Moo Deng might seem to most people like just an adorable viral baby hippo, but to the government of Thailand, where she’s from, she’s a cultural ambassador and shining example of the country’s push to boost what it calls its “soft power.”
The term soft power was coined at the height of the Cold War by American political scientist Joseph Nye, who used it to describe “when one country gets other countries to want what it wants” without the use of force, in contrast to the hard power “of ordering others to do what it wants.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]But in the last year and a half, since the Pheu Thai party came to power in August 2023, Thailand has sought to redefine soft power instead as getting others to want what it has—with a particular emphasis on highlighting the country’s cultural prominence to attract tourists and foreign investment.
Moo Deng isn’t alone. Lalisa “LISA” Manobal, the Thai singer and member of K-pop powerhouse BLACKPINK, has also been hailed for her contributions to Thailand’s “soft power.”
While Thailand’s cultural wave has been bubbling up for years and “soft power” was also promoted by previous governments, the major push kickstarted when Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, just weeks after his election last year, announced the formation of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee (NSPSC), which laid out 11 key focus areas: food, gaming, festivals, music, film, literature, arts, design, sports, fashion, and tourism.
In the months since, Thailand has supported extending its Songkran festival from three days to a month, legalizing same-sex marriage, and promoting Thai-made film and TV (from its own exports like the critically acclaimed How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies and award-winning Hunger to international productions like the upcoming season of The White Lotus and the forthcoming installment of the Jurassic World franchise), among other measures—all in the name of boosting its “soft power.”
2024 appeared to be a big year of “wins” for Thailand’s global image, and the soft-power strategy shows no signs of slowing down. When Srettha was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in August 2024, his same-party successor Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was already the deputy chair of the NSPSC, was eager to pick up the soft-power mantle. It was a centerpiece of her opening policy statement in September, and in October, she cited soft power as one of the country’s “major strategies” for the next decade.
But while the private sector has embraced and praised the strategy, some academics and observers have criticized it for lacking clarity and coherence.
“While well-meaning, the government’s heavy focus on soft power initiatives that boost tourism, trade and investment is too narrow, said Assistant Professor Peera Charoenvattananukul from Thammasat University’s political science faculty,” in a recent article in the Singapore-based Straits Times. “It will take a lot more than just promoting its local and cultural assets to the world to gain influence and credibility in the geopolitical sphere, added Prof Peera, who specialises in foreign policy.”
Indeed, despite all its self-proclaimed achievements this year, Thailand has hardly moved on the the 2024 Global Soft Power Index, where it ranks a modest 40th among 193 U.N. member states that Brand Finance rated on a number of metrics assessing familiarity, reputation, and influence—though it did get high marks in the subcategories of “business and trade” and “culture and heritage.”
Kitti Prasirtsuk, professor of international relations at Thammasat, says that Thailand should instead have a more “comprehensive view of soft power” that focuses on more than just culture and tourism and also recognizes that shifts take time. “A country’s image depends on overall reputation in politics, economy, foreign policy, values, and domestic systems and institutions as well,” Kitti tells TIME. In his book on soft power, the term’s progenitor Nye wrote: “Seduction is always more effective than coercion, and many values like democracy, human rights, and individual opportunities are deeply seductive.” And in those areas, Thailand, while improving slightly from its years of junta rule, still lags far behind.
But leader Paetongtarn seems to care less about what “soft power” really means than what she hopes it can bring. “I think the definition is not really that important, as the government is trying to achieve bigger goals by promoting industries to promote soft power and boost the economy,” she said last December. An economic boost is certainly much needed: Thailand’s GDP growth trails that of regional neighbors Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, and the tourism-heavy economy is still struggling to fully rebound after COVID-19.
At the end of the day, Thammasat’s Peera tells TIME, Thailand’s pursuit of cultural influence will ultimately be judged on whether it benefits Thai people’s bottom line: “The government’s understanding of soft power might be different from Joseph Nye’s definitions of soft power,” he says, “but … if it can boost the economy, who cares?”
