SOFT POWER AND INDIA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The concept of “Soft power” has aroused a lot of interest , debate and discussion, among both IR scholars and practitioners of foreign policy ever since 1990. Joseph Nye, the eminent former Harvard political science professor is credited with popularising the concept within the lexicon of International Relations (IR). As Prof Gallarotti has succinctly put it , “ .... few scholarly concepts have transcended the ivory towers of academia as vigorously as the concept of soft power, and its corollary smart power.”(Gallarotti :2011)