Power

1
Power

• Sun Tzu If you believe in freedom and peace,
  you must study the mechanisms of oppression and
  war. (The Art of War, China 500 B.C.)

2
Power is Normative

• Realist Power is a tool used for good or ill.
• Lord Acton (Liberal) Power corrupts, absolute
  power corrupts absolutely.
• Marxist private property, class, and
  exploitation create power. Politics is only the
  result

3
Power as a unit of analysis?

• Power as measuring unit? (as in )
• Power cannot be isolated from other factors
  (ceteris paribus)
• Power is contextual
• Power is both tangible and intangible
• Power is multidirectional
• Power is relational
• Power is dynamic

4
Three aspects of power

• As an exercise of influence
• As a relationship (incl. action, purpose, and
  value)
• As a resource

5
As exercise of influence

• Actor and event specific (e.g.,Vietnam war,
  Landmine Treaty)
• A dynamic continuum communication/travel/trade--p
  ersuasion/diplomacy--constraint/threats--condemnat
  ion/sanction--coercion/limited force--war.

6
Relationship Mixture of Action, Purpose, Value

• Power as means vs. end
• Power as perception (psych. Environment e.g.,
  Pearl Harbor)
• Uni vs. multidirectional (e.g.,Kosovo Crisis and
  Russia)
• Trade-offs, linkages (Canada-US relations),
  unintended consequences (Kosovo today)
• Zero-sum and positive-sum (relational and
  structural)

7
As a resource

• Geopolitics location, mil. force and alliances.
  (e.g., Landpower H. Mackinder vs Seapower A.
  Mahan strategies)
• Mil. Force size, training, equipment, power
  projection, modernity (e.g., C4SRI, OEW, PGM,)
• Economic base resources, infrastructure, skilled
  labour, RD, degree of GDP dependent on trade,
  financial vulnerability

8
Resource (contd)

• Demographics, ideology, national unity
• Political system (open vs closed), parliamentary
  vs. US separation of powers
• Role of international organizations
• Information (e. g., CNN effect) and perception

9
Marxism and Power in IP

• Economic inequality not anarchy is the problem
• Bourgeois Western states vs underdeveloped world
• Colonialism--imperialism--neo-imperialism
• Dependency theory how underdevelopment continues
• Solution revolution, Intra-Bourgeois conflict,
  new terms of trade.

10
Conclusion

• Power connected to normative purpose
• Imprecise unit of measurement
• Not abstract, but always context specific.