Ahead of an international conference in Cardiff tomorrow, Chris Lewis explores what is meant by Wales’ soft power
On a bright but chilly April afternoon, somewhere in Cardiff Bay, a group of seventeen Thai politicians and government officials – led by the Commerce Minister, Sontirat Sontijurawong – filed into the artfully austere interior of a former munitions factory.
The group was visiting The Sustainable Studio, a buzzing collaborative work space for Cardiff creatives, on a whistle-stop tour of ‘creative hubs’ across the city. Chapter Arts and Tramshed Tech also featured on a programme of visits, arranged by Creative Cardiff and British Council Wales, to stimulating, shared spaces where creative people and ideas can thrive.
The Thai delegation was looking to Wales to help them understand how creative eco-systems emerge and operate at the city level – and they are not alone. The burgeoning international reputation of Cardiff as a creative centre has generated considerable interest as cities, regions and countries across the world seek to innovate in their approaches to developing their creative economies.
Two weeks later, the delegation was back in Thailand and the Commerce Minister was telling the Bangkok Post about exciting plans to develop Chiang Mai, in the north of the country, into a ‘Creative City’. He cited Cardiff as the model to follow – the international inspiration for an innovative policy initiative at home. ‘Cardiff offers Creative Vision for Commerce’ was the paper’s headline.
In many ways this is a small story – a curious tale of an unlikely cultural connection between two countries with few traditional ties. But the emerging relationship between the creative sectors in Wales and Thailand is part of a much bigger story of how Wales uses its cultural assets to build connections and influence around the world: a story of Welsh soft power.
The concept of soft power has achieved increasing currency since the term was coined by Professor Joseph Nye in 1990. It focuses on attraction and persuasion in international affairs, rather than on coercion. It comprises the ‘power of attraction’ – the appeal of a place’s creative, educational, sporting, business and other cultures, and the ‘power of example’ – how a place approaches public policy challenges and engages with global issues.
Small nations, regions and cities lack hard power levers, such as economic sanctions or military might, and their international affairs therefore take place exclusively in the context of soft power.
In its vision for the future of culture in Wales, Light Springs Through the Dark, the Welsh Government argues that ‘[the] culture of Wales should be an important calling card’ at the heart of Wales’ soft power which, if ‘deployed effectively [can bring] huge potential benefits in terms of developing trade, helping to attract inward investment, and encouraging more tourism from overseas’.
Tomorrow, First Minister Carwyn Jones will give the keynote address at an international conference on soft power at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
‘Building a global Wales after Brexit: international perspectives on small nations and soft power’, which has been arranged jointly by British Council Wales and the IWA, will explore how Wales can bolster global engagement and challenge all of us with an interest in creating a genuinely global Wales to seize the soft power moment.
Wales’ soft power has many sources: our educational, creative and sporting cultures; our progressive public policy initiatives; our bilingualism; our diaspora. Whatever its source, the relevance of soft power to Wales’ global future has only been increased by Brexit.
Whether Wales has a strategic framework for developing and deploying our soft power assets effectively – whether it’s our world class universities, the Wales of Euro 2016 or, indeed, the creative hubs of Cardiff – is less clear.
The Welsh Government has published an international ‘agenda’, in the form of 2015’s Wales and the World, but this falls short of being the basis of a strategic approach to international affairs.
One reason for the absence of this kind of output may be the highly fragmented nature of international functions within the Welsh Government. A single international directorate structure, with a ministerial portfolio to match, would provide the structure, profile, and sense of urgency required to develop a clear strategic approach to developing and marshalling Wales’ soft power assets.
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There is a great idea at the heart of this article. Wales has always had enormous potential “soft power.” The problem is that its strongest elements are not things which find favour with the current political Establishment. For example, the greatest brand recognition Wales enjoys is through its association with the British Royal Family. Far more people around the world could identify the Prince of Wales than could point to Wales on a map. In this context, media coverage of the recent furore over the “Prince of Wales Bridge” has not been helpful.
In much the same way, our politicians seem to prefer a version of history in which the Welsh are portrayed as victims to exploiting our traditions as a warrior nation. The legends of King Arthur are known throughout the world, but how many know that he was a Welshman, and that the stories are symbolic of a historical thousand-year resistance against foreign invasion?
Although it is good that there are now many media companies based in Wales, there is little particularly Welsh about many of them. Most of the big television shows branded “BBC Cymru” could have been made in another planet as far as the local “creative community” is concerned .
That said, Wales has many assets that might enable us to “punch above our weight” in global history. We have a named presence in international rugby, soccer, and athletics. We have landscape that impressed Wordsworth and Turner. We have a significant place in the history of global industry and technology, from Trevithick, Telford, and Brunel to Marconi and Donald Davies. Our musical heritage is second to none. We have made significant contributions to religious culture. It also must be said that it helps that we can all speak English, the greatest competitive advantage any nation can have in the internet age. So it must be asked why the Scots and the Irish have been so much more successful than us in exploiting their national “brands,” especially in the United States and the Commonwealth?
Wales doesn’t need soft power or any other buzz-words. It needs an effective economic strategy and there is no evidence this is any more likely to happen after BREXIT than it was before.
Too many non-productive people in Wales – the WG’s ‘international effort’ being a case in point, along with the WG. It duplicates and competes against functions which already exist at national level. Nice work if you can get it I suppose but not in my name and not with my taxes.
” the currency of soft power is culture, political values, and foreign policies.” (wiki)
We can tick the culture box but the other two are controlled by the Government at Westminster.
Therefore our ability to genuinely weald soft power is severely restricted from the start.
Such restrictions are not imposed on independent states in Europe with similar or smaller populations to us.
Now if we were a nation state we would have the opportunity to use all three soft power tools for our advantage.
Soft power is the projection of confidence. Its not about hard power – whether by military, economic or legal mechanisms. Wales, though, is lacking in confidence. Whether this arises from a lack of powers within its own economy and society, or historical baggage from an imperial past – a bit of both probably – it needs to be addressed. We become more attractive to others by being more confident in ourselves.
It would help if we divested ourselves of confusing and ambiguous references to the brand indicators of other entities. It would help if we didn’t constantly think of the UK as the “nation” (it is a state). It would help if we were confident enough to make ourselves ‘prickly’ when people dictate to us, so that they will think three times before they do. It would help if we did not automatically defer to others at every opportunity, seemingly.
We have a poor political core – content, unresponsive and verging on cronyistic. But there are things we do well because it is part of our way of thinking and approach to life – creative hubs and organisations like Indycube are obvious – and we should show them to the world – not unique but well done and thorough projects.
Confidence begins at home you could say, and soft power is an indicator of a confident polity.