Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy as Counter-terrorism Measure in Contemporary International Politics

Abstract

Public diplomacy lies at the heart of modern development of information age and shapes the concept of social and political thought. This paper analysis the concept of soft power vis-a-vis counter terrorism strategy of nation states and discusses the significance of the soft power and public/cultural diplomacy in building image, nation branding and ultimately building a narrative. It will bring the reference point of Pakistan on the issue of relevance with today's world at the same time carrying a negative image of terrorist state. This paper establishes co-relation between nation branding and public diplomacy. Since the hard power is meeting with failure in order to curb the terrorism, there is limitation of state capacity to use hard power in bringing the structural changes needed for curbing terrorism. The paper recommends that there is a great need for revisiting religious narrative that extremists invoke for justification of their acts.