• Dr. V. Marappan

This article reconsiders the relationship between soft power and multilateral dialogue platforms. While Joseph Nye's foundational work locates soft power in the cultural, political, and normative resources of an actor, this article argues that the conversion of such resources into durable influence depends on the institutional infrastructure through which dialogue occurs. Drawing on the institutionalist literature on multilateralism and the rational-design approach to international institutions, the article develops a framework in which membership, centralization, flexibility, and perceived legitimacy jointly determine a platform's capacity to function as soft-power infrastructure. The framework is illustrated with reference to contemporary security dialogue forums, including the Munich Security Conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue, and the ASEAN Regional Forum. The article concludes that scholarship and practice concerned with soft power should attend as closely to the design of dialogue platforms as to the resources of the actors who convene them.

soft power; multilateralism; institutional design; dialogue platforms; legitimacy; preventive diplomacy

"Soft Power as Infrastructure (Rethinking the Role of Dialogue Platforms in Twenty-First-Century Multilateral Diplomacy)", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 9, page no.b817-b821, September-2026, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2609192.pdf

"Soft Power as Infrastructure (Rethinking the Role of Dialogue Platforms in Twenty-First-Century Multilateral Diplomacy)", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 9, page no. ppb817-b821, September-2026, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2609192.pdf