The democratization of technology has made NGOs more powerful and terrorism more lethal. The United States must adjust its mental framework to this new landscape. Our post-9/11 focus has been on the use of hard power - the top board - when the problems we face stem from transnational issues on the bottom board. One metric to assess progress in the current sruggle against terrorism is whether the number of terrorists being killed with hard power is greater than the number Osama bin laden is recruiting with his soft power. From this point of view, things do not look good.
Joseph Nye, Soft Power and Higher Education, 2005, explaining the rising influence of soft power due to globalisation and the communication revolution - the term he uses to describe the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than through coercion.
