Attraction rather than promotion

Attraction is better than promotion which is better than coercion.
What are the good things about the U.S. that other countries see as desirable?
Does globalization and the increased economic interdependence of nations tend to promote peace in the long run?
Is anything more effective at promoting peace than the combination of liberal democracy and capitalism?

Social Capital and Civil Society -Fukuyama style
Francis Fukuyama serves on the president's council on bioethics with Robert P. George (director of the James Madision Program at Princeton) who I heard speak at lecture while at the University of Texas.

I have never met Thomas J. Raleigh, but I like his observations on "moral ascendancy". He reminds me of Tom Otterpohl, a social entrepreneuer, who was the keynote at a conference at Benedictine Colleges' "Discovery Day" back several years who did work with orphanages in Russia.
..."moral ascendancy" " He did not define "moral ascendancy," nor did he explain how one achieves it....As a result of 9/11 attacks, the US was indisputably in a position of moral ascendancy - that is, the unambiguous and near-universal perception that your cause is right."

I met James Fallows at a conference on the future of libraries in the west. The "Infinite Library" Fleur Cowles Flair symposium at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin was incredible. I also met Prosser Gifford, Richard Eckman, and William Chace.
James Fallows on "soft power" excerpt -> "...the real foundation of American dominance seemed to be its "soft power"--the impact of its world-leading universities, its dominant pop culture, its revived high-tech industries, its booming employment rolls, its open-market ideology, and its continued ability to attract and use talent from around the world."

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. on "soft power" here. excerpt-> "Soft power is the ability to get what you want by attracting and persuading others to adopt your goals. It differs from hard power, the ability to use the carrots and sticks of economic and military might to make others follow your will. Both hard and soft power are important in the war on terrorism, but attraction is much cheaper than coercion, and an asset that needs to be nourished."