An African Giant reduced to tiny writings: The problem with Nigerian Soft Power

Soft power describes the influence a country has on another through the admiration generated by the recognition and appreciation of its intangible resources like its culture, political values and foreign policy objectives. In essence, it captures a country’s attractive power. This thesis will aim to answer why Nigeria, despite its extensive soft power resources, is not recognised as having substantial soft power. After investigating the conventional understanding of soft power as presented by Joseph Nye, this work will map out some of Nigeria’s most influential soft power resources to showcase why Nigeria would be expected to be recognized as having significant soft power. It will argue that, besides issues regarding its credibility and public diplomacy strategy, Nigeria suffers from structural constraints. It illustrates how the common understanding of soft power is not neutral, rather it is shaped by a hegemonic worldview that is Eurocentric in nature, favouring “Western” states....Show moreSoft power describes the influence a country has on another through the admiration generated by the recognition and appreciation of its intangible resources like its culture, political values and foreign policy objectives. In essence, it captures a country’s attractive power. This thesis will aim to answer why Nigeria, despite its extensive soft power resources, is not recognised as having substantial soft power. After investigating the conventional understanding of soft power as presented by Joseph Nye, this work will map out some of Nigeria’s most influential soft power resources to showcase why Nigeria would be expected to be recognized as having significant soft power. It will argue that, besides issues regarding its credibility and public diplomacy strategy, Nigeria suffers from structural constraints. It illustrates how the common understanding of soft power is not neutral, rather it is shaped by a hegemonic worldview that is Eurocentric in nature, favouring “Western” states. This thesis aims to show how it is relatively harder for a country like Nigeria to be recognized as attractive or powerful due to the normative assumptions underlying the dominant ideas of what attractiveness and power look like.Show less

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An African Giant reduced to tiny writings: The problem with Nigerian Soft Power