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Power (international)
*** Shopping-Tip: Power (international)
{{Politics}}
In the context of
international relations and
diplomacy, '''power''' (sometimes clarified as '''international power''', '''national power''', or '''state power''') is the ability of one
state to influence or control other states. States with this ability are called '''powers''',
middle powers,
regional powers, '''great powers''' (sometimes capitalized),
major powers,
superpowers, and
hyperpowers.
Entities other than states sometimes acquire a similar ability to influence and control states; most often, these are
multinational corporations with financial assets surpassing those of smaller nations, but organisations such as the
United Nations, the
World Trade Organization, the
International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank have also displayed ''international power.'' The
Catholic Church and the
Hanseatic League are well known historical examples.
Recent history
The '''Great Powers''' are usually taken to be those
nations or political entities that, through their great
economic and
military strength, are the arbiters of world diplomacy, and whose opinions must be taken into account by other nations before effecting initiatives. Characteristically, they have the ability to intervene militarily almost anywhere, and they also have
soft power soft, cultural power, often in the form of economic investment in less developed portions of the world.
Different sets of Great Powers have existed in
history, but after
1815, the
Concert of Europe formalized
France, the
United Kingdom,
Russia,
Austria, and
Prussia as the five powers. Of these, the first three had colonial empires outside Europe. Austria was called an empire in a former sense, that of a monarch ruling over kings. Prussia was a newcomer, rising through
Frederick the Great's militaristic
grand strategy. After the
First World War, at the
Paris Peace Conference, 1919 four Great Powers were readily recognised: the
British Empire (including its
Dominions), the
United States,
France and
Italy. The status of
Japan requires qualification. They were not part of the '''Big Four''', but were accorded two votes like the '''Big Four'''. Their position was highlighted by their
race equality proposal, which touched on a number of issues including their status as a Great Power. Although this proposal was defeated as first the British and then the Americans caved into the
Australian defence of the
White Australia Policy, their successful retention of
Shandong and the
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands German islands in the Pacific north of the equator indicated that they had attained the position of a
colored non-white Great Power. Again, after the
Second World War in
1945, the
United States, the
Soviet Union, the
United Kingdom,
France and the
Republic of China were formalised as the five powers with permanent seats and veto power in the
UN Security Council. Clearly, shifts in great power status tend to follow wars.
Great powers are also often associated with the projection of military power through a particular technology, such as
HMS Dreadnought Dreadnoughts or
nuclear weapons. A mere large, defensive infantry army, such as the Chinese would have been able to raise during the age of European dominance is not able to project power overseas. Even the U.S. Army and its blockading navy during the
United States Civil War Civil War was insufficient at a time when the United States did not have armored ocean-going battleships. Wealth could be a military factor. Britain could not raise a large army quickly, but was able to fund allies to raise them for it during the Napoleonic Wars.
The
Congress of Berlin, a peace treaty to a comparatively minor war, included
Turkey and
Italy at the status of those mentioned in the
Concert of Europe. International meetings, which developed during the second half of the nineteenth century, also serve to indicate Great Power status in the absence of peace treaties after wars, such as the different
Berlin Conference.
By the end of the
Cold War and the era of
globalization other nations began to attain international recognition as great power or future great powers.
Brazil and
India are examples of such nations.
Since the end of the
World Wars, the term Great Power has been split up into a number of definite categories. The term
Superpower was used to define a nation with overwhelming power over the rest of the world, this term was initially used to describe the
United States and
Soviet Union. The term
Major power (or sometimes
Global Power) has also been used to describe nations with great power, yet not as overwhelming as that of a superpower. This system forms a type of hierarchy for powerful nations.
Theory
In the field of
political science political theory,
Niccolò Machiavelli theorized early and influentially on the mechanisms of gaining and retaining
political power in his work ''
The Prince'', published posthumously in
1532.
Power is usually defined as the ability to impose one's will on others, or to pursue one's goals at the expense of others' interests. Power can be exercised through
violence or through
coercion, the threat of force, or through treaties and diplomacy.
In
Western world Western thought, the power of a state is generally thought of in
qualitative terms; however, in the current political thinking of the
People's Republic of China, national power can be measured
quantitatively using an index known as
comprehensive national power.
State power is often divided into
hard power (military power) and
soft power (economic or cultural or persuasive power).
Foreign policy and power
In International Relations there are two types of diplomatic power; hard power and soft power.
"The expression 'soft power' was coined by Joe Nye, a professor from Harvard. 'Soft power' or co-optive power means influencing political developments by means other than 'hard power' – i.e., through debates on cultural values, dialogues on ideology, the attempt to influence through good example and the appeal to commonly accepted human values." Soft power means using diplomacy, dissemination of information, analysis, propaganda and cultural programming to achieve political ends.
On the other hand, the expression "hard power" or command power refers to war-ready armed forces or the ability to change what others do through coercion.
Other pertinent concepts include behavioural power, which is the ability of a nation to obtain favorable policy outcomes, and resource power, which is the possession of
strategic resources.
