Rumors Peg Nye As Ambassador To Japan

Harvard Kennedy School professor Joseph S. Nye has been offered the post of U.S. ambassador to Japan, an appointment that could enhance the current administration’s call for greater adoption of Nye’s noted “soft power” foreign policy philosophy, according to multiple news outlets.

Nye called the press reports “premature” in an e-mailed statement and declined to comment. The former dean of the Kennedy School will make his formal decision regarding the nomination as early as the end of the week, according to the Boston Herald.

“If it is true, I think it’s a fantastic appointment,” Pepper D. Culpepper, an associate professor at the Kennedy School, said of his colleague. “For the Obama administration to appoint someone of his caliber underscores the importance of U.S. strategic plans and vision.”

Nye, who served as the assistant secretary of defense in the Clinton administration during 1994 and 1995, has been a steadfast supporter of the “key alliance” between the U.S. and Japan, according to Kennedy School professor of international finance Jeffrey A. Frankel.

“He’s absolutely brilliant at understanding and speaking about the current dilemmas of Japanese domestic politics as they relate to international politics,” Culpepper said.

In the 1990s, when Americans feared the decline of their country’s economic prowess to the increasing power of Japan, Nye emphasized the importance of viewing Japan not as a rival, but as an important national security ally. Over the years, Nye has coauthored a number of reports that helped to foster U.S. relations with Japan.

In 1990, Nye coined the term “soft power” to refer to the use of nonmilitary means such as cultural goods, diplomacy, and economic aid to attract allies to a cause. He later expounded on the policy in his 2004 book “Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics.”

The appointment of Nye, who would replace current ambassador Tom Schieffer, would complement the current administration’s call for a greater reliance on soft power, a marked contrast to what many of Obama’s top national security officials viewed as the overuse of military force, or “hard power,” during the past administration.

Nye’s nomination would mark a return to an earlier and “highly admirable” tradition of selecting distinguished intellects, Frankel said.

Nye has the “gravitas,” the rare fusion of academic credibility and past experience in public service, and the renown in the field of international relations that make him an optimal find, Frankel said.

“He’s got the managerial talent,” Culpepper said. “He has the intellectual firepower.”

—Staff Writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.