Moo Deng might seem to most people like just an adorable viral baby hippo, but to the government of Thailand, where she’s from, she’s a cultural ambassador and shining example of the country’s push to boost what it calls its “soft power.”
The term soft power was coined at the height of the Cold War by American political scientist Joseph Nye, who used it to describe “when one country gets other countries to want what it wants” without the use of force, in contrast to the hard power “of ordering others to do what it wants.”
But in the last year and a half, since the Pheu Thai party came to power in August 2023, Thailand has sought to redefine soft power instead as getting others to want what it has—with a particular emphasis on highlighting the country’s cultural prominence to attract tourists and foreign investment.
Moo Deng isn’t alone. Lalisa “LISA” Manobal, the Thai singer and member of K-pop powerhouse BLACKPINK, has also been hailed for her contributions to Thailand’s “soft power.”
While Thailand’s cultural wave has been bubbling up for years and “soft power” was also promoted by previous governments, the major push kickstarted when Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, just weeks after his election last year, announced the formation of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee (NSPSC), which laid out 11 key focus areas: food, gaming, festivals, music, film, literature, arts, design, sports, fashion, and tourism.
In the months since, Thailand has supported extending its Songkran festival from three days to a month, legalizing same-sex marriage, and promoting Thai-made film and TV (from its own exports like the critically acclaimed How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies and award-winning Hunger to international productions like the upcoming season of The White Lotus and the forthcoming installment of the Jurassic World franchise), among other measures—all in the name of boosting its “soft power.”
2024 appeared to be a big year of “wins” for Thailand’s global image, and the soft-power strategy shows no signs of slowing down. When Srettha was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in August 2024, his same-party successor Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was already the deputy chair of the NSPSC, was eager to pick up the soft-power mantle. It was a centerpiece of her opening policy statement in September, and in October, she cited soft power as one of the country’s “major strategies” for the next decade.
But while the private sector has embraced and praised the strategy, some academics and observers have criticized it for lacking clarity and coherence.
“While well-meaning, the government’s heavy focus on soft power initiatives that boost tourism, trade and investment is too narrow, said Assistant Professor Peera Charoenvattananukul from Thammasat University’s political science faculty,” in a recent article in the Singapore-based Straits Times. “It will take a lot more than just promoting its local and cultural assets to the world to gain influence and credibility in the geopolitical sphere,