Good question! --- Soft connotes weakness in nearly all languages, so much so that the term 'soft power' makes little sense in those languages where it does not carry positive connotations. So yes, soft power can indeed be equated with weakness and one has to argue, as Joseph Nye did, in favour of the pulling power of attraction, role models, aspirations, lifestyles etc... in order to demonstrate its power.

Gandhi also advocated what we now call soft power. 'Turning the other cheek' is also a form of soft power I would guess, though many would see it as meekness.

Source author: Biljana Scott biscott@diplomacy.edu