Europeans have developed an automatic reflex to back away from anything that the U.S. touches, even if it’s for an obviously good cause. It’s important to note that we are talking about Europe, not the Middle East or Africa.
This is a crisis in American soft power. Joe Nye introduced the concept of soft power in the early 1990’s. Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payment. It arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideas, and policy. After the Cold War, soft power became a stronger cohesive force defining common identity as allies than hard power like military or economic strengths. But now, we are obviously witnessing a new low in American soft power in Europe, the seat of Western civilization.
This is a key lesson that the U.S. must learn if she is to succeed in her efforts to remain relevant and influential in East Asia in the future. Recently, President Bush and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had a summit meeting that reaffirmed the special strategic friendship between the two nations. Facing a rising China and anti-Americanism in South Korea, the U.S. is looking to Japan to be the Great Britain of Asia. Japan, on the other hand, is looking to the U.S. to shield it from North Korea’s military threat and China’s economic one. This is the gist of the blueprint of the Nye-Armitage reports of 2000 and 2007, co-penned by the very author who introduced the world to the far-reaching concept of soft power.
However, in her attempt to safeguard her hard power profile in Asia, the U.S. cannot afford to ignore her soft power projection. And this is precisely what the Bush administration could be doing if it lets Abe off the hook for his comments denying the government’s role in the kidnapping and rape of comfort women. Although Abe made a quasi-apology to American lawmakers and Bush for his remarks during his visit to Washington, its vague wording left many unsatisfied and even angrier than before. Abe was criticized even back home for issuing an apology to American lawmakers while denying the injustice done to the comfort women themselves.
Abe’s quasi-apology turned out to be counter-productive. Mike Honda’s H. Resolution 121 calling for an official apology by the Japanese government now has over 120 co-sponsors and is gaining momentum. However, opponents of H. Resolution 121 point to the special relationship between the U.S. and Japan. They argue that the passage of the non-binding resolution would have no real purpose except to embarrass Japan and hurt the alliance. However, they are missing the point. H. Res. 121 is about the rape of women, not punishing today’s Japan for its imperial past. More importantly, they overlook the damage that the American reputation could suffer if she is seen coddling an obvious moral injustice for the sake of a cynical geopolitical goal.
Asia is more than Japan. Asia is billions of people _ including millions of Japanese _ who look to the U.S. to provide a moral beacon for the world by living up to the noble words of the Declaration of Independence. This is the true foundation of U.S. power. This is the essence of soft power. The U.S. would be wise to remember that hard power can reach only so far. Remember Iraq?
Jason Lim is a graduate student at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Administration.