Joseph Nye, a Harvard professor and harsh critic of President Bush’s policy towards Iraq, argues that although “hard power”, which is symbolized by military force, plays an important role, such power on its own falls far short of fighting international terrorism. Therefore, the hard power must be accompanied by “soft power” which is capacity to persuade others without force.
Hard power inevitably invites resistance and antagonism towards the user. Soft power does not. It may thus be particularly useful in resolving global issues that require cooperation among nations like international terrorism. Many of such issues are entrusted for their resolution to the United Nations.
I was recently in Geneva to attend a meeting of the Advisory Group of the UN Secretary-General for Humanitarian Assistance. The Group discussed how the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which was launched back in March 2006 with $500 million, could be more effectively mobilized to save lives in humanitarian emergencies around the globe.
For the past two years, the CERF has been highly regarded by the international community for its efficient and timely delivery of $600 million of emergency relief for humanitarian crisis in 59 countries. The timely relief response is literally a matter of life and death for civilians in emergency situations as was witnessed, among others, in the Darfur conflict, last year’s warfare in Lebanon and the tsunami crisis which devastated Southeast Asia in 2004.
The success of the CERF activities however cannot hide the wide gap between the high ideals of the UN and the bleak reality of the world we live in. We are living in an era of unparalleled economic prosperity. However, 1/5th of the world population continues to live on less than $1 per day. Armed clashes and natural calamities are causing human tragedy and enormous economic and social dislocations. Under these circumstances, it is imperative that UN member countries participate more actively in realizing the lofty UN ideals.
Korea, with the 13th largest economy in the world, also needs to play a greater role in the international community. For many years, Korea has increased its development aid, shared development experiences, established an emergency relief aid system and participated in the reconstruction and development efforts in Asia and Africa. Nevertheless, the level of overseas contribution is much too low for the world’s thirteenth largest economy,
The volume of Korea’s official development assistance (ODA) stood at $450 million in 2006, a mere 0.05% of Korea’s GNP. Such figure pales against the OECD members’ average which amounts to 0.3% of GNP. Such a record, needless to say, does not help to boost Korea’s image and profile in the international community.
As the Lee Myung-bak administration takes office in two months time, Korea should ponder seriously about such a record. President-elect Lee said in the recent interview that Korea successfully went through the process of industrialization and democratization. The new challenge is how to join the ranks of developed countries. To speak in the parlance of Joseph Nye, Korea cannot meet the challenge with hard power alone. We need the soft power as well. We should not give up the opportunity to become a good citizen of the world community and at the same time build and extend our soft power.
Park Soo Gil
Distinguished Professor, Korea University
<2007년12월28일자 코리아헤럴드>
