Traditionally the strength of a nation has always been determined by hard factors like the military, economic productivity and influence in the diplomatic circle. But as explained by professor Joseph Nay in 2004 and there after further emancipated by the US foreign policies, it no longer is limited to these traditional parameters.
In fact even in terms of personnel relationship or interaction between groups of people, power is defined by the ability to influence decisions. This ability to influence decisions in today’s world largely depends on the public opinion.
In the post internet revolution world, the most important weapon is public opinion. For domestic politics the paramount importance of this aspect was realized long ago but lately it has proved that public opinion and the image of a people and the nation on the international arena is also equally important.
Two decades ago America was very influential in the world politics. The spirit of that nation was a role model for a large portion of the world. That is not the case today. Half of the world hates America and Americans, those innocent Americans; majority of whom don’t even go to vote for the government whose policies have turned them into the target of such hatred. It’s an anomaly that the country self proclaimed as the savior of democracy and freedom in the world is in such a bad state. This is clearly explained as a depreciation of the country’s “soft power”.
This soft power can be understood as a positive attractiveness or dependability of a nation. It is about the “world opinion” or recognition of the country as a credible member of the global village by the whole world which is not limited merely to the governments of other countries but directly transcends to the common people.
It is the soft or intangible aspect of the development of a nation. Reputation can not be built overnight. It is a culturally and historically rooted continuous process taking place automatically in the interaction between cultures. It is very difficult to measure any dramatic change in the soft power at a particular moment but if observed over a time frame a definite impact can be seen, much like the graying of hair on a person or the appearance of wrinkles on the face.
In the process of growing up, as we all are aware, wrinkles or grey hairs appear naturally and also symbolise wisdom earned through experience but there are also some sudden scars which remain on the face forever, blatantly reminding of some unfortunate event of the past.
The process of the development of a nation is an interaction of its people with the world culturally, socially and politically. It has to be given purpose and direction by drawing on tradition as well as experiment, innovation and willingness to evaluate both traditional and new ideas objectively. In terms of Nepal, let us analyze critically the various factors which over the years have developed the image of the nation. This continuous process is affected by various factors which can be looked upon broadly into two categories, the positive aspects and the negative aspects. Let us see some of the shortcomings that we need to improve in the near future.
Nepal traditionally is known as a nation of world’s greatest fighters. The Gorkha soldiers became part of the British and the Indian Army after the Anglo Nepal war of 1815 and have been renowned for their bravery worldwide.
In spite of the land being the source of world’s greatest fighters, internal violence was unheard of in Nepal till the last decade of the twentieth century. With the start of the armed rebellion by the Maoists, there followed a decade of unparalleled violence. This decade long time frame of violence has changed the way the world looked at Nepal.
Internally, this era was a turbulent time of mutual distrust and multinuclear conflicts. A direct impact of this violence and fully according to the strategic policy of the Maoists was the disruption of the tourism industry and the sector of foreign investment which in turn crippled the economy.
Violence, apart from this direct effect, has an indirect effect on the social psychology. It, once broken, sets in the society as an atavism, which however curbed for the time being, always tries to reappear in one form or the other. The signs of this has already started emerging.
The international image of a nation is defined by the stand it takes on international issues. Nepal has to make its official policy clear on various issues that are dominant in the international political scenario today.
It is unfortunate that the present government and the Maoists, which have come to power by mostly abusing the so called capitalist and imperialist interests of India and America, are now silent on the issues of global importance. The leaders individually have been talking but the official silence of the state and the ruling party further extends on matters of relationship with the immediate neighbours, China and India.
It has become a norm for both the countries to put forward mutually contradictory claims about the land of Nepal being used against their security interests. Although the prime minister has said time and again, that he believes in equidistant relationships with both the countries, no further official answers are given to the claims. This silence has to be broken to establish the nation among its neighbours first.
Other issues of global importance in today’s world and are most likely to dominate the international affairs early 21st century are the issues of terrorism and nuclear proliferation. The government must make its policies clear on these issues.
It is a great anomaly that the US government still has the Maoists in the terrorist list. The US still maintains an embassy in Nepal, meaning it is still maintaining diplomatic relationship with a country governed by terrorists. And, surprisingly the government is silent on this.
Similarly, for future, the government must make its policy clear on the issues of nuclear power. Although for immediate future, this issue is not of any importance, the official stands on these issues will help nations to think clearly on how to build the relationships with us.
Let us look back into the past records of our diplomacy. The picture that emerges is not very promising for any self respecting citizen. The relation ship with most of the nations has been that of the donor and the receiver, due to the poor economy of the nation.
This unfortunate story seems irreversible for near future, though the donations can be in many forms. This compulsion of the government to largely have to depend on foreign aids for developmental works has rendered question on the sovereignty of the government and ultimately of the nation.
The response of the government on the case of the people of Nepali origin in Bhutan is one of the many examples to prove how weak we are as a nation. The problem still remains unsettled with so many people having to stay away from their home in refugee camps in Nepal.
Another incident that has remained pierced in the hearts of all Nepalese is the slaughter of twelve Nepali workers in Iraq by the terrorists. At the moment it is sufficient to state that as a nation our history portrays a very weak image.
As these grey areas pop up very easily in the image of the nation, one has to look as much harder to find the bright spots. One of the advantages we have over many other nations is our non involvement in any of the conflicts. This means that we can reach out to the world with a new sense of confidence and freshness without any prejudices.
It is widely accepted that the biggest challenge for the leaders today is to build the reputation of the nation in front of the world. It surely needs a revolution but the revolution should aim at rejuvenating the pride and dignity of every citizen of the nation. It should aim at establishing the belief that we are a part of the greater humanity as equals.
I would like to end quoting Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, “A revolution quintessential is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of the nation’s development.
A revolution which merely aims at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success without the revolution of the spirit; the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order will continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration.
It is not enough merely to call for freedom democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths to resist corrupting influence of desire, ill will, ignorance and fear.”
Jai Nepal.
Read more: http://dinkar.instablogs.com/entry/nepal-soft-power-and-international-relationships/#ixzz0omMhL88n
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment