“Kyrgyz government needs to structure its approach to soft power as a foreign policy tool, take a stock of existing soft power capacity, and track all possible opportunities to promote Kyrgyzstan as a brand and its national interests abroad”, – notes Dr. Aijan Sharshenova (Kyrgyzstan) in an article, exclusively for CABAR.asia.
Soft power is possibly one of the most obscure, overused and misunderstood terms ever. In social sciences, soft power is an interdisciplinary term that brings together applied political science, political psychology, foreign policy and international relations. In practical terms, it can be closely linked to the key principles of marketing as “selling” a country to the world is very similar to selling a product or a brand to the market. In this article, I will explore the world of soft power and take the stock of Kyrgyz soft power capacity.
How Central Asia exercise its soft power?
Soft power in one form or another has existed for as long as kings and peoples tried to impress and negotiate with their neighbours. However, the modern academic and policy definition of soft power originates in the 20th century USA. The classic definition of soft power states that “soft power rests on the ability to shape the preferences of others […] getting others to want the outcomes that you want – co-opts people rather than coerces them (Nye 2004). In other words, soft power is the opposite of hard power as it strives to change other actors’ behaviours and perceptions through non-violent means, i.e., culture, values and foreign policy.
It is important to differentiate between propaganda and soft power. Propaganda aims to manipulate public opinion while soft power aims to convince public opinion. Propaganda relies on a combination of facts, lies and half-truths while soft power uses facts, narratives and stories – using lies is damaging to soft power. An important feature of soft power is the voluntary and mindful acceptance of soft power products by its recipients. In other words, propaganda can be quite obvious and aggressive, while soft power is more subtle and gentle.
Closer to the region, Kazakhstan probably is slightly ahead of other countries in its effort to include soft power elements into its external relations. Kazakhstan has invested quite significant resources into managing global narratives about the country. It even tried to control the infamous Borat stint through adopting a line from the film as part of its tourism promotion campaign. Kazakhstan’s efforts went beyond tourism as the country hired former UK prime minister Tony Blair and his public relations company to manage Kazakhstan’s reputation in the aftermath of the 2011 Zhanaozen incident. Kazakhstan continues to structure its public outreach and nation branding probably more than any other Central Asian nation. This effort goes beyond state-led policies: Kazakhstan has become a pop-culture powerhouse of the region too (think of Q-Pop).
Uzbekistan, the largest Central Asian country by population, is also a hot-spot for soft power usage by the state. Unlike Kazakhstan though, Uzbekistan’s public outreach strategy is more gradual and even. To a large extent, Uzbek soft power seems to focus on culture and heritage more than anything. Tajikistan also follows this pattern of highlighting the achievements of its past to promote its nation brand through museums and narratives centred on glorious past. Turkmenistan in this regard is an odd exception. On one hand, there is an obvious lack of reliable (state-produced or independent) information about the life in the country. On the other hand, Turkmenistan keeps popping up in the world news for the most random reasons, e.g. the recent beauty services’ ban or a public photo of the ex-President’s wife.
Thus, there are certainly state and public efforts to harness soft power potential in Central Asia. How about Kyrgyzstan? Has Kyrgyzstan ever used soft power tools to promote its nation brand or further its foreign policy objectives?
Kyrgyzstan’s soft power: narratives and projects
If one applies the existing soft power indices, Kyrgyzstan probably does not seem to be doing too well. Anholt-Ipsos NBI, IfG/Monocle index and Portland’s top 30 index all measure similar or related things: business and innovation, export and investment, government, governance and diplomacy, culture and education, welfare of people, tourism and immigration. While Kyrgyzstan might be doing okay in terms of culture and tourism, other indicators leave a lot to wish for. Economic indicators have been challenging to say the least. Government and governance indicators are not great too: Kyrgyzstan is 118th in the human development index and unfree, according to the Freedom House index. These are just a fraction of various ways to measure a country’s success, and Kyrgyzstan consistently underperforms and does not create an impression of a successful soft power actor.
Nevertheless, it would be wrong to say that Kyrgyzstan does not have or does not exercise its soft power capacity. It is possible to identify three key relevant trends. First, most of Kyrgyzstan’s past and present soft power potential comes from individual successes of its current and former citizens – it is quite literally the glory of Kyrgyzstan’s people that puts the country on the global narratives’ map. Second, most of its mentions are either due to externally created and controlled narratives or accidental mentions. In other words, Kyrgyzstan lacks control over its externally projected image. Third, there are still some successful and promising national projects that are worth mentioning. Below I touch upon each trend.
As a small nation of just seven million people, Kyrgyz public is very proud whenever one of its former or current citizens achieves something significant in the world. Thanks to individual success stories of Kyrgyz sportspeople, artists, academics and many others, more and more people outside the country discover the existence (and, most importantly, spelling) of Kyrgyzstan.
For example, in 2011, Atai Omurzakov’s dance at Czech talent show “Česko Slovensko má talent” became an internet sensation as the video of Atai’s performance became viral. More recently, it is sportspeople hailing from the country, especially women in sports, who are putting Kyrgyzstan on the map. Olympic champions, female wrestlers Aisuluu Tynybekova, Aiperi Medet kyzy and Meerim Jumanazarova and mixed martial arts fighter Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko single-handedly made Kyrgyzstan a decent sports nation and contributed to the popularisation of sports and girls empowerment at home. In the area of science and technology, Dr. Asel Sartbaeva and former Google employee and currently tech coach Tilek Mamutov, as well as many other professionals, contributed to creating a positive image of Kyrgyzstan as the homeland of impressive “brains”. This trend is actually quite promising. Some might say that the country often loses its people to other nations, but these prominent individuals still contribute to development through coaching compatriots, raising the flag, bringing investment, and many other ways.
