Re-Inventing Brand India: Lessons from Korean Hallyu Wave

Kalyani Jain

The Bhopal School of Social Sciences, Hoshangabad Road, Bhopal, India

Keywords: Smart Power, Public Diplomacy, Indian Foreign Policy.

Abstract: Joseph Nye's concept of 'soft power' has sparked academic interest in exploring its potential impact on

international relations, especially in the context of evolving notions of security. While some critics question

its efficacy compared to 'hard power,' the rise of global challenges have underscored the importance of people-

centred initiatives within a soft power framework. India has started to embrace its soft power arsenal,

leveraging its cultural heritage, spiritualism, and diaspora to promote initiatives like the International Yoga

Day. This paper argues that such India’s soft power based foreign policy can be further fortified by exploring

the possibility of adapting the South Korean Smart Power model to the India in a nation-branding context.

1 INTRODUCTION

According to Joseph Frankel, a country’s foreign

policy consists of “decisions and actions, which

involve to some extent, relations between one State

and others” (Frankel, 1968). It involves the act of

finely aligning a country’s own domestic system,

consisting of multitudes of interests, opinions and

demands with the system that exists beyond the

borders. In the current globalised world, with the

concept of good governance becoming mainstream

national borders themselves have become

increasingly permeable and the State’s internal

matters, largely transparent. Consequently, there has

been a growing demand for public participation in

governance in India as well with the Indian

government receiving 14.21 Lakh Right to

Information applications in 2021-22 alone (Common

Human Rights Initiative, 2022)

Since the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, also

falls within the ambit of the agencies accountable to

Indian citizens under the Right to Information Act,

2005, international foreign policy making, which has

traditionally been shrouded in secrecy of a State’s

security interest, has evolved to become increasingly

visible and people centric.

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9529-9649

2 EVOLUTION OF ‘POWER’

The Realist perspective of international relations, as

put forward by Hans Morgenthau considers a

country’s foreign policy as being guided by the

unchanging human nature, which is self-interested

and aggressive. It argues that foreign policy, as a tool

to secure a country’s national interests is defined by

the international “struggle for power”. (Morgenthau,

1948) This view of international politics, thus, tends

to divorce morality from the State, i.e., “universal

moral principles cannot be applied to the actions of

States” (Morgenthau, 1948) Consequently, most

States have tended to prioritise their external security

via methods based in the concept of ‘hard power’ and

the tools of foreign policy have thus, traditionally

been limited to deterrence, arms control, intelligence

based covert actions, economic sanctions, etc.

However, post-colonial studies of international

relations have challenged this perception of security

by drawing attention to the non-Western States,

where certain intra-state issues related to human well-

being were higher on the States’ priorities.

Subsequently, the concept of ‘Human Security’ found

its place in mainstream security debates, especially

since 1994, when the United Nations Development

Programme sought to broaden the conception of

security on multiple dimensions of universal human

concerns such as, poverty, underdevelopment, health

etc. (UNDP, 1994) Consequently, the concept of

618

Jain, K.

Re-Inventing Brand India: Lessons from Korean Hallyu Wave.

DOI: 10.5220/0012499600003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 618-621

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

‘power’ as defined by Morgenthau, i.e., “man’s

control over the minds and actions of other men”

(Morgenthau, 1948) underwent transformation as

well. According to Joseph Nye, ‘power’ can achieve

one’s desired outcomes in two ways – either by

coercion or payment, or by attraction or persuasion.

He identified the former as ‘hard power’ and the latter

as ‘soft power’ (Nye, 1990).

‘Hard’ Power, which can be understood in the context

of realism and the notions of traditional security,

includes coercive foreign policy tools such as military

strength, economic sanctions, deterrence, strategic

alliances, and coercive diplomacy. It seeks to

safeguard a State’s national interests and territorial

integrity by either offensive or defensive strategies,

and broadly aims to shift or maintain the balance of

power in that State’s favour (Waltz, 1979)

‘Soft’ power, consists of attractive and often

intangible attributes that a State possesses such as its

culture, its civil society, and the positive opportunities

it offers to its people. Unlike ‘hard’ power, it depends

on conceptions of human security and can neither be

easily measured nor its influence be immediately or

concretely discerned (Buzan, 2009).

