---
title: "'Even though India has all the attributes of a great power,its most s… — Shashi Tharoor Quote #26 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "'Even though India has all the attributes of a great power,its most striking asset was actually its soft power.' - Shashi Tharoor at the recently con… — a quote by Shashi Tharoor."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # 'Even though India has all the attributes of a great power,its most striking asset was actually its soft power.' - Shashi Tharoor at the recently concluded Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi.

[Shashi Tharoor](https://quotesby.net/Shashi-Tharoor)\#26

[India](https://quotesby.net/Shashi-Tharoor/india/)[Foreign policy](https://quotesby.net/topics/foreign-policy/)[Influence](https://quotesby.net/topics/influence/)

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## About this quote

What does it mean?India’s greatest global influence stems from culture rather than military or economic power.In plain termsIndia’s real strength is cultural influence, not hard power.What can you take from it?Soft power can outweigh traditional strength.

### Where it applies

- international relations
- cultural policy
- nation branding

### Putting it to work

- public diplomacy
- cultural exports
- foreign policy

### Questions to consider

- What counts as national strength?
- How does culture translate to influence?

### Another view

Soft power alone cannot secure strategic interests.

## More from Shashi Tharoor

1. > 'How easily we Indians see the several sides to every question! That is what makes us such good bureaucrats, and such poor totalitarians. They say the new inte…

[Permalink to quote \#25](https://quotesby.net/Shashi-Tharoor/25/ "Permalink to quote 25")
2. > 'India is more than a sum of its contradictions, any truism about India can be contradicted with another truism. There is no fixed stereotype. But even thinkin…

[Permalink to quote \#27](https://quotesby.net/Shashi-Tharoor/27/ "Permalink to quote 27")
3. > 'The British had the gall to call Robert Clive 'Clive of India' as if he belonged to the country, when all he really did was to ensure that much of the country…

[Permalink to quote \#24](https://quotesby.net/Shashi-Tharoor/24/ "Permalink to quote 24")

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