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The dissertation addresses the issue of soft power - its essence, its content, its operational mechanism and its numerous manifestations. Soft power is an object of introspection, firstly, in a static perspective, and, secondly, in a dynamic one, as far as its application in a highly volatile environment is concerned. Soft power seems not to allow its distinguishing features to be outlined since they overspill into various conceptions. These frames of reference lend fundamentally new dimensions to the perception of soft power - institional influence, structural interactions, a discourse of representations. It is namely through the debate on soft power, though, that the knowledge about it is systematized so that it may be employed in future prescriptions. Soft power is defined as the opportunity to exercise a transformative effect in accordance with others will, without resorting to either explicit or implicit coercion. Its internal characteristic is its openness to criticsm and to any opinion different from one s own. Therefore, soft power consists in: persuasion through argumentation; emulation of benchmarks; setting and following of legitimate standards. The transformational impact of soft power being neutral, it offers multiple interpretations of itself, and, from a pragmatic point of view, by means of the empirical research of public, cultural and science diplomacy soft power displays its normative potential in formulating behavioral strategies for international actors.
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