It would however be a fallacy to perceive ‘hard’ and

‘soft’ power as being diametrically opposite and

conflicting in nature. Introducing the concept of

‘Smart’ Power, Joseph Nye argued that a State ought

to cultivate the ‘ability to combine hard and soft

power into successful strategies’ with the aim of

making the two concepts reinforce each other (Nye,

2011) He argued that such ‘smart’ power had the

ability of increasing the probability of a ‘hard’ power

action being perceived as more palatable by other

States, if it was accompanied by a robust soft power

framework. (Nye, 2017)

3 CASE STUDY – THE SOUTH

KOREAN SMART POWER

In 2017, South Korea was in a tense situation because

its Northern counterpart had successfully displayed to

the world, its expanded nuclear weapons capability

by developing the nuclear capable intercontinental

ballistic missile (ICBM), ‘Hwasong-15’. This was

perceived as a matter of urgent concern, not only by

South Korea, but also by the USA which not only had

significant military interests in South Korea but was

itself under threat by the ICBM’s range. Faced with

this threat to the existing balance of power in the

Korean peninsula, South Korea has, since then, taken

multiple steps to make effective use of both its hard

and soft power capabilities.

First, it called upon one of its most important strategic

allies, the USA, which has committed itself to help

South Korea defend itself since 1953, particularly

against any threats presented by North Korea, under

the ‘U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty’. In 2023, this

alliance was further strengthened through the

‘Washington Declaration’ wherein South Korea

sought and achieved the USA’s assurance that it

would expand consultations with South Korea on

extended deterrence and would ‘enhance the regular

visibility of strategic assets’, including nuclear-

capable weapons. (Congress Research Service,

2023).

Second, it laid the foundations of building a soft

power framework under which it would seek de-

escalation, dialogue and cooperation with North

Korea based in their shared histories and cultural

values. This included steps in cultural diplomacy

alongside an aid-based diplomacy. In 2018, despite

the nuclear level tensions of a few months prior, a

unified Korean team participated in Women’s Ice

Hockey competition in the PyeongChang 2018

Winter Olympics, thanks to a series of diplomatic

dialogues between the two Koreas along with the

International Olympic Committee. Just a few months

after this, South Korea sent a cultural diplomatic

mission to Pyeongyang in form of the hit K-Pop Girl

Group, ‘Red Velvet’, which performed a popular

Korean song, “Our wish is unification” for the North

Korean leader Kim Jong-Un alongside hundreds of

North Korean citizens.

Lastly, South Korea fortified its smart power

capabilities in the long term by harnessing the

potential of nation branding. Defined as the

‘commodification of a country through strategic

marketing’, nation branding aims to construct a

positive image of a country, with the ultimate

objective of positively influencing the attitudes of the

country’s targeted audiences, i.e., foreign peoples,

and making the country attractive to them. (Anholt,

2007) South Korea made effective use of nation

branding alongside an institutionalised public

diplomacy which includes the Presidential Council on

Nation Branding, Ministries dedicated to Foreign

Affairs and Trade, as well as Culture, Sports, and

Tourism, alongside education, Science and

Technology – working in tandem with other private

as well as public agencies. (Yim, 2010)

This multipronged approach to foreign policy has

yielded impressive results. South Korea is no longer

identified solely for having a tumultuous relationship

with its neighbour (Lee, 2009). It has now gained

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global recognition as an entertainment powerhouse

attracting the younger demographic through its

‘Hallyu Wave’ – with its biggest boy band, BTS,

being appointed as ‘special presidential envoy for

future generations and culture’ in 2021 with the aim

of spreading their message for ‘loving yourself’, and

gaining global recognition as “Next Generation

Leaders” and one of the “Most Influential People of

2019” (TIME, 2019)

4 INDIAN SOFT POWER

India has recently taken concrete steps towards

developing its soft power. Its efforts which have

focused majorly on cultural democracy have yielded

concrete results. For instance, the United Nations, in

2014, dedicated 21

of June as International Day of

Yoga to appreciate the rich heritage of Yoga which is

believed to have originated in India. India’s display

of its attractive culture has not been limited to Yoga

but has also included its most prominent film industry

i.e., Bollywood, which has grown to become one of

the largest in the world in terms of the number of

movies produced, which in 2022 stood at 288, the

fifth highest number in the world. Bollywood has

even found its following across the world with India’s

overseas distribution circuit realizing almost Rs.10.9

billion in 2016, which was a 14% increase since the

previous year. (KPMG, 2017)

