Joseph Nye, Harvard scholar who coined 'soft power,' dies at 88

Foreign policy expert viewed Japan as key to preventing Chinese hegemony

20250507 Joe Nye

Joseph Nye speaks at the Mount Fuji Dialogue in Tokyo in 2023. Nye maintained that if the U.S. and Japan worked together, China would be unable to assert hegemony. (Photo by Suzu Takahashi)

KEN MORIYASU

WASHINGTON -- Joseph Nye, a former dean of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government who coined the term "soft power," died on Tuesday. He was 88.

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