Power in International Relations

- Overview

Power is defined as a specific set of attributes that people use in their interactions and social processes that determine the various identities and abilities of those who exercise power. 

Most actors in international relations have various definitions of power, such as the American political scientist Joseph Nye Jr. defined power as “the ability to influence the behaviors of others to obtain desired results”. Likewise, historical theorists conceptualize power as goals, influence, security, and capacity.

While Nye categorized this influence into hard, soft, and smart power, scholars generally divide power into three distinct dimensions: 

• Capability: Tangible and intangible resources a state possesses, such as military strength, population, geography, and economic wealth.
• Relationship: The exercise of influence or control over another actor to get them to do something they otherwise would not.
• Structure: The ability to shape the overarching international system, control political agendas, and determine institutional rules. 

To explore how these different dynamics are applied in the modern global system, it helps to examine the three main forms of international power:

• Hard Power: The use of coercion and payment to compel other actors. This predominantly involves military force, economic sanctions, or financial rewards to force compliance. 
• Soft Power: The ability to achieve outcomes through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion. It relies on a country's culture, political values, and foreign policies to make others want what the actor wants. 
• Smart Power: The strategic combination of both hard and soft power. It emphasizes integrating military strength and economic leverage with robust diplomacy and alliance-building to address global challenges.

- Hard Power, Soft Power, and Intelligent Power

International power dynamics are categorized into hard, soft, and smart power. Hard power uses military and economic coercion, while soft power relies on persuasion and attraction. Intelligent or "smart" power strategically integrates both, offering a cost-effective and legitimate approach to global influence.

• Hard power is defined as a state's use of economic and military coercion to influence the interests or behavior of other states or political groups. This political power is considered aggressive because it is usually imposed by a stronger power on a smaller institution or government with immediate effect. Furthermore, it is often supported by superior forces with natural resources, economic advantages and even larger populations.
• As opposed to coercion, soft power is a force that attracts and persuades others to change and influence the preferences of others and nations. This power uses negotiation and influence to attract others. Soft power is necessary to improve interpersonal relationships and build lifelong bonds between parties. Soft power is best used on complex issues to help achieve a state of mutual benefit without too much difficulty.
• Intelligent power includes hard power and soft power. It involves the strategic use of diplomacy and persuasion. This genre projects power and influence in a very cost-effective way to legitimize political and social aspects.

- The Interplay between Hard Power, Soft power and Smart power

International relations power functions through constant inter-influence: hard power establishes credible threats and baseline leverage, soft power builds trust and legitimacy, and smart power integrates them. Rather than operating in silos, they act as mutual enablers to achieve strategic national goals. 

Understanding the interplay of these three concepts reveals how states achieve their ultimate international goals: 

1. Synergy of Hard and Soft Power: 

Hard power and soft power are not mutually exclusive; they act as mutual enablers. A state that relies strictly on hard power generates resentment, making its demands costly and difficult to sustain. Conversely, an over-reliance on soft power leaves a state without leverage in immediate, existential crises. 

• The "Carrot and Stick" Framework: Soft power enhances the perceived legitimacy of a nation's hard power. When a superpower pairs military or economic dominance (hard power) with humanitarian aid or cultural alignment (soft power), its actions are more readily accepted by the international community. 
• The Role of Coercion: Even the most deeply ingrained cultural and economic bonds can be threatened if underlying security commitments are absent. Hard power creates the protective umbrella that allows soft power mechanisms (like education, media, and diplomacy) to flourish safely.

2. Smart Power: The Strategic Integration: 

Smart power is the deliberate combination of hard and soft power into a cohesive, cost-effective strategy. As political scientist Joseph Nye notes, smart power is the ability to assess when coercion or economic sanctions are necessary, and when negotiation and attraction are more appropriate. 

• Diplomacy as a Tool: It relies heavily on strategic diplomacy, alliances, and institutional frameworks to amplify a country's influence. 
• Cost Efficiency: By maximizing soft power, a nation reduces the exorbitant economic and military costs traditionally required to force compliance.

3. The Continuous Feedback Loop: 

These power dynamics continuously reinforce one another in a cyclical manner:

• Source: A nation’s economic strength and institutional values (soft power) fund and legitimize its military and foreign policies (hard power). 
• Application: Smart power orchestrates how these capabilities are deployed on the global stage.
• Outcome: A successful smart power strategy yields a stronger international reputation, which further boosts the state's soft power influence and economic resources, restarting the cycle. 

