The 7.7 earthquake that has killed thousands in Myanmar and Thailand has exacerbated vulnerabilities and resulted in a complex humanitarian crisis and an urgent need for international aid to provide emergency relief services.
This natural disaster has also evoked debate on the value of international assistance, soft power, as a tool of foreign policy. The U.S.-led Marshall Plan in post-World War II Europe was an early example of soft power, and for decades this concept has been a credo of many Western liberal democracies as a tool more effective and humane ‒ and less costly than military force.
