SOFT POWER STUDIES
Year:2011 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:6

As it is presumed that soft power has gained a lot of importance in modern global circumstances, the present study aims to provide an answer to this question: why have numerous models of soft power appeared in the Middle East? It should be noted that soft power does not have specific permanent components, because it can manifest itself in different forms. The components of soft power change based on the conditions of time and space. While the sources and tools of hard power are almost the same in different countries, the bases and functions of soft power are varied. Therefore, different forms of governments with soft power have been able to appear. Since the Cold War, different models of soft power have appeared in the region, among which the models of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are analyzed in this article. Each of these countries emphasizes specific forms and functions of soft power.

Power, is the ability of an actor to use the resources and facilities properly in order to influence the international events to his own benefit. Countries have to develop policies and plans for improving ability and national power to protect security and the welfare of their citizens and counter foreign threats. The new circumstances of the international system have made new factors play an important role in the official international structures, and to protect their national interests, countries have to employ new means and methods, the most important of which is employing soft power. Because of its critical strategic and geopolitical situation, the Islamic Republic of Iran has to improve its soft power along with its hard power (the military and economic power). Iran can use its soft power and improve its national power, only when it develops its values, strategies and approaches in a way that it can take full advantage of the two national and international aspects of generating power. The present study aims to find out the factors and components of soft power and analyze the status of these factors on Iran’s soft power, using a descriptive-analytical approach. The results of the study show that soft power factor have a positive effect of Iran’s national power; however, Iran has not been able to take full advantage of the international factors influencing soft power.

Mass media has the power to influence the people, and therefore one of their main functions is to shape public opinion. The same symbolic power is misused by the authorities in the international system (media imperialism) in special circumstances. In such circumstances media, as a tool in the hands of the hegemonic system, is used to change public opinion to serve the interests of the hegemonic system by manipulating symbols and realities and biasing reports and news. The Iranian presidential election in 1388 (the Iranian solar calendar) and the ensuing events gave the western media imperialism grounds for a full-scale psychological and political invasion which lasted for a long time.The present study deals with the BBC website news programs about the 11th round of presidential elections in Iran, and uses the content analysis method for this purpose. It aims to illustrate and analyze one of the major methods of influencing the audience, i.e. media representation, by concentrating on news process models, preparing and arranging news in BBC, particularly BBC website, and how this website broadcast news. The statistical population includes the news programs about Iran on the BBC Persian Website in the first six month of 1388. The statistical sample includes 300 pieces of news related to the election and the events before and after the election in a period of six month, which are coded separately.The results of the study show that the main focus of the BBC Persian Website was the news values of “reputation” and “confrontation”, or a combination of the two. In representing the 1388 Iranian election, BBC focused on marginal issues, mainly negative ones, and tried to represent the political climate of Iran negatively. It disregarded the principles of journalism, such as “impartiality”, in the preparation and broadcast of news, and represented the events in its own framework of news and propaganda against Iran; it was biased against Iran in 66% of its news. BBC made a great attempt to represent an unreal image of the political arena in Iran and induce a feeling of “crisis”, “riot”, “political instability” and “civil disobedience” in the audience about Iran, both inside the country and around the world.

Since resorting to force and conventional war using military hardware cannot be easily justified, the west, especially the United States, has launched a religious and cultural invasion along with the expansion of their military power. The first question in this study is whether soft war against Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran is a reality or it is, as some believe, the “hallucination of plot”? After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US has made a great attempt to represent Islamic countries and groups as the main threat to world peace and security. Based on abundant evidence, we believe that the hallucination of plot theory is formulated merely to mislead public opinion and induce inactivity. The other question raised in this paper is whether western computer games, used as soft war tools, have had a negative influence on the religious attitude and beliefs of people, especially the youth and teenagers, or not? In its soft war against Islam and the Shiite, through computer games, the west has tried to direct the children and teenagers’ way of thinking towards its own standpoint, and has been somehow successful. Although the west has been relatively successfully in its soft war, we believe that by relying on our technological and ideological potentials we can oppose this phenomenon and disseminate the Islamic ideals throughout the world.

While attempts to protect the Zionist regime and it security, and domination over economic and oil resources have shaped the relationship between the US and the Middle East since the Cold War, after the escalation of anti-American sensations among people after the 9/11th, and especially the collapse of pro-western dictatorial governments in 2010, cultural diplomacy was employed as a tool serving the cultural imperialism of the US, through propagating western democracy, launching radio and television channels and creating virtual societies in social networks to propagate American values and win the heart and control the mind of people in Islamic countries. The escalation of anti-American sensations in the region, lack of interest in American radio and television channels, widespread criticism of this country because of its support for the Zionist regime, and other dictatorial corrupt governments, and its pervasive presence in the region show that the cultural diplomacy of this country has not been successful in the region. The present study aims use the theoretical framework of cultural imperialism to analyze the nature, concept, background and conduct of cultural diplomacy as the main axis of public diplomacy of the US in the Middle East.

Social networks are composed of individuals (or organizations), each of which are present in the network as an individual or group, and can establish contact with some other individuals or groups either directly or indirectly. The members of these groups establish contact with each other because they are friends, classmates, colleagues, have similar interests or beliefs or such like. The members share some personal information such as name, photo, contact number, workplace and the like. At present 74% of the world population uses social networks and weblogs, and it is predicted that in 2014 the number of social network users will rise to 3.4 billion; 63% of the people in Asia and Australasia use social networks at home or work. This study deals with the third paragraph of Articles 3 and 10 of the Fifth Plan for Development of Iran (2011-2015). It is developmental and applicational and is intended to design the future scenario of social networks about soft war. After studying the grand processes, grand propellants and strategic challenges with regard to the last global scenario about social networks, the propellant and strategic challenges of Iran in social networks were estimated. The position of propellants with lack of high certainty, which are the most important, were determined using reporters’ panels and the Micmac software; the uncertainties of “security”, and “proper infrastructure”, were chosen as the most important uncertainties. Because of the significant relationship between these two certainties, a two-dimensional space was developed, and a spectrum of “security” to “insecurity” was put on the horizontal axis, and a spectrum of “proper infrastructure” to “improper infrastructure” was put on the vertical axis. By including soft war in these estimations as a key factor in the third millennium interaction, the space of the scenario changed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. “Soft war” is put at one end of the spectrum and “hard war” is put the other end. As a result 8 spaces were developed, from which only the following space was chosen: security -proper infrastructure- soft war. After taking a proper arrangement for the proposed space into consideration, the space for the scenario of social networks with the soft war approach was illustrated as follows: establishing proper infrastructure and paying attention to security demands in social networks in order to employ it in the third millennium competitions in soft war.