WOMEN AND SOFT POWER
How women (and men) can change the world

For as long as any of us can remember, we have lived in a world controlled by hard power. A world where dominant nations have used money, arms and strong talk to coerce weaker nations into a global world order.

Soft power, first identified by a Harvard Professor during the Clinton years, began as an alternative – if secondary – strategy for a less predictable, globalised world. Instead of forcing and intimidating the weak into compliance, these nations would use persuasion, attraction and influence for the same ends. Soft power took the form of diplomacy, trading must-have objects – from PCs to McDonalds - and exporting artists of all kinds who somehow embodied the values of the dominant nations. Using soft power as an adjunct to hard power, they could have a much greater hold on the weaker nations than ever.

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RE-IMAGINING SOCIAL WORK
Re-imagining Social Work is the practice of creating a new,
imaginative and sustainable vision for social work which helps to
enhance confidence and develop competence amongst professionals
at all levels.

RISW is a much needed investment of time and space, allowing social workers themselves to address not only the strengths and weaknesses of their practice, but also to consider how that practice relates to the cultural and policy frameworks it operates within.

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