Great Powers throughout Modern History
{|class="wikitable"
|+ align=bottom |Great Powers throughout Modern History''
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
! Country
! Dates
! Rise
! Downfall
! Notes
|-
|
Austria/
Austria-Hungary
|1526-1918
|
Battle of Mohács
|
World War One
|Under the
Hapsburg Monarchy.
|-
|
China
|1368-1842
|The founding of the
Ming Dynasty.
|The
First Opium War
|Under the
Ming Dynasty and the
Qing Dynastys
|-
|
Denmark
|1568-1648
|The start of the
Eighty Years' War
|The
Thirty Years' War
| -
|-
|
France
|1431-Present
|
The Hundred Years War
| -
|Under the
Valois Dynasty, the
House of Bourbon,
Napoleon, and multiple republics.
|-
|
Germany
|1871-Present
|
German Unification
| -
|Under
Hohenzollern Dynasty,
Hitler, and now a republic.
|-
|
England/
Great Britain/
United Kingdom
|1169-Present
|Invasions of
Ireland,
Scotland, and
Wales
| -
|Under multiple dynasties.
|-
|
India
|1990-Present
|Economic Explosion
| -
|
|-
|
Italy
|1861-1945
|
Italian Unification
|
World War Two
|Under
House of Savoy Savoy Monarchy and later
Mussolini
|-
|
Japan
|1905-Present
|
Russo-Japanese War
| -
| -
| -
|-
|The
Mughal Empire
|1526-1739
|Invasion of India
|Social and Religious Strife
|
Pakistan,
India, and
Afghanistan
|-
|
The Netherlands
|1579-1697
|
Union of Utrecht
|French Invansions
| -
|-
|The
Ottoman Empire
|1453-1918
|Conquer of
Constantinople
|
World War One
|Under
Ottoman Dynasty
|-
|
|Communist Nation
|-
|
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Poland-Lithuania
|1385-1648
|
Union of Krewo
|
The Deluge (Polish history) The Deluge
| -
|-
|
Portugal
|1415-1581
|Portuguese Colonization
|Spanish annexation
| -
|-
|
Prussia
|1763-1871
|
Seven Years' War
|
German Unification
|Under
Hohenzollern Dynasty
|-
|
Russia/ The
Soviet Union
|1721-Present
|The
Great Northern War
| -
|Under
Romanov Dynasty,
Communism, and now a federation
|-
|
Spain
|1469-1898
|Unification of Spain and Spanish Colonization
|
Spanish-American War
|Under
Hapsburg Dynasty and
Bourbon Dynastys
|-
|
Sweden
|1611-1721
|The
Ingrian War
|The
Great Northern War
| -
|-
|
The United States
|1898-Present
|
Spanish-American War
| -
| -
|-
|}
Modern Power Hierarchy
Political analysis often personifies
nation states as ''powers'', discussing superpowers, great powers, second-order powers and "European powers", for example, with convenient simplicity as manifestations of
Realpolitik.
States have always had variable levels of powers and a number of terms have been developed to describe this continuum.
* A
hyperpower is the dominating state in a unipolar world (e.g. The
British Empire after
1815 and the
United States today)
* A
superpower is a state that is greatly more powerful than almost all other countries, especially in a bipolar world (for example, the US and
Soviet Union USSR during the
Cold War)
* A
Major power is a state that can influence nations around the globe, but does not necessarily have overwhelming military or economic dominance (e.g. The
United States and
Soviet Union in post world war to pre-cold war period) {Sometimes also used to describe a state that was a "superpower" before the term originated during the Cold War}. Some modern day Major powers are also considered
Potential Superpowers and have been widely perceived to have the capability of advancing to the stage of a Superpower.
* A
regional power that dominates other states in its region. Examples of regional powers today would be
India in
South Asia and
Brazil in
South America.
* A
middle power is a state that cannot dominate most other states, but does have some international influence (for example,
Canada and
Australia today). The term is, however, often used interchangeably with ''regional power.''
The term
great power is generally used to describe Superpowers before this categorizing of powers began. It generally is used to describe a leading power in a multipolar world.
Current Powers
These dates are approximate figures based on the years in which the respective countries showed the distinguishing characteristics of each of these categories.
Hyperpower
{{Main|Hyperpower}}
*
United States 1990 - present
Superpower
{{Main|Superpower}}
*
United States 1945 - present
Potential Superpowers
{{Main|Potential Superpowers}}
*
People's Republic of China 1990 - present
*
India 2000 - present
*
European Union 2000 - present
Major powers
{{Main|Major power}}
*
Japan 1945 - present
*
Germany 1990 - present
*
France 1956 - present
*
United Kingdom 1956 - present
*
People's Republic of China 1971 - present
*
Republic of India 1990 - present
*
Russia 1991 - present
See also
{{International power}}
Category:Political science
Category:International relations
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*** Shopping-Tip: Power (international)
