Promoting attractive images of one’s country is not new, but the conditions for trying to create soft power have changed dramatically in recent years. For one thing, nearly half the countries in the world are now democracies.
(A)
Technological advances have led to a dramatic reduction in the cost of processing and transmitting information. The result is an explosion of information, and that has produced a “paradox of plenty.” Plentiful information leads to scarcity of attention.
(B)
In such circumstances, diplomacy aimed at public opinion can become as important to outcomes as traditional classified diplomatic communications among leaders. Information creates power, and today a much larger part of the world’s population has access to that power.
(C)
When people are overwhelmed with the volume of information confronting them, they have difficulty knowing what to focus on. Attention, rather than information, becomes the scarce resource, and those who can distinguish valuable information from background clutter gain power.
* clutter: 혼란