The newly published book by our department's Dr. Asst. Prof. Md. Nazmul Islam, titled "Power of Bonding and Non-Western Emerging Great Powers Engagement: Comparing China and India's Soft Power Strategy in Pakistan" (Lexington: Rowman & Littlefield, New York, 2024), was featured at the annual convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), held in San Francisco, California, USA, from April 3-6, 2024.
This convention is the largest gathering of academics in the fields of international relations, political science, and media studies, hosting over 6,000 participants who present their research findings. Furthermore, Dr. Islam's book has been indexed, cataloged, and referenced in the libraries of numerous prestigious universities, including renowned institutions such as Harvard University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, and MIT.
In this scholarly work, Dr. Islam investigates how states in international politics often seek to maintain their positions through cooperative or coercive means. The book highlights soft power theory and its emergence as a non-coercive and non-violent approach for states to pursue their national interests by leveraging intangible resources. Islam's analysis focuses on emerging great powers like China and India, demonstrating how they skillfully use soft power strategies to expand their influence.
Pakistan, given its proximity to both countries, serves as an apt case study for examining the soft power dynamics of China and India. The recent US withdrawal from Afghanistan has led to speculation about how India and China will engage with Pakistan and fill the regional vacuum left by the US.
Islam critically examines Joseph S. Nye's Soft Power theory while introducing the new concept of "Power of Bonding" (Rabıta Gücü), which utilizes non-Western perspectives to analyze India's and China's soft power approach toward Pakistan. Furthermore, the book evaluates their spheres of influence and soft power strategies in three thematic areas: political, diplomatic engagement and power of bonding (I), cultural attraction and power of bonding (II), and economic partnerships and power of bonding (III). The study employs various research methodologies, including content analysis of articles published in Pakistan's Dawn newspaper and one-on-one interviews with participants from Pakistan, India, and China.
