Soft power. The United States has Hollywood, jazz and Facebook while South Korea can boast K-pop, kimchi and taekwondo. For Thailand, pad thai, tom yum kung and Muay Thai pack a global punch. Mango sticky rice is the most recent addition to that list after Thai female rapper Danupha “Milli” Khanatheerakul grabbed a bowl during her set at the Coachella festival in California.
Countries around the world use soft power to spread their appeal and influence, though some have proved more successful in achieving this than others.
Wealthy and powerful states tend to be better at projecting their soft power internationally, though certain smaller ones — like Singapore and Switzerland — have achieved similar success, say experts.
What is soft power?
Coined by American political scientist Joseph Nye in the late 1980s, the term soft power means “the ability to get…
