Power and Global Politics
Power is "the ability to affect others to get the outcomes you want".
~Joseph Nye
What is Power?
Power: To, Over, & With
The corresponding reading can be found on pages 42-43 of Mooij, C., Dhesi, E., & Nusseibeh, A. (2024). Global politics course companion. Oxford Resources for IB Diploma Programme.
"WHERE there are politics there is power. It is no surprise, hence, that the concept of power is fundamental to the study of world politics. What might be surprising is just how fundamental it is. Power, or, more exactly, the particular way in which it is conceived at any given time, has been a significant constitutive force defining the discipline of international relations. As an "essentially contested concept" whose meaning has broadened substantially over the years, the developments in conceptual thinking about power have progressively demanded acceptance of new empirical focuses, research methods, and normative logics into the lexicon of what counts as international relations (Connolly 1974). Contestation over the concept of power, thus, has helped broaden the discipline."
Hard, Soft & Smart Power
The corresponding reading can be found on pages 36-38 of Mooij, C., Dhesi, E., & Nusseibeh, A. (2024). Global politics course companion. Oxford Resources for IB Diploma Programme.
"This article builds on the insights of critical approaches to the study of power and seeks to lay bare the poverty of power analysis in mainstream International Relations (IR). Part I presents a critical account of prevalent conceptions of ‘hard power’ in mainstream studies informed by realist IR and maintains that realism’s power analysis is rather unrealistic insofar as it over-privileges material forms of power and focuses on the visible dimension of power relations to the neglect of the multiple (visible and non-visible) processes through which power is produced and expressed. Part II scrutinizes the concept of ‘sot power’. While Nye’s sot power analysis complements realist IR by highlighting non-material forms of power and looking at non-visible forms of power relations, it, too, remains shallow insofar as the production and various expressions of ‘attraction’ remain unaccounted for. Presenting more realistic accounts of the work power does in world politics requires following Lukes’ footsteps to produce three- (if not four-) dimensional power analyses."
"The Papacy has historically played an important part in shaping the understanding of International Relations. Up until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the papacy played a proactive role in the domestic affairs of various kingdoms. However, after the treaty, which some scholars argue is the beginning of a shift to secularization in international politics, the role of the papacy gradually diminished, and now there is an increasing emphasis on the subtle use of soft power."
Structural & Relational Power
The corresponding reading can be found on pages 38-40 of Mooij, C., Dhesi, E., & Nusseibeh, A. (2024). Global politics course companion. Oxford Resources for IB Diploma Programme.
"Although there is a wide consensus among academics and practitioners that EU competition policy has non-negligible external implications, actual assessments of the power of the EU in this field varies significantly according to one’s definition of power. Arguably, the existing literature puts too much emphasis on the exercise of coercive measures in individual competition cases and therefore over-evaluates the power of the EU. This paper addresses asymmetry between the relational and structural aspects of the Union employing both quantitative and qualitative data."
"We cannot understand geopolitics without thinking of power. Our definition of geopolitics looks at how individuals or groups of individuals disagree about the nature of places and other geographical entities and their relationship to the rest of the world. These disagreements create power struggles between different interests and groups. Geopolitics builds upon the common understanding of power being the ability to get what you want in the face of opposition, to say that the “getting what you want” is about controlling different geographical entities. Power can be defined as either material, relational, or ideological."
Economic, Political, and Social Power
The corresponding reading can be found on pages 40-41 of Mooij, C., Dhesi, E., & Nusseibeh, A. (2024). Global politics course companion. Oxford Resources for IB Diploma Programme.
China’s colossal infrastructure investments may usher in a new era of trade and growth for economies in Asia and beyond. But skeptics worry that China is laying a debt trap for borrowing governments.
The Belt and Road Initiative is a massive China-led infrastructure project that aims to stretch around the globe.
Some analysts see the project as a disturbing expansion of Chinese power, and the United States has struggled to offer a competing vision.
The initiative has stoked opposition in some Belt and Road countries that have experienced debt crises.
