A Complexified Conceptualization of Sharp Power and Its Reception in a Friendly Country

This chapter summarizes the book’s findings and its contributions to the literatures on authoritarianism, populism and sharp power. The book has shown that in addition to its clear soft power dimension, the historical TV series exerts significant ‘sharp power’ upon its audience. This sharp power represents the show's direct influence on the viewers, shaping their perceptions, beliefs by glorifying violence, warfare, militarism, jihadism, martyrdom, and religiously motivated killing. The show also cultivates a conspiratorial mindset, an authoritarian personality cult, and demonizes those disloyal to the leader, presenting the world and political phenomena in a simplistic binary of morally superior ‘us’ versus the evil ‘others,’ consisting of internal and external enemies. Elements such as anti-Christian sentiment, Islamist victimhood, retributive justice through killing, and a strong desire for global conquest are prominent aspects of the show’s sharp power projection. Our analysis of the Pakistani elite’s statements, Pakistani cyberspace, and semi-structured in-depth interviews with ordinary Pakistanis have shown that these sharp power elements have been received enthusiastically by both some sections of the elite and the show’s the viewers, collectively evoking anti-democratic, authoritarian, anti-pluralist, conspiratorial, and pro-violence mindsets and emotions.