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Soft power: Jackson and a new anthem for American politics
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Peter Hartcher-
June 30, 2009
A photo provided by AEG, shows Michael Jackson rehearsing for his planned shows in London at the StaplesCenter on June 23 in Los Angeles. Photo:
Getty Images
 
Together with the worldwide outpouring of grief ranging from mass dance tributes in aPhilippines prison to an Eiffel Tower moonwalk, the death of Michael Jackson has brought anextraordinary collection of tributes from world political figures.Two of the great heroes of the post-war world's struggle for democracy, Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Kim Dae-jung of South Korea, issued statements of condolences. "We lost ahero to the world," Kim said.
Joe Jackson 'proud' of Michael
The Japanese Prime Minister, Taro Aso, recalled admiring his tap dancing skills, and Britain'sCulture Secretary, Ben Bradshaw, said he had played Jackson's
 Billie Jean
as the first danceat his civil union.Most surprising was that the implacable enemy of all things American, Venezuela's President,Hugo Chavez, although criticising an excess of media coverage, nonetheless called the death"lamentable news".This remarkable moment of worldwide political and popular unity is a reminder of theimmensity of American soft power , a dimension of US influence severely damaged by eightyears of George Bush.
(JEG’s: let’s stop the blame and repair UNITY)
What is soft power?
 The man who developed the concept, Joe Nye of Harvard University, explains: "Hard power is the ability to coerce others by using carrots or sticks as either bribes or threats. Butsoft power is the ability to
 
get what we want
 
 by
attracting
 
 
others, by getting them to want the
 
things we want."If I can get what I want because you want it too, it saves me a lot of carrots and sticks," ishow Nye put it to the BBC.It includes the power of culture, of values, of example, of desirability. The marketers of designer brands understand the value of the concept because itis the basis of their incomes.It may be soft power, but it is not limp. Nye, who worked as a defence official in the Clintonadministration, again: "During the Cold War, military containment prevented Soviet
of 00

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