Foreign thinker
Joseph Nye
Joseph NyePolitical Science and International RelationsAmerican1937–2025
Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payment.
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Joseph Nye was an American international-relations theorist and Harvard professor, best known for formulating the concept of “soft power.” Together with Robert Keohane, he played a major role in developing the theory of “complex interdependence,” while linking academic work with service in U.S. foreign-policy and national-security positions.
Joseph Samuel Nye Jr. was born on 19 January 1937 in New Jersey, United States. He studied at Princeton University, attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and received his PhD in political science from Harvard University. Nye joined Harvard’s faculty in 1964 and, over more than six decades of academic work, became an influential figure in international-relations theory and U.S. foreign policy. He served as Dean of Harvard Kennedy School from 1995 to 2004.
A major part of Nye’s early work emerged through his collaboration with Robert Keohane. In the 1970s, they developed the concept of “complex interdependence” to explain a world in which relations among states are not confined to military power and interstate interaction, but also involve international organizations, multinational corporations, and other transnational actors. Their book Power and Interdependence is a foundational text in international-relations theory.
Nye’s best-known theoretical contribution is the concept of “soft power”: the ability to influence others through attraction rather than coercion or payment. In his view, culture, political values, and foreign policy can become sources of power when they are seen by others as legitimate and attractive. He later introduced the concept of “smart power” to emphasize the judicious combination of hard and soft power resources.
Alongside his academic career, Nye held several positions in the U.S. government. During the Carter administration, he worked at the State Department and on nuclear nonproliferation; he later chaired the National Intelligence Council and served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. This movement between academia and policymaking was a defining feature of his career.
His notable books include Bound to Lead, Soft Power, The Future of Power, The Powers to Lead, and Is the American Century Over? Power, leadership, U.S. foreign policy, ethics in international relations, and great-power competition were enduring themes of his work. Joseph Nye died on 6 May 2025, aged 88.