Reframing Soft Power in South–South Cooperation: India’s Developmental Engagement in Ethiopia

Abstract

Amid the shift of the international order toward multipolarity and post-Western configurations, South–South Cooperation (SSC) has increasingly become a key arena in which developing countries shape their international influence. However, prevailing conceptions of soft power remain largely grounded in Western experiences and therefore fail to fully capture non-coercive forms of influence operating within SSC. This paper reframes soft power through an analysis of India’s developmental engagement in Ethiopia. Drawing on a qualitative case study that combines policy and discourse analysis, the study demonstrates that soft power in the South–South context is primarily constructed through capacity-building, human resource development, and postcolonial partnership narratives rather than cultural attraction or policy conditionality. These practices generate long-term influence in the form of social capital, professional networks, and legitimacy, while also revealing inherent constraints related to measurement difficulties, limited resources, and context-dependent reception. The paper argues that soft power in SSC should be understood as a relational process accumulated over time, thereby extending existing analytical frameworks of soft power and clarifying the role of middle powers in the Global South.

https://doi.org/10.26803/MyRes.2026.04