An analytic interpretation on the importance of India's soft power in international cultural diplomacy over the centuries

India’s Soft Power which is part of Smart Diplomacy or cultural diplomacy in India. India’s soft power diplomacy can be traced back to the time when Swami Vivekananda visited Chicago Parliament of Religion and spoke about Hinduism and India, which attracted many Indians and Foreigners who visited India and learnt about the Indian culture and the Sanskrit, his book on Raja Yoga influenced Western countries to practice Yoga who came to India and visited asharams, India’s main soft powers include spiritualism, yoga, Ayurveda, the world is shifting towards organic method of treatment which has its trace in India. There is culture exchange of arts, music, dance. Indian Diaspora and Young youth are the weapons for the spread of Indian culture across the globe, People are interested in Indian culture and epics of Ramayana and Mahabharat and studying on Kautliya. India literature and craft have received international recognition, countries abroad have included Sanskrit as part of their educational curriculum. India has also emerged has an export of herbs medicine to many foreign countries like Middle East, Europe, Africa etc. and this soft power of India will help in creating a massive influence across the world but before that Indian should have ample knowledge about their own history and culture and languages.

Making the Soft Power Hard: Nepal’s Internal Ability in Safeguarding National Interest

Soft power is an important instrument of foreign policy and a tool in safeguarding national interests. Under various regimes after the advent of democracy in 1950, Nepal has experienced a turbulent effect of international influence on technology, governance capability, policy transfer, labor migration and climatic affairs. In these contexts, traditional diplomatic effort based on persuasive bargaining requires an interest based practice which is complicated for the countries like Nepal where military power and economy are considered to be public goods rather than strategic base for the expansion of domestic policy making the other countries follow. Nepal creates an exemplary image in coping with the internal and external threats even during the major political transitions in 1950, 1990 and 2006. In all these power sharing mechanisms, the immunity that galvanized internal forces with minimum experience of indirect influence from the neighbouring countries shows that soft power values in Nepal became the major component for managing internal tensions and mitigating external interests. At one hand, the sources of soft power rests on ancient value system and on the other, Nepal celebrates new political system confronting the values earlier regime survived on. Political crisis before 2015 and the natural disaster after it plunged Nepal into a serious threat. During the time of crisis it is need and the value that functions compared to the interest. This paper posits a central question that how soft power became a variant during the war to peace transition from 2006 to the period of implementation of constitution stipulated in 2015 with the result of a stable government. The first part of the paper explores the dimensions of soft power in Nepal- both perceived and practiced- after Jana Aandolan II. The effectiveness of soft power in maintaining the geostrategic importance through a constant coupling of soft power diplomacy adopted and endorsed in Nepal by the external powers and Nepal’s own soft power standpoint will be analyzed in the second part of the paper. The last section of the paper analyzes the challenges for effective implementation of soft power diplomacy in meeting the national interest. Key words: Soft power, geo-strategic importance, national interest

India’s Health Diplomacy as a Soft Power Tool towards Africa: Humanitarian and Geopolitical Analysis

India and Africa have been sharing a multidimensional relationship of cooperation and friendship since the ancient civilizations. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new possibilities and opportunities for India to leverage its soft power diplomacy towards Africa. The paper’s main focus is to analyze how India has made soft power part of its foreign policy and examine India’s relationship with the African continent through health diplomacy. A literature search was done in major databases, such as Web of Science, Medicine/PubMed, Scopus, OVID, and Google Scholar search engine to gather relevant information. Through humanitarian assistance and geopolitical influence, India had won the support and heart of Africans. Besides, India has become a global healthcare provider in the African continent through its global health diplomacy and vaccine diplomacy. India has achieved impressive gains through its soft power diplomacy and has become a compassionate and benevolent actor in the African continent.

NATION BRANDING THROUGH KNB SCHOLARSHIP AS SOFT POWER DIPLOMACY

This study aims to understand how the Developing Countries Partnership (KNB) Scholarship can be used as soft power and improve nation branding that resulted by internationalization of higher education. Using a descriptive approach and utilizing primary and secondary information and data, this research was also enriched by interviews with KNB Scholarship students. The result of this research is that the KNB Scholarship can spread positive views about Indonesia, relations development between countries, and the Indonesian economy promotion by foreign students in their countries. In addition, there are several issues that need to be addressed jointly by cross-stakeholders so that the KNB Scholarship can provide optimal benefits for students, Indonesia’s universities, students' origin countries, and especially for Indonesia.

Healthcare as a Health Investment

This chapter explores healthcare as an investment and the geopolitical implications of healthcare in Africa. The importance of healthcare as a tool of diplomacy is documented and acknowledged. According to Li, the West and China have common interests in Africa regarding economic development and environmental protection. China, Africa, and Western countries must discuss effective methods for increasing cooperation on the continent together. But their interest can sometimes be contradictory in different aspects of the continent. Healthcare is the crossroads of their geo-political implications in Africa. As the PRC evolves from a poor country to a superpower, Africa has become the testing ground for soft power diplomacy via economic development and healthcare.