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Hard power returns in international ties

To be sure, governments have used soft power to influence other states, but several instances of brute military force have played out recently, to varying degrees of success.

Published Tue, Jan 13, 2015 · 09:50 PM

Soft power

London

THE past year has seen marked resurgence in the use of hard power by states in pursuit of national interests.

The US return to military action in Iraq and direct intervention in Syria, Russia's annexation of Crimea and destabilisation of eastern Ukraine and China's assertion of its territorial claims in the East and South China seas are three examples of major powers turning to force to achieve strategic aims.

Not so long ago, talk in dip…