1. WHAT IS POWER???? Flashcards
Power Definition?
Power: is the ability of one global actor to influence the actions of another state. There are many different dimensions to power. Mechanisms of influence can include the threat or use of force, economic interaction or pressure, diplomacy, and cultural exchange. Power is, therefore, a measure of influence or control over outcomes, events, actors and issues, and control over resources and capabilities. This influence can be coercive, attractive, cooperative, or competitive. State power indicates both economic and military power, suggesting that those states have significant amounts of power within the international system.
Power in various forms?
Power can be defined in various forms:
Power as a goal: power is an inherent goal of mankind and of states. Economic growth, military growth, cultural spread etc. can all be considered as working towards the ultimate goal of international power.
- Power as influence: “power” in terms of an actor’s ability to exercise influence over other actors within the international system.
- Power as control: Power is the capacity to direct the decisions and actions of others. Statecraft seeks through strategy to magnify the mass, relevance, impact, and irresistibility of power. “It guides the ways the state deploys and applies its power abroad. These ways embrace the arts of war, espionage, and diplomacy. The practitioners of these three arts are the paladins of statecraft.” Charles W. Freeman, Jr. Power is also used to describe the resources and capabilities of a state. Capabilities are thought of in tangible terms—they are measurable, weighable, quantifiable assets.
- Power as Status: If a country has “power” (as influence) in military, diplomatic, cultural, and economic spheres, it might be called a “power” (as status).
- Under certain circumstances, states can organize a sphere of influence or a bloc within which they exercise predominant influence.
One Dimensional Power definition?
One dimensional power: focuses on the use of force, usually by military, by A to make B do something that they would not otherwise do. It suggests a clear relationship between use of power and the outcome. The one dimensional view of power is often called the ‘pluralist’ approach and emphasizes the exercise of power through decision making and observable behaviour.
One Dimensional (Additional?)
- Also referred to as muscle power.
- A’s power over B is manifested to the extent that A can make B do something which B would not have done had it not been for A.
- This view is criticised as being too basic a concept and does not take into account the intricacies of how power can be wielded.
- If mere military force equalled power, then the most powerful state would be China. This however isn’t the case.
Two dimensional power definition?
Two dimensional power: focuses on the idea that power stems from those that control the knowledge. If we were not allowed to make a decision than we are powerless; A does not need to make B do anything, B has no choice and the decision is made for them. The second approach sees a monopolistic system of inequalities created and maintained by the dominant power.
Two Dimensional (Additional?)
- The elite have the means and the political resources to prevent political action that would not benefit them and to push forward those that would. The Elite therefore determine the agenda of both decision making and non-decision making and in so doing establish their dominance and the sub ordinance and compliance of those on the bottom of the power hierarchy.
- An example of this would be if the US were to declare war against China, then Australia’s involvement would be expected due to ANZUS. Australia’s independent decision making process would effectively be taken away.
- Power is activated on the second, covert dimension, not only in order to triumph over the other participants in the decision-making process, but also to prevent decision-making to exclude certain subjects or participants from the process
- A study of power in the covert dimension needs to observe who decides what, when and how, who remains outside, how this happens, and how these two processes interconnect.
Three Dimensional Power definition?
Three dimensional power: focuses on the unobservable aspects of power which are often used in a subtle way to set the agenda. It relates to the ability of one state to influence another without the mechanism being overt to other states in the global arena. The three dimensional view of power criticizes the behavioural focus of the first two dimensions and adopts the consideration of hidden social forces and conflict which exercise influence by shaping the consciousness of the political arena.
Three Dimensional Power (additional)?
- It encompasses things that cannot be seen, for example: When a decision is made, who decides how a decision is made, who decides that a decision on that issue can be made, and what decisions are allowed to be made. The actor that decides what a state can decide has more power over that state, as it has decided the nature of its choice.
- The third, latent dimension, explains that B does things that he would not have done had it not been for A because A influences, determines and shapes B’s will.
- Norms and values are legitimised within society to support the status-quo. This creates a view of the world which is seen as normal, thus legitimised certain ways of doing things. Things that do not fit into the status-quo are not legitimised and so are pressured not to exist.
