Changing Nature of Power Flashcards
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Recent debates about the changing nature of power to reflect less on the emergence of conceptually new forms of power and more on the changing mechanisms through which relational power is exercised
There has been a general shift from military power to economic power
There has also been a shift away from the use of hard power and a growth in soft power
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Military power is the traditional currency of world politics realist place a particular emphasis on military power because they believe the international system is structured above all by security and survival in a self-help world states face national disaster unless they have the capacity for self defence
However this has been challenged by neoliberals you argue that growing trade links and increasing interdependence makes interstate war more costly and so less likely
Military force has therefore the comedy less reliable and less important policy option in the modern world state therefore compete three trays rather than through the use of force there has been a decline in The significance of military power
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There seems to be a decline in the use of hard power which includes both military and economic power
Hard power is command power debility to change what others do through the use of inducements or threats
By contrast there has been a growth in soft power which is co-opted power and rests on the ability to shape the preferences of others by attraction rather than coercion
Hard power draws on resources such as force sanctions payments and bribes whereas soft power Operates largely through culture political ideals and foreign policies
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When it comes to global soft power the UK, stop beating both Germany and the USA well China is far to the bottom
Although China is four times as wealthy as Britain and 40 times is large it comes at the bottom of the table mainly due to its record of human rights press freedom and perceptions of its foreign policy
narendra Modi India’s Prime Minister Facebook page generates twice as many comments as that of President Obama Britain gain soft power from attractive British culture well Germany had the highest level of trust from the global public to do the right thing in foreign affairs the USA leads the world in areas such as education culture and digital powers but was dragged down slightly by perceptions of its Foreign policy
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The classic example of the influence of Soft power can be found in the last years of the Cold War when the Soviet union‘s grip of power was dramatically weakened by the population of Eastern Europe craving western consumer goods
PJ O’Rourke in ‘Give War A Chance’ 1991 said that a huge totalitarian system with all its tanks and guns Gulag camps and secret police had been brought to its knees because nobody wanted to wear Bulgarian shoes
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US foreign policy at the George W Bush including the potentially illegal invasion of Iraq massive civilian casualties in both Iraq and Afghanistan the horrors of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay And his perceived arrogance and lack of empathy repelled too many states the tearing them from cooperating with the US especially in the Islamic world since the populations would have been dangerously radicalised by this consequently undermining US global influence and soft power
George Bush famously said America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people
As a result of this and the United States failure to achieve what it initially wanted in either Iraq or Afghanistan using hard power on the President Obama there was an increasing focus on soft power as a means of achieving American objectives by winning the moral and intellectual debate
After all the loss of much of the moral and intellectual debate during both invasions highlighted just how important it is to have also won the argument while the Internet dramatically facilitates the opportunity to expand soft power influence
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President Trump has shown no interest in soft power instead focusing on military hard power and make it clear that the United States will pursue its own interests at the expense of everything else
In his inaugural Address he stated from this day forward a new visual govern our land from this day forward it’s going to be America first
Executive decrees such as the ban on the Syrian refugees have provoked international condemnation
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China is now trying to exploit potential soft power influence by opening up Confucius Institutes around the world in order to explain the appeal of Chinese values
The centres are intended to boost to try a soft power trying to provide to the centres with paid for instructors and sponsors cultural events at them in 2013 it spent $278 million more than six times as much as in 2006
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Brazil is increasingly wielding global influence because of its stable multicultural society and global faith in Brazil is trustworthiness
for example Brazil has strong relations with such diverse countries as China United States Iran and Venezuela
As it is for the defence secretary said that is Brazil is great skill to be friends with everyone it is the use of culture and civilisation not threats it is a belief in dialogue not force
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ISIL Also appreciates the importance Of persuasion and has focused on it soft power message
it has a magazine called Dabiq And an app called the dawn of glad tidings as well as running hash tag ampaigns such as #MessageFromIsisToUS
It possesses high levels of media literacy and according to Professor Shahira Fahmy Only 5% of its propaganda is violent
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Russia also appreciates the value of soft power especially since the election of Donald Trump and is increasingly emphasising that European powers should see as a fellow European power
Russia today advances rushes positive image of itself
while in a good example of the value of soft power influence being appreciated when President Obama expelled Russian diplomats from the United States in 2016 in response to claims that Russia had interfered in the American presidential election Putin invited US diplomatic staff and the children to the Kremlin’s New Year’s Eve party
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If Russia had been deterred from attacking georgia in 2008 put under such intense political economic and military pressure as the foresight to withdraw Putin would never have dared invade Ukraine — The new statesman 2014
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The Islamic State suffered its heaviest defeat after Iraqi troops backed by US airstrikes stormed into the key city of Ramada
Recent Russian And Western air attacks have batted I S I L oil production facilities a key means of income and airstrikes are reported to have killed senior leadership figures
It was driven from Sinjar In northern Iraq In 2015 a defeat that allowed Iraqi Kurdish forces to take control of the road between the capital of the so-called ISIL caliphate and the city of Mosul which the group holds
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According to form a US embassy official US airstrikes in Yemen generate roughly 40 to 60 new enemies for every Al Qaeda operative killed by drones
The lesson from Iraq and Afghanistan seems to be that fire power alone will not prevail
indeed if America comes to be seen by sunni Arabs as nothing more than the Shia air force, strikes will only bind Isis to the local people
