Should they fear Iran or love it

We can assume that seduction and attraction have always been more effective than force and coercion. Maybe Lafontain’s "the wind and the sun" can help us on this issue.

 

According to this fable, the Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveler coming down the road, and the Sun said, "I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveler to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin." So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveler. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveler wrap his cloak around him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveler, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on. Lafontain concludes that kindness effects more than severity.

 

How is it that some countries can open the gates of other countries, not by weapons and troops, but by their culture and social values? And why, on the other hand, a nation’s surrender to military force is so passing? Is the story of wars between Greece and Troy and conquest by the wooden horse a good example for this issue? The modern values of communities, as the Trojan horse, have an appealing nature.

 

 

 

 

 

Hard power provides a state with an opportunity to bribe or threaten another country to submit to its demands. Strength in one of the aforementioned domains doesn’t imply supremacy in the others and power is not easily transferable from one domain to another. The military power of Britain was much greater than that of European immigrants to America, but this couldn’t prevent disobedience and ultimate independence of the immigrants.

 

In a similar way America was defeated in Vietnam and now, in the 21^st century, forces which do not even rule over a country can defeat superpowers, as we saw in 11^th of September 2001.

 

 

Rivers, seas, oceans, valleys, plains, and mountains are the major grounds to enforce devised policies and strategies. Countries differ in power since they differ in their shape and area. Natural resources are also another stable element in raising a country’s power. Food, raw material, and minerals, especially oil and gas, are representations of a country’s strength. Industrial or technological power in areas such as transportation, communication, or agriculture can show a country’s power.

 

Military preparedness is in direct contact with strength of a country and in this category we can refer to factors like military technology, leadership, number and quality of armed forces. Population of a country can also show the national power of a state which of course may not be always true. More important than population, is its distribution and rate of growth.

 

 

A nation which is proud of all these advantages, but lacks the appropriate diplomacy can attain short-term success, but will waste its natural resources with incomplete, discontinuous, and lavish use.

 

Soft power is described as the ability to absorb others towards ourselves without any use of force or money. Roots of soft power include culture, political ideals, and policies. The culture of a country can be a cause of attraction for other countries, like what is now understood about the culture and traditions of India or China by other people of the world. Political values or ideals can attract towards or repel from a political unit.

 

An example can be liberalism, which is an ideal for some countries and their nations have a positive view towards the birthplace or supporters of this school, i.e. England and America, or, on the contrary, political doctrines of South Africa’s apartheid regime that increased negative views towards this political system in the 1970s. At the level of states, legitimacy is considerably effective in development of soft power.

 

By cooperation others tend to focus attention on goals of the state and identify its national interests. Effectiveness of any power at first relates to its nature. Power undergoes change throughout time. Machiavelli believed that he is safer if people fear him rather than love him. This perspective draws this question forward that should military power be the major priority in plans of a country? Or the opposite? That the security of a country can be guaranteed by policies based on soft power such as inviting others to one’s ideals and use of civil and cultural measures? Definitely none of these two procedures can singly maintain and further national interests of a country.

 

It is a combination of these two procedures that can lead a country towards development. That is an intelligent power that defends the country using appropriate tools. If it’s necessary to threaten another country to maintain security, it’ll carry it out and will influence others’ behaviors, and it exploits policies of encouragement and attraction of others towards ideals, culture and civilization of the country.

 

 

Hollywood movies also shape a part of this media empire. Higher education is another origin of soft power. Nearly all over the world people desire to enter Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. By constructing new campuses in other countries, especially in countries neighboring Iran, Americans plan for the great market of students. This market brings with itself the interest and sympathy of youth of other countries towards America.

 

The third constituent of America’s soft power is technology. United States’ telecommunication technology, part of which is manifested through Windows in most of the world’s PCs, changes the users’ taste at any rate and meanwhile paves the way for intelligential activities of America. The fourth element of soft power is sports.

