Civilisational Soft Power in South and West Asia: Comparing Iran and India’s Global Influence through the Case of Afghanistan

Abstract

This paper examines how two major civilizational states India and Iran deploy soft power in Afghanistan through frameworks that are different from Joseph Nye’s liberal, Western-centric conception of attraction. While Nye characterizes soft power as deriving from liberal democratic values like freedom, cultural openness and free market economy, this study argues that such assumptions overlook the deep historical, ethical, and civilizational foundations through which non-Western states cultivate legitimacy and influence. Building on Global IR scholarship and critiques of Eurocentric soft power theory, the paper delves into the concept of civilisational soft power, defined as attraction rooted in ethical worldviews, historical memory, cultural intimacy, and non-hegemonic political philosophy.

Using Afghanistan as a shared geopolitical and cultural example for Iran and India, the study demonstrates that India’s soft power emerges from civilizational values such as VasudhaivaKutumbakam, Sarva Dharma Sambhava, ahimsa, cultural pluralism, development partnerships, and people-centric diplomacy. Iran’s soft power, by contrast, is grounded in Persianate heritage, Shia symbolism, revolutionary ethics, anti-imperialist narratives, clerical networks, and ideological institutions that project a moral grammar of justice and resistance. Afghanistan, situated at the intersection of Persianate, Indic, and Islamic civilizational spheres—provides a unique context where these distinct models of attraction cross paths.

This study employs a qualitative, interpretive, and comparative methodology to examine how Iran and India project civilisational soft power in Afghanistan. It draws on textual analysis, field-based secondary literature, documentary evidence from cultural, educational, and media institutions, and public-opinion surveys such as AISS, the Asia Foundation, and Gallup. Qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis are used to identify how each state constructs ethical, civilisational, and ideological meanings in its engagement with Afghanistan, while a structured comparison assesses how these narratives translate into attraction and influence in a shared arena. Through this approach, the study finds that civilisational soft power generates distinctive forms of influence that operate independently of liberal norms; that Iran’s religious soft power can, at times, convert into hard power; and that India’s influence remains predominantly developmental and non-coercive. Overall, the methodology enables a historically grounded and culturally sensitive understanding of non-Western soft power within an emerging multipolar order.