The State as an Emotional Actor [:] Rethinking Soft Power through Emotions

Abstract

This thesis aims to rethink and improve Joseph Nyes concept of soft power. This is done by characterizing the state as an emotional actor and by introducing emotions as the underlying mechanism that leads to a change in preferences of the target of soft power. For this purpose, a first step introduces the existing literature on soft power that elaborates on the concept, criticizes it and connects it to practical politics. Secondly, the flaws of Nyes conception of soft power - some of which this thesis aims to solve - are introduced: the vague definition of how soft power works

the limitations it imposes on how soft power changes preferences

and the unnecessary restriction of soft power to a positive influence. The solution introduced here is to characterize international actors as prone to influences on their beliefs by emotions. This is done in three steps: by showing that this characterization is prevalent in the existing scholarship on international relations

that psychology knows a variety of ways in which emotions influence beliefs

and that approaches such as Intergroup Emotions Theory can explain how emotions work on a collective level. To illustrate how soft power can work through emotions, two historical cases with different emotions at work are outlined and related to the theoretical concepts introduced before.