national interests

As the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency, Godffrey Onyema, assumes office at the Tafawa Balewa House, Abuja  expectations are high on the future of the nation’s foreign policy and diplomacy. Nigeria needs a new foreign policy direction to remain relevant  both in Africa and on the world stage in the fast changing sphere of international diplomacy.

“Soft power” is an important element of foreign policy, emphasizing attraction rather than coercion. The concept, popularized by Harvard professor Joseph Nye, provides counterbalance to the infatuation with hard power, especially military force, which has been driven by the accelerated development of “smart” weaponry. Drones, for example, are appealing to their users because their “pilots” may be thousands of miles away, wholly out of danger while people on the ground are dying. It is war without cost for one side.

While Ankara has political influence in Syria, soft power has little sway when Bashir al-Assad’s survival is at stake. Yet as long as Turkey remains committed to a noninterventionist approach, it can offer little more than diplomatic efforts and attempts at persuasion.