Second trend in Kyrgyzstan’s soft power that it is often controlled from outside the country. If one googles “Kyrgyzstan” in English, the language of contemporary global communications, the top sources are external to Kyrgyzstan: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, BBC country profile, US State Department’s country page, and many others. Obviously, search engine optimization is in charge of this, but clearly there is no effort from the Kyrgyz side to control what search engines bring up. However, there is still hope as the third search item is actually the link to “Discover Kyrgyzstan”, a tourist information project funded by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency TIKA.
If one searches for “Kyrgyzstan” on the popular video platform YouTube the first three most viewed results tell an interesting story. The first one is video footage of an avalanche that happened in Kyrgyz mountains in 2022 posted ViralHog, a viral video business. That video has 37 million views as of February 2023. The second most watched YouTube video is an Australian blogger getting a cheap haircut in Kyrgyzstan (27 million views). The third most popular video (22 million views) that mentions the country is Ozoda Nursaidova’s (Uzbek singer) performance at the 2018 World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan posted by the singer herself. The fourth one is so gruesome it kills any possible positive perception of Kyrgyzstan by an external viewer (bride kidnapping documentary by the Vice).
You’d ask: “Why is this important?” This is important because externally created and controlled narratives overtake any existing national efforts in using soft power for its benefit. One cannot and should not cancel or limit externally created mentions of the country, but there should be more effort and understanding of how to harness this power for the benefit of the nation. Otherwise, Kyrgyzstan will continue being an object of soft power activities and not the subject of it.
There are successful cases of making the most of externally created content though. For example, in 2007, a Swedish company produced research on where Santa Claus should live to be able to visit all children in the world. Thanks to this research Kyrgyzstan branded itself as the Santa Claus’ HQ, which put the country in the global news with a positive story. Similarly, the traditional Kara Jorgo dance has become an online sensation and got into news stories too.
It would be wrong not to mention some successful national projects, which contributed to controlling Kyrgyzstan’s soft power potential and using it to improve the nation’s brand. One of the most visible and large projects was probably the World Nomad Games. Established in 2014, the World Nomad Games went from a national initiative to popularise ethnic sports to a global spectacle that migrates from one host nation to another.
Another national initiative that might have had a great potential was the announcement of 2022 as international year of sustainable mountain development. However, in order for an international initiative like this to be successful, Kyrgyzstan needs to lead by example and deliver what it promotes (in this case it was sustainable mountain development). One more window of opportunity to promote nation brand was Kyrgyzstan’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.
What next for Kyrgyzstan?
Soft power is a politically loaded concept, which can be easily interpreted to mean different things. It is inherently difficult to quantify but this does not mean it should be disregarded. Soft power tools offer a wide range of opportunities in the world of information and digitalisation. Soft power as a foreign policy instrument is no longer a privilege of richer, bigger countries with global ambitions. Nowadays, any nation and even any individual is capable to establish and develop their soft power capacity to get what they want through non-violent means. Soft power tools are also often cost-effective mechanisms as they do not necessarily require large investment and long returns.
At the moment, Kyrgyzstan’s soft power in the world is a tribute to incredible individuals, who hail from Kyrgyzstan, and happy random accidents like that Swedish research on Santa Claus’s HQ. In order to make the most of this, Kyrgyz government needs to structure its approach to soft power as a foreign policy tool, take a stock of existing soft power capacity, and track all possible opportunities to promote Kyrgyzstan as a brand and its national interests abroad.
The Kyrgyz state does not seem yet to have a unified soft power strategy, does not mention soft power or public diplomacy as a foreign policy instrument or objective in the Foreign Policy Concept, and does not teach public diplomacy at the Diplomatic Academy under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Meanwhile, it is important that the state and the government has solid understanding of how to use public diplomacy tools to promote Kyrgyzstan’s national interests abroad and is capable to make the most of Kyrgyzstan’s soft power potential.
National, state- and public-led soft power projects are extremely important because they are capable of creating the narratives and stories that pursue the country’s interests. These are not necessarily only rosy success stories and beautiful visuals. Negative phenomena, like bride kidnapping for example, need to be discussed too. No country is perfect, each society has positive and negative aspects to it. What makes successful nations and societies successful is the ability and willingness to take responsibility for their image and future and control their story.
The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this long read are strictly those of the author (Aijan Sharshenova) and do not reflect the official policy or position of the OSCE Academy, the OSCE or any other organisations affiliated with the author (Aijan Sharshenova).
References
Hayden, C. 2012. The rhetoric of soft power: Public diplomacy in global contexts. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
IPSOS 2023, The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Index, Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/en/nation-brands-index-2022
Lebedeva, M. ed. 2017. Public diplomacy: Theory and practice (In Russian) Aspect Press: Moscow.
MacDonald, A. 2018. Soft power superpowers: Global trends in cultural engagement and influence. The British Council. Available at: https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/j119_thought_leadership_global
Nye, J. 2004. Soft power: The means to success in world Politics. New York: Public Affairs.