DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

Expert negotiator Nelson Espinal Baez writes in Diario Libre about how the Dominican Republic, now that it is the leading tourism destination in the Caribbean, has soft power.

Soft power is described as the ability to co-opt rather than coerce (hard power). It involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. Soft power uses culture, political values, and foreign policies to enact change. In 2012, Joseph Nye of Harvard University explained that with soft power, “the best propaganda is not propaganda”, further explaining that during the Information Age, “credibility is the scarcest resource.”

Espinal in his recent opinion piece in Diario Libre, explains:

“In 2024, the Dominican Republic welcomed over 11 million tourists and generated more than US$11 billion in foreign exchange earnings. But beyond the money, what truly flowed was an emotional...