- The Role of Cultural Diplomacy in International Relations

By showcasing its cultural heritage and achievements, a country can enhance its soft power and attract admiration and respect from other nations. This can help build trust and goodwill, which are essential for diplomatic relations to thrive.

A nation's cultural and heritage can have many impacts on political science and international affairs research, including:

• Nation-building: Cultural heritage can be used as a tool for nation-building and nation branding.
• Power dynamics: Culture and identity can shape power dynamics between nations, with dominant cultures creating imbalances of power.
• Foreign policy: Governments may include the promotion and defense of their cultural heritage in their foreign policy goals.
• Alliances: Shared cultural norms can foster alliances and collaborations for mutual security.
• Tensions: Cultural disparities might intensify tensions or conflicts.
• Cultural diplomacy: Cultural diplomacy can be used to project a positive image of a country on the international stage.
• Heritage diplomacy: Heritage diplomacy is the exchange, collaboration, and cooperative governance of cultural and natural pasts shared between nations.
• Political identity: Cultural heritage can be used to launch a political identity that takes cultural heritage seriously.
• Futurology: Heritage has been described as a form of "futurology" because it is produced in a conversation with the past, but it is used to stake out the future.

[Stanford University]

- Comprehensive National Strength (CNP)

Comprehensive national power (CNP) is the sum of a country’s economic, military and political strength in a certain period of time. It reflects a country's overall development level and status in the international system.

CNP can also be defined as a country's ability to mobilize and utilize its strategic resources to achieve national goals. It is an analytical tool that can identify gaps and boundaries in national power and balance interests in international relations.

CNP consists of three main parts: human capital, soft power (culture and policy), social harmony. The sources of state power may be different in each country and are subject to change. A country can exercise power through four means: economic, diplomatic, information, and military. Some indices that can be used to predict the CNP include: GDP, energy use, steel production.

The CNP of a country includes not only "hard power" expressed by economy, technology, and military strength, but also "soft power" expressed by culture, political values, and foreign policy. "Cultural soft power" is an important part of a country's soft power, which refers to the strong cohesion reflected by the advanced culture of a country, a nation or a region. 

- Digital Sovereignty and Sovereign AI's Role in International Power 

Digital sovereignty is a state’s ability to control and govern its digital destiny - including its data, infrastructure, and software - independent of foreign interference. Sovereign AI, its natural extension, is a nation's capacity to build and run artificial intelligence (AI) using domestic infrastructure, local data, and algorithms that reflect its own laws and cultural values. 

Sovereign AI's Role in International Power: 

In international relations (IR), control over the AI "technology stack" (data centers, semiconductors, algorithms, and training data) has evolved into a primary indicator of global power and national security. 

1. The New Arms Race and Structural Power: 

• Strategic Autonomy vs. Dependence: Traditional power relies on military and economic leverage, but today it is tied to technological self-sufficiency. Nations that rely on foreign-hosted large language models (LLMs) risk their intelligence and operational secrets being exposed to foreign jurisdictions. 
• Resource Control: Access to high-end hardware, like graphics processing units (GPUs), is now a heavily controlled asset. Nations regulate the export of semiconductors to prevent adversaries from training advanced autonomous military or surveillance systems.

2. Ideological and Cultural Influence: 

• Values in Algorithms: AI is not neutral; it encodes the cultural and legal values of its creators. By establishing Sovereign AI, countries ensure that their population is not subject to the ethical frameworks, censorship rules, or biases embedded in imported models. 
• The "Brussels Effect" vs. State-Directed Power: International relations are shaped by differing models of control. The EU uses regulatory power (e.g., the EU AI Act). China directs its state apparatus to override openness in favor of national champions and state-controlled data. The U.S. utilizes a mix of private-sector innovation and strict security tools to defend its technological advantage. 

3. Shifting Diplomatic Alliances: 

• Tech-Conditional Foreign Policy: Access to frontier AI capabilities has become a tool for alliance-building. Frameworks and alliances dictate that access to computing power and critical chips is increasingly conditional on political alignment and shared regulatory standards.

[More to come ...]