Power and International Relations

1989 Words4 Pages

In this essay, am going to covering why power is the most important factor in international relations, and why power has changed throughout the years, is power or isn’t power the primary factor in international relations? There are several ways that power can be defined, it cannot be categorised in one area, as power is defined in many aspects. When discussing power in terms of international relations, this concept is described as very complicated as many aspects need to be considered. One definition of power in IR is one actor exerting influence over another, this is also known as hard power, or power can be described as having the most control over resources for example oil, gold or food. From another point of view power can be described as something which a state possess which another do not in terms of wealth, knowledge etc. There are many ways power can be obtained, the most significant of these manly include military size and effectiveness, size of the state, technological advancements and its wealth. States would these criteria would be regarded as a ‘superpower’. The importance of power capability has changed throughout history, with one being more important than the other. For example with the US having very advanced military power, compared to china with their technological advancement and being economical stable. The concept of power is primarily used by realist thinkers like Machiavelli and Morgenthau. Machiavelli was known as more of an extremist realist with his famous quote from the prince “it’s better to be feared then to be loved”. Political theorist like Machiavelli believed that power was the most important thing realism theory emphasis that moralist most put aside. The realism few on power, is based on state versus state relationship, in that their is no overarching power in the world. Also the realism theory states that as a result of not having a world government state seek to protect their own interest against neighbouring or rival states. Realism is centred around military power also known as hard power. However on the other hand liberalist believe that co-operation interaction between states is a much more effective means then military threat. Soft power allows states to come to a compromise, both in a ‘win-win’ situation. An example of this is Iran coming to a compromise with the United States on the issue of nuclear weapon. With both countries being rational and open-minded, allowing for life being saved if a war had broken out.

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