Clashing Softly: The US-Chinese Great Power Competition on a New Level

Abstract

The US-Chinese competition moved to a new strategic level. It is no longer sufficient to compare the economic or military capabilities to determine the winners and losers in the geopolitical contest. Soft power has been gaining increasing influence over foreign policy objectives, practices, and means of global actors. Without a good impression on an international level, the attainment of any tangible outcomes is unthinkable. The following paper underscores the role of ideas, values, and interests in foreign policymaking. It analyzes the soft power capabilities of both the US and China and compares them from the Social Constructivism perspective. The piece employs three major indicators of soft power, namely familiarity, reputation, and influence. It argues that despite the longstanding status of the US as a “shining city on a hill,” its reputation has been facing several crises. China, on the other hand, with its multidimensional expansion, emerges as an alternative for nations to align with a new multilateral actor. Yet, despite the regularly diminishing gap between China and the US, it is noteworthy that the former is still far from surpassing the soft power influence of the latter.
Keywords: Soft Power, United States, China, foreign policy, Social Constructivism