Moo Deng might sound to most individuals like simply an adorable viral baby hippo, however to the federal government of Thailand, the place she’s from, she’s a cultural ambassador and shining instance of the nation’s push to spice up what it calls its “soft power.”
The time period gentle energy was coined on the peak of the Chilly Battle by American political scientist Joseph Nye, who used it to describe “when one nation will get different international locations to need what it desires” with out using drive, in distinction to the onerous energy “of ordering others to do what it desires.”
However within the final 12 months and a half, because the Pheu Thai social gathering got here to energy in August 2023, Thailand has sought to redefine gentle energy as a substitute as getting others to need what it has—with a selected emphasis on highlighting the nation’s cultural prominence to draw vacationers and international funding.
Moo Deng isn’t alone. Lalisa “LISA” Manobal, the Thai singer and member of Ok-pop powerhouse BLACKPINK, has also been hailed for her contributions to Thailand’s “gentle energy.”
Whereas Thailand’s cultural wave has been effervescent up for years and “gentle energy” was additionally promoted by earlier governments, the most important push kickstarted when Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, simply weeks after his election final 12 months, introduced the formation of the Nationwide Gentle Energy Technique Committee (NSPSC), which laid out 11 key focus areas: meals, gaming, festivals, music, movie, literature, arts, design, sports activities, style, and tourism.
Within the months since, Thailand has supported extending its Songkran festival from three days to a month, legalizing same-sex marriage, and selling Thai-made movie and TV (from its personal exports just like the critically acclaimed How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies and award-winning Hunger to worldwide productions just like the upcoming season of The White Lotus and the forthcoming installment of the Jurassic World franchise), amongst different measures—all within the identify of boosting its “gentle energy.”
2024 gave the impression to be a big year of “wins” for Thailand’s international picture, and the soft-power technique exhibits no indicators of slowing down. When Srettha was removed from office by the Constitutional Courtroom in August 2024, his same-party successor Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was already the deputy chair of the NSPSC, was keen to choose up the soft-power mantle. It was a centerpiece of her opening policy statement in September, and in October, she cited gentle energy as one of many nation’s “major strategies” for the subsequent decade.
However whereas the non-public sector has embraced and praised the strategy, some teachers and observers have criticized it for lacking clarity and coherence.
“Whereas well-meaning, the federal government’s heavy deal with gentle energy initiatives that enhance tourism, commerce and funding is just too slim, mentioned Assistant Professor Peera Charoenvattananukul from Thammasat College’s political science college,” in a latest article within the Singapore-based Straits Times. “It’s going to take much more than simply selling its native and cultural belongings to the world to achieve affect and credibility within the geopolitical sphere, added Prof Peera, who specialises in international coverage.”
Certainly, regardless of all its self-proclaimed achievements this 12 months, Thailand has hardly moved on the the 2024 Global Soft Power Index, the place it ranks a modest fortieth amongst 193 U.N. member states that Model Finance rated on plenty of metrics assessing familiarity, popularity, and affect—although it did get excessive marks within the subcategories of “enterprise and commerce” and “tradition and heritage.”
Kitti Prasirtsuk, professor of worldwide relations at Thammasat, says that Thailand ought to as a substitute have a extra “complete view of soppy energy” that focuses on extra than simply tradition and tourism and in addition acknowledges that shifts take time. “A rustic’s picture will depend on general popularity in politics, economic system, international coverage, values, and home programs and establishments as effectively,” Kitti tells TIME. In his book on soft power, the time period’s progenitor Nye wrote: “Seduction is at all times more practical than coercion, and lots of values like democracy, human rights, and particular person alternatives are deeply seductive.” And in these areas, Thailand, whereas improving slightly from its years of junta rule, nonetheless lags far behind.
However chief Paetongtarn appears to care much less about what “gentle energy” actually means than what she hopes it will probably carry. “I feel the definition is just not actually that essential, as the federal government is making an attempt to realize greater objectives by selling industries to advertise gentle energy and enhance the economic system,” she said last December. An financial enhance is definitely much needed: Thailand’s GDP development trails that of regional neighbors Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, and the tourism-heavy economic system continues to be struggling to totally rebound after COVID-19.
On the finish of the day, Thammasat’s Peera tells TIME, Thailand’s pursuit of cultural affect will in the end be judged on whether or not it advantages Thai folks’s backside line: “The federal government’s understanding of soppy energy could be completely different from Joseph Nye’s definitions of soppy energy,” he says, “however … if it will probably enhance the economic system, who cares?”
