Public diplomacy, as the “first resort of kings” , use education as a as a soft power tool, to influence the behavior or thinking of others.

Nowadays, it is observed that after the fall of the bipolar world order, many states tend to use soft power aiming to achieve their foreign policy goals. When we say soft power, we’re talking about the use of “positive attraction and persuasion to achieve foreign policy objectives” rather than the military and economic might of hard power. And even thorough #non-formal #education (like Blue Book, White House Fellowship, or Junior Professionals in Delegation (JPD)) we may harness the patriotic capabilities of overseas students, establish an overseas propaganda model which uses people as its medium and the sharing of personal ideas as its instrument, and create a propaganda effect where everybody plays a role, where every individual acts as a people-to-people ambassador, and where every sentence uttered easily reaches the hearts and minds [of foreign publics].
[It is important to note that soft power is a concept developed in 1990 by political theorist Joseph Nye of Harvard University to describe the ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce, and use economic, cultural and political force as means of persuasion, by Public diplomacy, as often referred to as the “first resort of kings”]. And education has “the ability to influence the behavior or thinking of others through the power of attraction and ideas”. Many foreign government and business leaders, including heads of state, ministers and CEOs, have studied in host countries and understood the host country institutions, values and perspective on the world. This is a significant asset for the host country. And with this powerful tool, like education is, the prestige and the position of the country in the international area has been strengthen, as well as favorable conditions for its long-term socio-economic development has been created.
In this aspect, it is important not only to use military force or economic sanctions to force change in other countries, but also it is crucial to shape the agenda of world politics and attract them as Nay suggested. Nowadays, the leadership in the world politics is increasingly determined by the ability of the state to help develop its neighbors or competitors. Moreover, in the transition period of the world political system, creating a network integrating domestic and foreign students and experts to propagate knowledge about the development of “the fatherland,” thereby casting all overseas students in the role of potential “people-to-people ambassadors.” The interest in overseas students as a public-diplomacy tool and soft-power resource coincides with a record number of both students going abroad and foreign students coming to homeland.
Today, this kind of leadership is impossible without advancing human development – the basis of the formation of the new knowledge-based economy. Only a developed education system that meets the requirements of innovative high-tech economy, and is integrated into the international educational and scientific space, can become one of the major competitive advantages of the modern state in the “global competition for minds” and attract the most talented foreign students.
The provision of educational opportunities for foreign students is one of the most important instruments of soft power of the state. Successful foreign students who along with the learning the language will gradually become acquainted with the achievements of science and culture of the host country. These #young_adults can gain valuable social capital after having being studied abroad. Consequently, after coming back with acquired knowledge and personal relations, they are expected to become effective transmitters of the #language and #culture of the country where they had studied. As a result, the #validation and #recognition of exposure to the outside world with the help of #national education as an instrument of soft power is much higher than by military force or others.
It is known that, any state is able to show considerable achievements in the level of prosperity by the help of the viable mechanism of educational system. At the same time, the education system can be used as an instrument of soft power in the sphere of politics and geopolitics. Currently, the number of countries that regard that education is the best way to promote their national interests on the world stage is increasing.
Further, it should be emphasized that the educational system today is closely intertwined with the concept of politics and/or geopolitics . Graduates studied in the foreign countries become not only highly qualified personnel in their countries, but they also may become a so-called “Trojan horse”.
However, currently the France implements this project (educational project) much more delicately. But, the most important triumph in the fact that many young people aim to study in the France. Thanks to, high quality education the French government can successfully implements its strategy in the framework of politics and geopolitics, not only regionally, but also globally. Nowadays, more countries are trying to form world quality and accessible system of education to students from all over the world. Such countries as the United States, or France, are perfectly informed about the fact that the education system is one of the most essential instruments in terms of dominance in the global political arena. The English language its self is a great ally of American Empire, as it is the French for the France domination. Everyone knows that the educational system allows the improvement of economic and political situation of the country. Thus, if one country is dominating in some part of the world both politically and economically, it means that it is also dominant in the geopolitical aspect in the given part of the world.