SoftPower, CommTech PolChange

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Communications makes it possible for people to forge trust communities that foster social capital and can lead to political change. This class will study these trust communities at the national and international level. At the international level, communications are at the heart of soft power relationships among countries. A country’s soft power is its ability to persuade other countries to its point of view through attraction rather than by coercion. In the study of soft power, in addition to media communications, we will also explore the role of migration, education, and travel - older forms of communication that preceded electronic communication. At the national and community level, changes in communications technology can give activists an edge in organizing social change, and make new tools available to governments to organize society.