A lot of reddit/the general public complain over the lack of the use of hard power by supranational organizations such as the UN and EU and NATO. This got me thinking; is soft power projection a relatively recent phenomenon due to the invention of nuclear weapons or if it has its roots in previous diplomatic practices.
The phrase "soft power " was only coined in 1990 by Joseph Nye and popularized over the last few decades, but the idea that states can and should use non-coercive tools like cultural influence or economic ties to achieve their aims isn't new.
To cite what I happen to be reading at the moment, Orlando Figes in The Crimean War spends the first few chapters on very "soft power" aspects of the dynamic in the early- and mid-1800s--how the Russians exploited cultural ties to the Orthodox community in the Ottoman Empire, how the British sought to increase their influence over the Ottoman elite through westernization, and the role of the various churches in the holy land as both a driver and a tool of European statecraft, to highlight just a few themes.