US Soft Power and the Shaping of World Order.

This paper will discuss some of the theoretical and explanatory insights of my research, pertaining to US soft power and the nature of world order. The definition of soft power I adopt is a socially constitutive one, and the role of soft power in international regimes and institutions: legitimating rules, generating symbolic power, structuring the social contexts of negotiation, will be discussed. This theory of soft power is developed as a critique to dominant accounts such as Nye’s, as well as conventional neorealist and neoliberal explanations of the way the US achieved and maintained hegemony. I adopt insights from theories of social power within the hierarchical systems to give a better account of the way the US has shaped its international role. This paper will focus on the theoretical rethinking of soft power and a historical focus rather than presenting a critique of the current US administration’s foreign policy. Sarah E. Graham Australian National University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]