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VOL. 7, ISSUE 6 (2025)
Competing for the Global South: Soft power strategies of China and India
Authors
Shreya Kasana
Abstract
This paper analyses the application of soft power by China and India to
increase their influence in the Global South in a changed multipolar world.
Whereas China uses state-led cultural outreach, massive infusion of capital
into development, and the Belt and Road Initiative as tools to bask in a model
of rapid modernisation, India uses civilizational identity, democratic and
diaspora networks and capacity-building programmes like ITEC and the
International Solar Alliance. Based on a comparative analytical framework, the
study weighs instruments, narratives and perceptions that make up individual
country soft power maps on the African, Asian, and Latin American continents.
The paper proposes that the resource-intensive policy of China offers a quick
payoff, but it must be worried about transparency and increasing geopolitical
arrogance, whereas the people-based and culturally-driven approach of India
achieves goodwill and is limited to financial means. The conclusion of the
paper entails that the competition of soft power by the two states plays an
important part in global governance and the future of South-South cooperation.
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Pages:61-66
How to cite this article:
Shreya Kasana "Competing for the Global South: Soft power strategies of China and India". International Journal of Social Science and Humanities, Vol 7, Issue 6, 2025, Pages 61-66
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