Sharp power. The effort of Western authors to divide soft power on “our” and “theirs”

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the concept of sharp power, its nature, basic characteristics and tools. Sharp power was introduced by American scientists Ch. Walker and D. Ludwig at the end of 2017 as an alternative version of soft power inherent only in totalitarian or authoritarian regimes. American researchers claim that sharp power has a set of tools such as data falsification, cyber-attacks, propaganda, manipulation of news streams, etc., and it’s aim is to undermine and discredit on Western-style democracies and democratic values in general.

The author puts in doubt the statements of Western scholars that sharp power is inherent exclusively to authoritarian powers, to which they include Russia, China, Iran and several other countries. Moreover, the heuristic significance of the concept of sharp power is called into question. Also, based on the analytical work done, the author of the article offers her own version of the translation of the term sharp power into Russian language. In the conclusion, she offers a critical assessment of the concept, rather as an ideological phenomenon aimed at forming favorable attitudes to its ideologues in the international foreign policy discourse, than as a scientific concept, which is synonymous with soft power and smart power.