 

Almost all of the youth of other countries know Michael Jordan and through this, they join the network of fans of American top athletes and become a customer in the lucrative market of clothes and equipments with the label of American athletes.  Another source of soft power is food industry. Pepsi and Coca Cola are undoubtedly biggest beverage marketers around the globe and fast foods such as McDonald form long queues in China and Russia. From a political perspective, although America’s acceptability among other societies has decreased, but enthusiasm of younger generation in European communist countries and the Soviet Union to listen to Radio Free Europe or putting up a statue of the Goddess of Democracy by the Chinese students in 1989 exemplify the power of American values to influence people.

 

 

 

 

This language has pervaded Turkish, Hindu, Urdu, Armenian, Georgian, Swahili etc. and there are not so many languages around the world that stay free from Persian words. Iranian historical traditions and customs are a symbol of Iran’s soft power. A glimpse at Iranian celebrations and events like Norouz shows the substantial influence of Iranian culture on other cultures.

 

 

 

On the one hand, the Islamic Revolution focused on denial of imperialistic relations, denial of the supremacy of superpowers, supporting oppressed nations, spread of revolution, and persistence on Islamic principles. But on the other hand, such mentalities would interfere with many diplomatic norms and notions. Naturally in the first decade of the revolution during which revolutionary and ideological beliefs had a greater role, this paradox had become more glaring.

 

In fact, this paradox is the problem with all revolutions and naturally a revolution is at odds with the established relations of the international system. It attempts to transform the system and diplomacy’s task is peaceful transfer of this revolutionary tendency from the center of revolution to the region and the world. Now at the end of the third decade of revolution, we can clearly see that the values of this revolution have spread, but not through military power or sabotage in other countries, but through introducing others with the aims of this revolution and polishing image of the country for every individual in any country. But through this course we need to strive more. Relative democracy inside the country, numerous elections, role of women in the society, and flowering of a civil society by means of NGOs are some fundamental values that can be promoted around the globe.

 

 

This objective demands a dynamic economy. Also the Prospect Document states that developmental policies, objectives, and requirements of the prospect must be planned so that Iran can have constructive and effective interaction with other countries of the world based on the three principles of Dignity, Wisdom, and Expedience. By development it is meant positive developments which are achieved through planning and hard work of the administrators and members of a society and lead to welfare, awareness, and empowerment.

 

This prospect is supposed to lead Iran to an ideal situation by 2025 with regard to facilities, opportunities, and limitations. According to this prospect, based on realities in addition to ethical, spiritual, political, and cultural aspects, Iran can accomplish the following economic and scientific goals:

 

 

 

First is improving Islamic Republic’s legitimacy in international system. Legitimacy of every regime roots in its internal mechanism, but states must also be cautious of their behavior in the global level and the reaction of other countries. International organizations are usually founded with cultural concerns like establishment of peace, observing human rights, and providing opportunities to aid weaker countries. With a growth in number of international organizations, NGOs, and also figures who individually influence the international system, every political unit must act so as to enhance its legitimacy in human affairs through interaction with these organizations.

 

The second responsibility of foreign diplomacy is gaining prestige and credibility in the international stage. And the third responsibility in relation to soft power is management of public opinion. Public diplomacy is the section that can facilitate methods of managing public opinion. It includes plans related to publishing books, founding libraries, broadcasting radio and TV programs in foreign languages, language teaching, holding arts festivals and educational exchange programs.

 

The fourth responsibility of foreign diplomacy is influencing public opinion of other countries by means of public relations. Public relations is the management of external ties of an organization in order to present a positive image of that organization. This gives every unit, including a country, an opportunity to promote its achievements among other countries, downgrade its failures, and justify changes in the government or society, in a way that others feel an inclination towards that country or government. Although public relations is a new discipline with broad application in commerce and politics, but as Edward Berneis argues, since the start of civilization humankind has applied three constituents of public relations  which are informing people, encouraging them, and making people know each other in primitive societies.

 

 

Different countries implement different advertisement approaches to draw tourists to their country. Pressure by media and groups that their interest lies in Iran’s weakness is increasing. Maintaining interests of Iran is a hard task without plans to attend the gathering of elites of all countries, establish media, publish books, magazines, and websites to introduce Iran to others. It seems that Iran’s foreign diplomacy can be active in the following areas: