POWER

The Concept of Power in International Relations

MINAHIL ILYAS 18-04-2024

Basic Introduction to Power
• The term Power comes from a Latin word “posse”, meaning Ability.
• In Social Science and Politics, power is the ability to in uence - control the behavior of
people

• The Authority is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure
• Power can be seen as unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to
humans as social beings

• Power may be regarded as one of the central concepts of international politics, as all the
main theorists of IR like Kautilya, Machiavelli, Hobbes.

• Power is seen as both, means and end. Basically, this means the ability to control the
behavior to accomplish a certain goal. Like there are higher-long-term objectives like
peace, security, economic development and Power is necessary to achieve these
goals.
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“The power of a man over the minds and actions of other men”
~ Hans Morgantheau
“The Power is the capacity to impose ones will on other by
reliance on effective sanctions in case of non-compliance” ~
George Schwarzenbarger
“The Concept of Power is one of the most troublesome in the
field of International Politics” ~ Robert Gilpin
 Elements of Power
What is Power composed of?

• Tangible Power:
Literal meaning: something physical that can be seen or touched like
Population, Territory, Natural Resources, and Industrial Capacity, Agricultural
capacity and Military Strength and Mobility

• Intangible Power:
Something that does not have a physical presence and can’t be touched but
can be adjective like Leadership and Personality, Bureaucratic Organizational
E ciency, Type of Government, Social Cohesiveness, Reputation,
Dependency, etc
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Dimensions of Power
Internal; External; Structural

• Internal Dimension of Power: de nes power as a capacity for action, coercion

for the implementation of policy, power is autonomy

• External Dimension of Power: de nes power as a capacity to control the

behavior of others. Such in uence need not to be actively exercised, that may
be acknowledged by others.

• Structural Dimension of Power: de nes the power as a decisive tool, to shape

frameworks within which states relate to one another, relate to people, or
relate to corporate enterprises.
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Types of Power
• There are mainly three types: Hard Power, Soft Power & Smart Power
• HARD POWER: largely based upon Coercion. Main tools are; use of
military and weapons, arm-race, defense techniques etc.

• SOFT POWER: the use of negotiations to influence the preferences of

people, a country, or a corporation. This aims at creating long-lasting
connections by exercising economic power, trade, cooperation, promotion
cultural exchanges and values, enhancing people-to-people contact,
investment etc.

• SMART POWER: a combination of both hard and soft power. NATO or the
UN Peacekeeping forces use smart power as there is a large military
capability that instead of seeking to install fear or create destruction is often
used to maintain peace and diplomatic efforts between nations.
Sub-Types of Power:
• Natural Power: Location, Size and Shape of the Country, Water Resources, Climate,
Commutability, Natural Resources, Frontiers, etc.

• Science and Technological Power: global climate change, cyber security, Nuclear
development, Tech-plomacy, energy production, bio-technology etc.

• Military Power: Defence Capability, Strategic Power, Arms and Ammunitions, WMD
(Weapons of Mass Destruction) etc.

• Economic Power: Geo-Economics, economic activities like agricultural activity,

manufacturing, trading, Human Resource.

• Political Power: Type of Government, Bureaucratic e ciency, political leadership,

legislation, quality of Diplomacy, etc

• Psychological Power: narrative building, propaganda, information and disinformation,

reputation, etc.
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Power Phenomenon in International Politics
We will be mentioning four of them:

• State Power / Power Politics: Power is unequally distributed and each state
must provide its own security

• Balance of Power: refers to a policy of promoting a power equilibrium (on the

assumption that unbalanced power is dangerous)

• The Security Dilemma: states’ own security is another’s threat

• International Systems: type of con guration of power in a time and
geographical framework; i. Unipolar world; ii. Multipolar; iii. Bi-polar

• MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) : Principle of deterrence

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 In sum, the power can be used as a point of
comparison between states in the study of IR - which
means when a state is said to have more power or
less power than another - or as a classification of a
state’s political status in comparison with others -
which means a state is said to be a regional power, a
great power, or a super power.
Questions please..