Soft Power and Education: Emerging Contours of Foreign Policy

Soft power influences and derives authority from the attraction that a country’s political, social, economic, cultural, ideas, beliefs, have on foreign population. Unlike hard power that is dependent on coercion or inducement through military force or economic leverage, soft power operates through attraction and co-optation. Joseph Nye famously articulated this as the ability “to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments” (Nye, 2004). The classic triad of foreign policy tools, the stick (coercion), the carrot (inducement), and the sermon (persuasion), finds its most enduring form in the latter, which relies on cultural diplomacy, people-to-people exchanges, and shared values.

It is observed that after the fall of the bipolar world order, an aftermath of the World War II, many states preferred to use soft power to achieve their foreign policy goals. The main reasons behind this tendency were an increase in interdependence among states and the heavy price that nations pay for achieving foreign policy objectives with the use of hard power. In this context, soft power instruments have gained strategic significance in advancing a nation’s foreign policy objectives, particularly in an era shaped by information flows, global connectivity, and institutional diplomacy. International organisations such as the United Nations (UN), World Trade Organization (WTO), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and BRICS have further incentivised states to pursue their goals through cooperative, less confrontational means.

Education as a soft power can act as a specific means in India’s thriving to emerge as a global power. In the present century, soft power of any given nation can be a robust tool to expand economic success, ideological persuasiveness and cultural attractiveness as compared to factors like military power and possession of nuclear weapons. In addition, soft power empowers those countries with limited range of traditional influence to latently influence international processes (Leonova, 2014). In the twenty-first century, educational diplomacy has evolved into a powerful mechanism for states—particularly middle and emerging powers—to expand their influence in subtle, non-coercive ways. It provides opportunities for fostering long-term trust, shaping perceptions, and cultivating transnational networks of elites who may go on to hold positions of power in their home countries. For instance, a study of the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan found that 92% of its alumni return to their home regions, where they often assume influential roles in government, education, business, and civil society (Newman, 2018). Education thus becomes a strategic investment in future diplomatic capital.

Joseph Nye expresses that soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. It arises from a country’s culture, political ideals and policies. Soft power enables us to win more hearts and minds which has become the most predominant aspect of this globalizing era. Soft power ensures co-optive power which enables the ability to shape something according to the wants. The main sources of soft power are culture, political values and the foreign policies. High Culture might include aspects of art, literature and education whereas; popular culture includes aspects of mass entertainment. Culture can be spread through personal contacts, visits and exchanges. A country’s culture which includes universal values and is supported by their policies majorly boosts the soft power of a country

Education is considered as a prominent means of establishing trust which would benefit a country’s geo-political and economic benefits. Education, by itself, can transform the world into a global knowledge hub with constant exchange of knowledge, culture, ethos, values and so on. Cooperation within higher education can be a powerful means of building international relations, emerging as an important component of “soft power”.

Education is a service where benefits accrue for both a national and global development. Internationalisation of higher education becomes one of the key components especially for India. Indian higher education is the third largest system in the world in terms of its student enrolment numbers and higher education institutions. The landscape of Indian higher education is vast and dynamic in nature. Engaging in internationalisation of higher education will help India in integrating intercultural and global dimensions into the domain of higher education. Internationalization at home as envisioned by the National Education Policy-2020, marks a paradigm shift from passive to assertive approach towards internationalization in higher education (dNEP-2019).

The world is at a time where the boundaries between domestic policy and foreign strategies are increasingly porous. India has been emerging as an economy that has extended foreign aid and assistance during various global crises. Between 1951 and 1992, India was the largest global recipient of foreign aid, receiving a total of approximately $ 55 billion.  According to the Development Assistance Committee’s official definition of aid, India disbursed over $ 1.5 billion in traditional foreign aid in 2011, second only to China among developing-country donors; even while it remained the world’s largest recipient of multilateral assistance. Since the 1950s, India has provided modest amounts of assistance to smaller and less-developed neighbours, especially Bhutan and Nepal. India’s foreign aid activities have also been extended to humanitarian assistance, for instance the Indian navy provided support during the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Thus, India’s assistance efforts clearly reflect the subsumed agenda of foreign-policy goals like ensuring secure sources of energy for an expanding economy, opening markets for India’s increasingly export-oriented industrial and service sectors and bolstering geostrategic ties (Mullen., et.al, 2012). Education is emerging as a critical space where both developmental goals and geopolitical ambitions converge. Higher education is no longer merely a domestic concern; it is now situated at the intersection of soft power, diplomacy, and global influence. Education, transnationally generates benefits, advancing national development while also contributing to global public goods such as knowledge production, intercultural dialogue, and capacity building. The internationalisation of higher education is thus not only a policy objective but a strategic necessity especially for a middle power like India.

