Power politics between nations is often thought of in terms of military force and economic policy. Today's globalized world opens the gate to a new world of "soft power" where countries instead attempt to shift the power balance among nations through cultural spheres of influence. In Culture Wars, we explore different avenues of soft power, such as sports and entertainment, that can make a nation more influential and thus more powerful on the world stage. This podcast is made possible by the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at CMC.
In this episode, Dr. Anderson, a South Korean media studies and popular culture expert at George Mason University, tells us how Hallyu - or the Korean Wave - led to the globalization of Korean culture. We discuss how K-pop music and Korean dramas gained worldwide popularity, analyzing how the entertainment industry works, how Korean cultural influence is exported abroad, and how this led to the country growing from a relatively small state to a global influencer.
In this episode, we discuss how China has used cultural spheres of influence to rise on the world stage and its effectiveness with a renowned expert on Chinese politics, Professor Minxin Pei. Using mediums such as Chinese cinema and Confucius Institutes, we analyze if China will ever surpass the U.S. as a cultural powerhouse and how it differs as an authoritarian state in appealing its culture to other countries.
We sit down with the Los Angeles Times sports columnist, Dylan Hernández, to talk about how sports acts as a catalyst to soft power using Japan as a case study. We dive into a variety of issues surrounding sports in international relations, including the Tokyo Olympics with host country advantage in international sporting events, as well as how sports embody a country's spirit, values, and reputation.
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