Question 1

In international relations, states use various tools to project and influence power. The

tools of statecraft include the use of force, economic statecraft, and diplomacy (Mingst &

McKibben, 2021, Pg.149). Using the Art of diplomacy, state government representatives

influence the behaviour of other states through non-violent means, negotiation, and dialogue

(Pg. 152). The central basis for diplomacy statecraft is bargaining and negotiations.

Negotiation may be done directly or tacitly. In tacit negotiations, either party recognizes that

a move in one direction provides strategic responses from the other parties. Formal

negotiations involve the exchange of proposals, a process that is repeated until both parties

reach a compromise. Public diplomacy is the most utilized diplomatic statecraft involving

strategic public targets by countries and in elite foreign countries with educational, cultural,

and informational programming (Pg. 152). Despite the effectiveness of the diplomatic

techniques, states may find it necessary to change the behaviours of other states and use other

statecraft measures such as positive incentives and negative incentives (Pg. 152). The

negative incentives entail using coercive force, deploying severe diplomatic ties, and

reducing aid, while the positive incentives involve the provision of foreign support and

diplomatic recognition for desired actions when the targeted states move in a specific

direction.

Economic statecraft entails sanctions (negative incentives) or engagement (positive

incentives) in influencing other states' actions. Positive incentives influence the change of

behaviours to the target state, while negative incentives aim to punish the target states for

moving in undesirable directions (Pg. 153). According to Mingst and McKibben (2021),

states have imposed smart sanctions since the 1990's on commodities or through unfreezing

government funds (Pg. 154). However, the ability of states to use economic statecraft

depends on their power potential (Pg. 153). Only the well-endowed states economically can
grant preferences to certain countries, offer house foreign assets, grant preferences, boycott,

and provide investment guarantees effectively.

States use force to compel the target to undo something it has already done, get them

to do something, or prevent adversaries from acting in a certain way in the future (Pg. 157).

The use of force statecraft uses deterrence and compellence strategies. Deterrence aims at

punishing states upon taking an undesired action, while compellence is states' use of threats

to get the target to undo an action already undertaken or force a state to do something. For

efficiency, states should lay grounding objectives and be ready to fulfil promises and follow

with their capabilities.

References

Mingst, K., & McKibben, H. (2021). Essentials of International Relations (9th ed.). W. W.

Norto.
Question 2

Deterrence and compellence are functions served by force. The deterrence use of

force entails deploying military power to prevent an opponent from doing something

unwanted (Art, 1980, Pg. 6). Deterrence may involve threatening an opponent that he may be

afflicted with unacceptable punishment if he does commit the unwanted need. According to

Art (1980), the threatened punishment is directed to an infrastructure or an adversary

population where its effectiveness depends on the state's ability to convince their opponent

that they have the power and will to punish them severely if they undertake the undesirable

situation warned against. Therefore, deterrence adopts peace. The basis of deterrence is the

threat to use force to retaliate. Deterrence success is measured if the threats are not

implemented because threats are adopted when an action has been committed (Pg. 7). Art

(1980) added that states without capability are prone to developing deterrence measures

where states able to protect themselves from an attack are unlikely to deter. However, any

State that can deter, defend itself, or engage in both are dependent on the qualitative balance

of forces irrespective of whether the military technology favours the defence or offence and

quantitative balance of powers between the opponent and the state.

The compellence function of the force entails the deployment of the military power to

stop an opponent from doing something they have undertaken or force them to do something

that they have not undertaken (Pg. 7). Compellence is based on using force peacefully or

physically to influence the opponent to abide by their wishes (Pg. 8). Peaceful compellence

involves the adversaries paying a specific price until they change their behaviour, such as the

German fleet incident in England before World War II.

In addition to compellence and deterrence, swaggering and defence are other

functional categories of force deployment. Swaggering involves the peaceful use of force by

building and buying the most expensive weapons and displaying a state's military might at
national demonstrations and military exercises (Pg. 10). Defence entails the deployment of

force to minimize damage or ward off an attack when attacked by an opponent.

References

Art, R. J. (1980). To what ends military power? International Security, 4(4), 3-35.