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(原标题)软实力超级大国

Global trends in cultural engagement and influence

(副标题)全球文化参与与文化影响力变化趋势

Author: Alistair MacDonald

作者:阿利斯泰尔·麦克唐纳

United States
In the Cold War the US was for many ‘the shining city on the hill’, ‘the land of the free’, where it was possible to live out the American Dream that promised affluence for people who worked hard and had talent.

【美国篇】
在冷战中,美国对很多国家来说是“山巅之城”,是“自由的国度”,在那里是有可能实现美国梦的,而后者承诺那些努力工作以及有天赋之人能得到富足的生活。

That promise of liberty and success was and remains an essential element of the US’s soft power.

对自由和成功的许诺曾经是也依然是美国软实力的基本元素。



… there are many elements of soft power where the US is unrivalled. America attracts more international students than any other nation, American culture is globally ubiquitous, and the US sets the pace in tech and digital. If The Soft Power 30 rankings were calculated on obxtive metrics alone, the US would have… the top spot. However, the US finished sixteenth across an average of the polling categories. In many ways the American government and perceptions of US foreign policy tend to be a net detractor for American soft power.

“…在构成软实力的很多要素上,美国都是无与伦比的。美国吸引的国际学生比其他任何国家都多,美国文化在全球无孔不入,而且在科技和数码领域,都以美国马首是瞻。如果软实力30强排名只计算客观指标,美国早就荣登榜首了。然而,美国在各种调查类别中的平均排名只有第16位。在很多方面,美国政府以及对美国外交政策的看法,往往会对美国的软实力带来净减损的效果。”

Pointedly, that survey pre-dated the inauguration of President Trump and the blizzard of controversy that has ensued since. To put it another way, ‘there may be little or no relationship between America’s ubiquity and its actual influence today. Hundreds of millions of people around the world wear, listen, eat, drink, watch and dance American, but they do not necessarily identify these accoutrements of their daily lives with America’. 26 Indeed familiarity may breed contempt with some audiences appalled by the graphic portrayal of sex and violence of Hollywood’s biggest movies. Others are outright hostile to what they perceive as American cultural imperialism, seeing Americana as a threat to their identity and values.

体现出指向性的是,这项调查在时间上早于特朗普总统的就职典礼以及紧接着发生的有关暴雪公司的争论。换句话说,‘美国的无孔不入和它今天的现实影响力之间,也许并不存在什么相关关系,甚至是没有关系。全世界有数亿人穿美国、听美国、吃美国、看美国、跳美国,但他们并不一定会因为这些日常生活中的配备而去认同美国’。这种真实存在的亲密感,可能会在那些震惊于好莱坞大片中对性和暴力清楚形象描写的观众心中埋下轻蔑的种子。其他人则对他们理解中的美国文化帝国主义怀有彻底的敌意,将美国视为他们身份认同和价值观的威胁。

The lack of a filtering mechanism or set of institutions to act as independent interlocutor between American culture and the diverse audiences of the world at large could be seen as a weakness in the US’s soft power. However, many of the functions of the European cultural relations delivery model are mirrored by the Department of State’s in-house Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) that operates out of the US diplomatic network’s 300 plus embassies and consulates. As this is not an independent or quasi-independent organisation, it has not been possible to map its global presence in the same way as this report has sought to do for other key soft power nations.

在美国文化和各式各样的全体全球受众之间,欠缺一种过滤机制或是一整套能起到独立对话者作用的制度,这可以视为是美国软实力的一个弱点。然而,欧洲打造文化关系的模式中,有很多功能,在美国是由国务院内部的教育与文化事务局(ECA)在发挥,后者的运营依托的是美国外交网络中的300多家大使馆和领事馆。因为这不是一个独立或准独立的机构,它还不可能用这份报告中其他关键性软实力国家寻求诉诸的同样方式,去绘制其全球存在地图。



(译注:马蒂广播电视台总部位于迈阿密,由美国联邦政府资助,针对古巴播送西班牙语新闻)

The profile of the new budget that sees cuts to the work of the NED and increases in the already massive defence budget reflects the priority the Trump administration gives to hard power and the seemingly lack of regard for soft power. America has traditionally been viewed as using its power for more than the promotion of its own interests. There has been a belief in many countries that the US has acted to help maintain the rules-based international system and in so doing support a broader common good.

