22 IT’S A MAD WORLD How diplomats’ online framing of crises result in mutually assured delegitimization
Introduction
When Joseph Nye first introduced the concept of soft power, the world was in the midst of a profound structural change. The collapse of the Soviet Union was imminent. The bipolar system, which had governed state action for more than four decades, would soon join the ash heap of history along with its underlying logic and unique vernacular. The logic of the bipolar system was that of mutual deterrence and military strength. The exercise of power, or in Nye’s terminology, altering the behaviour of other states (Nye, 1990), was obtained through military might and the threat of force. The ...
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