- For example, it is an accepted norm that only members of the UNSC possess nuclear weapons and that states that flout this are condemned.
- This view strays from the others in that it focuses not only on decisions and non-decisions but on other ways to control the political agenda which are not made deliberately by the choice of individuals or groups.
- The third mechanism of power seeks to identify “the means through which power influences, shapes or determines conceptions of necessities, possibilities, and strategies of challenge in situation of conflict”(Gaventa,1980:15).
- In other words, it involves specifying how A gets B to believe and choose to act in a way that reinforces the bias of the system, advancing the cause of A and impairing that of B, usually in the form of compliance.
- “Social legitimations are developed around the dominant, and instilled as beliefs or roles in the dominated” (Gaventa,1980:15)
Part 2: The Dimensions of Power
How Do These Different Dimensions of Power Play out in the Global Political Arena?
Power involves an assessment of the changing resources available to a state and of the changes brought about in their relationship to one another. As a result, power has a number of dimensions and informs the policy
Part 2: The Dimensions of Power
Components of Power?
Components of power refer to the various sources of global political influence.
- For each component (Military, economic, diplomatic etc) there will be different instruments, and instruments may be hard or soft in their nature, or one, two or three dimensional.
- The components mentioned are what make states powerful.
Instrument refers to the specific strategy or action of a state in exerting influence, and is the example of the component being used.
Part 2: The Dimensions of Power
Components of Power
Hard power?
Hard power refers to power exercised through coercion, or threatened acts of coercion, to influence the actions of other global actors. Most commonly applied via military forms. Hard power is more tangible and works through coercion and rewards (“The tick and carrot approach”) as typified by the one dimensional view.
• Hard Power also works through rewards and incentives, not just through force and threatening.
Part 2: The Dimensions of Power
Components of Power
Soft Power?
Soft power refers to the ability of a state to shape the actions of other global actors, most commonly exercised through diplomacy, culture, politics and history. Soft power is influence by virtue of cultural and ideology that shapes another’s preferences and decisions. Soft power is often more difficult for governments to wild, slower to show results, and not as effective in many cases as hard power.
• Soft power is illustrated by the two and three dimensional views, in that:
a state may achieve its desired outcome in the global political arena because of systems it has put in place that generate such effects
(e.g. alliances);
or because other states wish to imitate it and attain the same result
(cultural and ideological power which determine state preferences).
Part 2: The Dimensions of Power
Assessment of Power?
The dimensions and instruments of power can be specified but it is not a straightforward exercise to apply the concept to the realities of global politics, given that there are so many different aspects involved and many of these are intangible.
- There can often be a wide difference between the actual power of a state and its potential power.
- In the same vein, power is relative, in that having more or less power than another actor involves comparison with the power of other states.
Part 2: The Dimensions of Power
Power Activities and Rankings
The fact that so many tangibles exist in the assessment of power makes it difficult to present any objective ‘power’ ranking of states.
- However, it is a traditional par of global politics to refer to the most powerful states as superpowers (us-Hyper power), the next rung as middle powers, down to the small powers.
- The use of labels is as a result of the weighting of various criteria, including size, wealth, influence, military capability, interests, roles and duties.
Hyper-power: refers to a state militarily, economically and technologically dominant on the global political stage. A state of this status is able to utilise hegemony in the pursuit of global political objectives.
Hegemony: Primacy or leadership of one state (or group) in global politics to dominate and persuade the global political agenda. A hegemonic power possesses and commands a wide range of power resources, such as military, structural, trade, resource, human and cultural. It implies that much of global political agenda is decided by these states, whose authority is largely uncontested
Super-power: A state with the power and ability to influence events and project power on a global scale.
Middle Power: Refers to states that typically have moderate global political influence but that are unable to set the political agenda. Middle power states work multilaterally and cooperatively to achieve their interests.
• These labels, however, do provide a rudimentary system of classification and so are useful in Global Politics, especially when analysing the extent to which a state can successfully attain its national interests.
Part 2: The Dimensions of Power
Components of Power
Military power Definition?
Military Power comes from the military capacity that a state has, plus its ability to use this power to achieve national interest objectives. The size of a defence force provides an indication of the state’s capacity to undertake different types of military operations, which may be used to consolidate regional authority.
