Articles by: "Joseph S. Nye"
How will new cybersecurity norms develop?

Last month, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for global action to minimise the risk posed by electronic warfare to civilians. Guterres lamented that ‘there is no regulatory scheme for that type of warfare’, noting …

Donald Trump and the decline of US soft power

The evidence is clear. Donald Trump’s presidency has eroded America’s soft power. Only 30% of people recently polled by Gallup in 134 countries held a favourable view of the United States under Trump’s leadership, a …

China’s soft and sharp power

China has invested billions of dollars to increase its soft power, but it has recently suffered a backlash in democratic countries. A new report by the National Endowment for Democracy argues that we need to …

Understanding the North Korea threat

North Korea recently tested its Hwasong-15 ballistic missile, reaching an altitude of 2,780 miles (4,475 kilometers) during its 53-minute flight. Using a flatter trajectory could provide Kim Jong-un’s regime with the capability of hitting the …

The changing geopolitics of energy

In 2008, when the United States’ National Intelligence Council (NIC) published its volume Global Trends 2025, a key prediction was tighter energy competition. Chinese demand was growing, and non-OPEC sources like the North Sea were …

The who, where, and when of secession

This week, Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence for the country’s Kurdistan Region. With some 30 million Kurds divided among four states (Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran), nationalists argue that they …

How much does Trump matter?

The United States has never had a president like Donald Trump. With a narcissistic personality and a short attention span, and lacking experience in world affairs, he tends to project slogans rather than strategy in …

Controlling cyber conflict

When cyber-security professionals were polled recently at their annual Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, 60% said they expected the United States to suffer a successful attack against its critical infrastructure in the next two …

Trump’s gift to Europe

At a recent conference in France, a number of Europeans surprised their American guests by arguing that US President Donald Trump might be good for Europe. With Trump returning to Europe for the G20 summit …

Xi Jinping’s Marco Polo strategy

Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a heavily orchestrated ‘Belt and Road’ forum in Beijing. The two-day event attracted 29 heads of state, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and 1,200 delegates from over 100 …

Information warfare versus soft power

Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election, and its suspected hacking of French President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign servers, should surprise no one, given President Vladimir Putin’s (mis)understanding of soft power. Before his re-election in …

What I tell my non-American friends

I frequently travel overseas, and invariably my foreign friends ask, with varying degrees of bewilderment: What in the world is going on in your country? Here is what I say. First, do not misinterpret the …