However, there has also been a certain stagnation in

the effects that India’s cultural attractions have had in

recent years (Mukherjee, 2014). For instance,

Bollywood itself has seen a significant drop in

production numbers in 2023 with India now standing

at the sixth rank worldwide with only 233 movies to

its name (Malone, 2011).This might be attributed to

multiple factors including specific ones such as

Bollywood often perpetuating stereotypical images,

limiting the diversity and depth of India’s soft power

representation, to wider political factors, such as

India’s status as a ‘flawed democracy’ under EUI’s

Democracy Index owing to the perception that the

government failed to effectively address the

persecution of religious and other minorities in India.

(Economist Intelligence Unit, 2022) Consequently,

there is a growing need for a revamped soft power

framework for India, which could, on the one hand,

enhance its attractiveness through means which

would actively involve its people as cultural

diplomats, and on the other hand, improve the global

perception of India from a political standpoint.

5 DEVELOPING THE INDIAN

SOFT POWER

India has been proactively developing its hard power

with strategic alliances, military upgrades, and

defence innovation. However, its soft power

framework can be fortified keeping the South Korean

Smart Power framework in mind in two major areas:

First, as the most populous country in the world, with

an Indian diaspora that stands at 32 million, the scope

for India to utilize public diplomacy in its favour is

massive ‘Public Diplomacy’ a term coined in 1965,

has been defined by E. Gullion as encompassing

“dimensions of international relations beyond

traditional diplomacy; the cultivation by governments

of public opinion in other countries; the interaction of

private groups and interests in one country with those

of another; ... and the processes of inter-cultural

communications.” (Gullion, 1965) The element of

inter-cultural communications can be utilised for

India in a systematic manner by drawing inspiration

from the South Korean model. Although India

already has institutional bodies such as the Ministry

for Culture and Indian Council for Cultural Relations

in place, their impact can be enhanced through

effective public diplomacy development as a tool of

soft power, by ‘building long-term relationships that

create an enabling environment for government

policies’ (Nye, 2008). One such means could be

social media. If one explores popular social media

platforms such as Instagram and Twitter there has

been a surge in the popularity of videos that showcase

a person’s cultural identity and history via means of

costumes and artistic expressions such as dancing,

singing, and painting. The Indian government can

play a coordinating role through its Ministries of

Culture and Information Technology to encourage

young individuals to showcase their own sub-Indian

cultures to the global audience on such platforms

through means such as officially appointed social

media cultural ambassadors and promoting the

content of independent creators.

Second, India could promote peace journalism to

counter the mainstream media within and outside

India which tend to focus solely on catastrophes and

conflicts. Defined as choices that editors and

reporters make, ‘of what to report, and how to report

it – that create opportunities for society at large to

consider and value non-violent responses to conflict’,

peace journalism aims to highlight peace initiatives,

no matter their scale to present a balanced view of

humanity to its audiences. (Lynch and McGoldrick,

2005) In times when growing instances of communal

violence in India have come to the attention of the

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global audiences, it would be highly beneficial for

India’s brand image to promote peace journalism.

Additionally, the Indian government would need to

strengthen its own responsiveness to intra-state

conflicts, without which foreign peoples would

remain largely unaffected by a fully developed soft

power toolbox for fears of their own safety and out of

a concern for human rights.

6 CONCLUSION

Indian foreign policy makers have started making

efforts towards harnessing India’s soft power through

means such as cultural diplomacy and gave achieved

moderate success. However, there is an

underutilization of the country’s vast human

resources – especially those persons who are familiar

with tools of Information Technology. In July 2023,

the number of social media users across the world

stood at 4.88 billion, i.e., 60.6% of the total global

population. This presents an excellent opportunity for

India to influence more than half of the global

population through social media based public

diplomacy in a way that re-builds its national brand-

image as a storehouse of human intellect, rich

traditions, medical knowledge, and economic

opportunities – supported on a robust framework of

Indian smart power.

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