In international politics, the resources that produce soft power
arise in large part from the values an organization or country expresses
in its culture, in the examples it sets by its internal practices
and policies, and in the way it handles its relations with others. Governments
sometimes find it difficult to control and employ soft
power, but that does not diminish its importance. It was a former
French foreign minister who observed that the Americans are powerful
because they can "inspire the dreams and desires of others,
thanks to the mastery of global images through film and television
and because, for these same reasons, large numbers of students from
other countries come to the United States to finish their studies."9
Soft power is an important reality. Even the great British realist
E. H. Carr, writing in 1939, described international power in three
categories: military, economic, and power over opinion.10 Those
who deny the importance of soft power are like people who do not
understand the power of seduction.