Soft Power in an informational age is defined as the ‘ability to get desired outcomes because others want what you want. It is the ability to achieve goals through attraction rather than coercion.’ This stems from cultural capital, shared norms and values. Education has been a source and platform for such cultural exchanges. There are evident policy shifts towards the ‘internationalisation and commercialisation of higher education’ to establish new ‘centres of wealth, knowledge and power’. Countries such as the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, Japan and France have institutionalised this idea by setting up centralised bodies. For instance, the British Council in UK, The Japan Foundation in Japan. The sole responsibility of these organisations is to promote their countries' educational curricula, cultural values, academic rigour and standards (ratings) globally. This, in a long term is going to influence students globally.

The long-term geopolitical impact of such educational exchanges is evident in the trajectories of several global leaders who were educated abroad. Notable examples include former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who studied at the University of Southern California; former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, a graduate of Columbia University; Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who studied at Harvard University; and Japan’s Crown Princess Masako, also an alumna of Harvard (Nye, 2004, p. 24). These cases illustrate how foreign-educated individuals often ascend to influential roles, bringing with them the cultural and political values imbibed during their education abroad.

Moreover, education today is deeply intertwined with international politics and geopolitics. As Nye (2005, p. 4) argues, the global flow of students and scholars contributes to shaping not only knowledge economies but also political alignments. Graduates of foreign institutions frequently become high-level professionals in their home countries, and their exposure to foreign values and systems may lead them to serve, consciously or otherwise, as conduits of influence—what some scholars have described as “Trojan horses” (Tremblay, 2010, p. 117).

Emerging Directions for India’s Foreign Policy:  Internationalization of Higher Education

Diplomacy is one of the instruments through which the nations can engage in designing foreign policy. Through international forums like WTO, UNO and other regional organisations along with bi-lateral negotiations. In the era of globalisation, knowledge economy has become an important factor for nation-states to grow and sustain. In this backdrop, higher education has great potential in contributing for a robust knowledge economy for the nation. Especially, for a country like India, with an unparalleled demographic dividend it is but evident that higher education and issues aligned to it become a priority for foreign policy making.

It must also be emphasized that the education system has always been the main engine of prosperity of a particular state. After all, it is known that any state is able to show considerable achievements in the level of prosperity by the help of the viable mechanism of educational system. Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and other East Asian countries might serve as a striking example of this (Nye, 2005, p. 12). India too has embraced this strategy of utilising education as a tool for soft power. It plays a critical role in strengthening India’s global presence, forging cultural exchanges and mutual trust and understanding. This policy shift recognises that soft power currently is beyond entertainment and trade. Higher education in India has historically been a space with unequal distribution of resources. This has made higher education in India be dominated by higher education of the Global North. Higher Education is a space where influence can be cultivated, reputations can be shaped, and global hierarchies of knowledge can be challenged, thereby reiterating power. Middle and emerging powers like India are challenging this set norm. They are creating their own centres of intellectual and cultural influence. The internationalisation efforts in Indian education ecosystem are aimed at making India an education hub, while promoting international goodwill.

Internationalisation of education for India is envisioned to connect the globe through education. Thus, making education as a soft power tool thus builds on and promotes India’s “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam” stance. To achieve this, the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) and the subsequent guidelines for internationalisation of higher education released by the University Grants Commission (UGC) have proposed “Internationalisation at Home” and setting up of Indian universities abroad. With this, India aims to offer higher education that is enriched with academic experiences and rooted in culture, making education as India’s soft power and influence. Parallelly, Higher Education Institutions become a place where plurality of thoughts coexists while providing an intercultural experience. This also develops wide range of competencies in students.

Further, “Internationalisation at Home” is promoted through various schemes such as Study in India, facilitating cultural exchanges. It portrays India’s rich cultural heritage rooted in greater good for humanity and highlights India as a knowledge leader. Beyond formal diplomatic channels, internationalisation of education builds pathways for sharing academic experiences. It also builds people-to-people connect that increases the trust quotient on India, while developing India as the anchor of knowledge creation and transmission, making India the “Vishwaguru.” Internationalisation of education is not just aimed at building academic rigour; it is a strategic soft power that reflects a country's geopolitical ambitions.

The way forward

Education plays a significant role in a nation’s national power, and it needs a due attention in a country’s foreign policy. However, it has not to be considered in India’s foreign policy due to the fear of privatization, concerns regarding the efficiency of the university grants commission, lack of adequate implementation of the four modes of GATS and so on.

Education as a service component can be a significant part of the national and international exchange that can cut across the fours modes of GATS, which is further subjected to national regulatory policy framework’s interest in the domain of higher education and internationalisation. 

A comprehensive and integrated approach is needed for India to capitalise through its foreign policy to emerge as a global power in the world. Thus, the need for comprehensive framework for internationalization of higher education deems important to capitalize the nation’s core elements of national power, modes of diplomacy and to achieve the aspirations of the nation.

Educational system is one of the vitally spheres, and its degradation leads to the degradation of the entire country. Also, it is worth noting that the efficiency of higher education as a soft power instrument can only be assessed in the longer term. Culture and values take time to diffuse and take root, but once they do, they remain deeply rooted for a long time. Making this foreign policy tool more effective requires patience and hard work.