- UPA Strategic Affairs
- Vol: 4 Issue: 2 - Türkiye Özel sayısı
- THE GLOBAL SUCCESS STORY OF JAPAN’S SOFT POWER: DEBATING ‘COOL JAPAN’ AS A MODEL FOR TURKISH SOFT PO...
THE GLOBAL SUCCESS STORY OF JAPAN’S SOFT POWER: DEBATING ‘COOL JAPAN’ AS A MODEL FOR TURKISH SOFT POWER PROJECTION
Authors : Natavan Hüseynova
Pages : 108-141
View : 67 | Download : 37
Publication Date : 2023-08-31
Article Type : Research Article
Abstract :There is an ever-growing scholarly literature on various aspects of the soft power of Turkey as this subject has been among the most popular and widely studied aspects of Turkish Foreign Policy in the early 21st century. Yet, comparative works examining the effectiveness of Turkish soft power versus other notable soft powers are still relatively hard to find. Moreover, there is an even more notable gap in the literature in terms of discussing what exactly enables the strategies of "established soft powers” (e.g. U.S., UK, France, Germany, and Japan) to be more successful than that of Turkey, and to discuss what Turkish policy-makers could possibly learn from these tried and tested methods. In the centennial anniversary of the Republic of Turkey in 2023, the time may have come for the Turkish intelligentsia and government to acknowledge the notable rise of Turkish soft power since the 1990s, but also re-think of the ways in which the current vision could be substantially improved in light of valuable lessons drawn from global soft power success stories such as Japan. In this article, I will argue that the case of Japan proves that soft power is not just a natural outcome of a country’s vast hard power reserves (e.g. economic power in the manner of Gross Domestic Product), but is a phenomenon that could be "designed” – to a large extent – by a government. Furthermore, Japan’s various successful policies such as the ‘Cool Japan’ program and Tokyo’s systematic cultural and economic diplomacy offers valuable blueprints for Turkish soft power to be re-designed in our time.Keywords : Japonya’nın yumuşak gücü, Kültürel diplomasi, Cool Japonya, Türkiye’nin yumuşak gücü, Türk dış politikası