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Europeans have long believed soft power to be the best instrument to promote their values and their security.

They have a strong sense of moral superiority about it, particularly when looking at hard, or military, power.

Military action is something that the Europeans leave to the United States, Britain, and France. Even if it wanted to, the European Union cannot do it. It lacks the basic capabilities, such as heavy airlift and logistics. It lacks an integrated defense policy for armament procurement. It also lacks a security strategy that includes the use of hard power as an option.

The soft power instruments Europeans have used over the years consist of development aid and civilian assistance, such as training the police and judiciary in some countries. The Europeans also sometimes couple soft power with trade incentives or with sanctions. Above all, they pride themselves on basing their actions on the defense of human rights which are, at least officially, at the core of Europe's value system.

But Europe's record in making soft power the cornerstone of its security strategy has been patchy. It has been worked incredibly well in Eastern Europe. Enlargement with its plethora of promises and incentives is soft power at its most powerful. But Europe cannot enlarge to the rest of the world.
That is where Europe's soft power policies have had so little, if any success.

Take Iran.

Years of negotiations with Iran to get it to abandon its nuclear ambitions have gotten the Europeans nowhere. Promises of technical assistance and closer economic cooperation have had no impact on the regime in Teheran, even though some of the sanctions are biting.

The reason why the Europeans have failed is because Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is just too stubborn. He seems determined to develop a nuclear military capability for Iran's own geo-strategic interests no matter what the cost to his people. Soft power can find no grip there.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is another case where the instrument has failed. Fifteen years after the Dayton accords that ended the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia is mired in corruption and misrule. This is despite the presence of a large EU police force, not to mention the billions of euros the European taxpayer has poured into this tiny country. The state that the EU is trying to build has never really been accepted by the ethnic communities living there. And the EU is not prepared to stop the bullying and separatist tactics of the Bosnian Serbs in particular.

Afghanistan is another stain on the EU's soft power record. There, the Europeans have done too little and too late, wasting the initial good will of the Afghan people after the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001. While the U.S. and its coalition forces were distracted by the war in Iraq, the Europeans did little to fill the gap left in Afghanistan. Europe's most abject failure is its police-training mission there. It is still under-financed and under-staffed. What a shame for what should have been a stellar example of the EU's use of soft power.

And there is North Africa and the Middle East. Europe's record in colluding with dictators in the region before the Arab Spring is well known. Now would be the chance to repair its credibility by putting its soft power to work.

It would not require much.

First of all, Europe would have to become much more outspoken and committed in it defense of human rights. How? It would need to do more to support the opposition to dictatorial regimes. For instance, it could support political prisoners in Iran by discreetly providing aid or and even legal assistance to their families. Europe should also open its doors to asylum seekers from these countries. That's not idealism. This is about Europe defending its human rights values.

Then there is trade. The EU must open up for trade from North Africa and the Middle East. This is crucial for economic reform, prosperity, and the development of a vibrant middle class which would strengthen stability and security across the Mediterranean.
Borders, too, should gradually be opened despite the growing anti-immigration movements across Europe. Young people from North Africa and the Middle East must be allowed to travel to Europe and they must have access to education there. Indeed, the Arab Spring presents an ideal opportunity for the EU's Erasmus higher education programs to take the initiative. Trade and education in the Middle East are very much in Europe's long term strategic interests.

Development aid should no longer be channeled to such a large extent to state-controlled organizations. Of course, it is naïve to think that aid which is targeted for civil society movements would be free from corruption or misuse. It would need rigorous monitoring, too. Once the EU's external services finds its feet, there is no reason why there could not be a specialized civil society department, with well trained staff, set up in the new embassies.

Also, Europe could do much more to get police and judicial missions off the ground quickly. This certainly requires more money, but, even more importantly, a core group of experts in every country ready to pack their bags at short notice.

But above all, soft power requires sustained attention. Europe's political leaders need to do something that is very difficult when so many issues compete for their time: They need to keep their eye on the burgeoning civil societies in their greater neighborhood, as they did on Eastern Europe when those countries were getting ready to join the EU.

None of this will be easy, but the EU needs to do it if it is serious about making soft power work to defend human rights. Of course, neither soft power nor indeed hard power is a panacea. But the Arab Spring could be Europe's chance to restore its credibility. Failure to do so would mean the long term erosion of Europe's values and its own security.

Judy Dempsey is senior Europe correspondent for the International Herald Tribune.

This essay was first published by Carnegie Europe. To reinvigorate debate over European foreign policy and Europe's role in the world, Carnegie Europe is publishing a series of essays from leading policymakers, diplomats, experts, and journalists on Strategic Europe.