Soft Power sebagai Instrumen Perang Moral: Pendekatan Etika Strategis dalam Pertahanan Kultural

Abstract

The characteristics of global conflict have changed, specifically with a strengthening of moral power and cultural influence. These two elements play an important role in modern defence strategies. Understanding the context of both hybrid and informational warfare will undoubtedly begin with an assessment of how a nation maintains its moral legitimacy in relation to its military capabilities. This research attempts to explain the role of soft power as an instrument of moral warfare to strengthen cultural defense strategies. Using an integrative qualitative research approach, this study attempts to synthesize several pieces of literature on war ethics, soft power, and cultural propaganda published between 2015 and 2025. The analysis was conducted in four steps: identification, selection, categorization, and synthesis of literature. Using the principle of triangulation across the disciplines of moral philosophy, strategic communication, and defence studies. The results of this study provide an overview that moral warfare is formed from three fundamental components: the ethical basis of war and its moral legitimacy, the transformation of values through soft power, and the response to moral crises in the information warfare environment, which emphasizes morality as the core of national strength. This study confirms that maintaining morality is just as urgent as maintaining physical authority. Especially in this era of widespread misinformation, moral strength is a sustainable form of defence.