Soft Power- Sarah Powers

Soft power is the word used to describe the use of co-operative programs and monetary aide to
convince other nations to change their policies. Dr. Joseph Nye, a foreign policy scholar "invented" this term in the 1990s. He described soft power as, "the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coersion." (Jones, Steve. Understanding Soft Power in US Foreign Policy) A recent example of soft power being used by the US would be Educational Exchange programs. This is a non profit Foundation created by former President Barack Obama. Obamas 100,000 Strong initiative with china was a program implemented to teach 100k students mandarin by 2020. This project, which began in 2015, was created with the intent that this knowledge of manarin would create an abundance of employees very familiar with China. By doing that, it would make sure US students across the board would be able to develop skills related to china. The 3 main ways in which this project was achieved was by Endorsing widely accepted Mandarin curricular norms starting in kindergarten through the end of high school. The next way was by doubling the number of mandarin teachers in the united states, which was done through teacher training and certifications. Finally, they made the Mandarin Language learning much more accessible throughout all technology platforms. As well as that, they wanted it to become more available to less fortunate communities. This project was originally created with the goal of teaching 100,000 kids mandarin, but it was surpassed greatly. This project had then turned into "One Million Strong" in 2014. 

 https://100kstrong.org/initiatives/1-million-strong/
https://www.thoughtco.com/soft-power-in-u-s-foreign-policy-3310359

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