在这份新预算案中,能发现NED的工作被削减了,并增加了数额已经很巨大的防务预算,反映出特朗普政府的优先级放在了硬实力上,似乎缺乏对软实力的注重。传统上,一直认为美国在运用其权势的时候不只限于促进自身利益。很多国家一直都存在一种观念,即美国为了帮助维护基于规则的国际体制一直在采取行动,并以此来撑持更广泛的共同利益。

The change in tone in Washington, both in terms of defence and economic policy is eroding that reputation and changing the calculations in capitals around the world. This has already had an impact on the choices of prospective students and academics that have traditionally flocked to American universities, for example there was a fall of three per cent in applications to American graduate schools from international students between 2016 and 2017. 31 If this trend continues at a time of growing international student mobility, it will have an impact on the relative financial and intellectual resources of US universities. It will also affect the economy more widely. The nearly one million foreign students attending American higher education institutions contribute $30.5 billion to the American economy. It will also impact on the US’s future connections and networks. Going forward a loss of goodwill could mean states are less likely to give American policies the benefit of the doubt, to believe it is acting as a positive force in global affairs.

华盛顿方面在防务和经济政策上的改弦更张,正在削弱这种声望,并改变着全世界各大首都中发生的谋算。这已经影响到了各自国家的学生和学者的选择,传统上他们会锁定美国的大学,比如说,2016至2017年间,国际学生申请美国研究生院的数量回落了三个百分点。如果这种趋势,在一个国际学生流动性日益加强的时代中延续下去,就会对美国大学的财政资源和才智资源产生影响。这还会在更广泛的层面上影响到美国经济。差不多有一百万来美国高等教育机构就学的外国学生,他们为美国经济贡献了350亿美元。这还将影响到美国未来的人脉和关系网络。声誉的继续损失可能会意味着:美国在制定政策时不太可能享受到各国因相信美国会在全球事务中发挥正面作用而带来的利好。



The US has always used all available tools for engagement, Roosevelt’s philosophy remains salient, ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’. Peaceful negotiation from a position of strength has been the core of America’s foreign policy successes. It has used hard economic and military power, allied with significant soft power assets to achieve its aims, an approach that Nye and others have referred to as smart power. However, the truly smart thing about American power in the 100 years since Woodrow Wilson’s seminal Fourteen Points speech has been the emphasis on the common good. The US has been at its most influential – and its interests best served – where it has been perceived as acting in the broader interest of the global community. Moving to a zero-sum view of the world risks leaving everyone, but most especially the US itself, worse off.

美国一直都在利用一切可用的交互手段,罗斯福的哲学仍然是最重要的,“扛着大棒说软话”。占据优势地位进行和平谈判一直是美国外交政策成功的核心。为了达到其目的,它使用过经济和军事方面的硬实力,并结合上了其重大软实力资产,这种手法被奈尔和其他人称为“巧实力”。然而,自伍德罗·威尔逊带来深远影响的十四点演讲发生后的100年,关于美国实力真正巧妙的事情一直都在于强调共同利益。美国经历过最具影响力且其利益得到最大程度满足的时代,那时,世界眼中的美国会为了全球社会更广泛的利益而行事。美国转变成以零和观点看待世界,将会让每个人,尤其是美国自身的境况变得更糟。

(译注:小约瑟夫·塞缪尔·奈尔(英语:Joseph Samuel Nye, Jr.,1937年-),生于美国新泽西州南奥兰治,政治学学者,曾任哈佛大学约翰·F·肯尼迪政府学院院长,曾提出软实力、巧实力等外交学说;伍德罗·威尔逊(Woodrow Wilson)是19世纪80年代美国学会会长、普林斯顿大学的校长,后来成为了美国总统,在一战接近尾声时的1918年1月8日,威尔逊总统在对国会所发表的著名演说中提出十四点,认为这是促进世界和平的“唯一”可行的计划。随后,这十四点被采用作为和平谈判的基础)