Joseph S Nye Jr is a professor at Harvard University and author of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump

As Russian missiles pound Ukrainian cities and as Ukrainians fight to defend their country, some avowed realists might say: “So much for soft power.” But such a response betrays a shallow analysis. Power is the ability to affect others to get the outcomes you want. A smart realist understands that you can do this in three ways: by coercion, payment or attraction — in other words, the proverbial “sticks, carrots and honey”.