Our diplomatic and development programs can prevent crises before they occur, so we do not need to send our greatest treasure - our brave soldiers - into harm’s way. As Mr. Gates has said, “Development is a lot cheaper than sending soldiers.”

The assassination of bin Laden was a watershed moment; Obama decided to realize the international role of authority that the US has assumed since World War II.

Joseph Nye is as gifted at branding as he is at thinking, teaching, and serving the public. He turned "soft power" (essential to "smart power") into a golden brand. In Washington, you know something has reached gold when the secretary of state wraps a "strategy" around it...

The United States administration has rebranded the country's foreign policy around the grand concept of "smart power", an expression which envelops great confidence if not self-satisfaction, and which, to a certain extent, presupposes a strategic dominance.

In Indonesia, home to 205 million Muslims — the greatest Islamic population in any nation— the administration recently opened in an upscale shopping mall a state-of-the-art, high-tech cultural centre. It is focused specifically on the country’s vast number of teenagers and twentysomethings.

The necessity to fight a ‘war of ideas’ against extremism and to ‘win hearts and minds’ has led to an increasing need for the Pentagon to be involved in supporting public diplomacy efforts.

When the United States Africa Command was created four years ago, it was the military’s first “smart power” command. It has no assigned troops, no headquarters in Africa itself, and one of its two top deputies is a seasoned American diplomat.

Hard power has been used often in the context of national security by a number of states, if the aims have not been achieved it is primarily because of their inability to employ all elements of national power.