How the new digital world is changing how we conceive of soft power

“Soft power” – a concept now more than 30 years old – is the ability of countries to succeed in their relations with others without coercion or payment. Nikolay Anguelov writes that the definition of soft power and the way it is put into practice is being challenged and changed by the technological innovation of new media and new means of communications. The soft power conversation, he argues, is now moving from one focused around diplomacy to being centered on the disaggregated, individually-led, and relatively uncontrolled digital sphere of clickbait and smart devices.