Power and developments - concepts

• Hard Power

  The reliance on economic and military strength to solve international problems
• Hard military power

  • USA
• Obama ordered drone strikes

  1. In various countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria

  2. Use of drones aligned with Obama's ambition to keep war against Al Qaeda while extricating the US military from intractable, costly ground wars in Middle East and Asia

  3. In the light of events such as the beheading of US hostages by ISIL they needed to do this to degrade terrorist threats, reduce risks to troops and protect civilians as they were more accurate and effectively degraded the quality of al Qaeda's personnel
• Economic hard power

  • Russian diamond imports to the UK are among the items that will be banned by the government
  • The UK has targeted more than 1,500 individuals and entities and frozen more than £18bn assets under the sanctions regime
• Soft power in US foreign policy

  • Obama's Cairo speech marked move towards use of soft power in the Arab world
  • Aid can be used to attract, persuade and influence
  • Obama had plans to help Arab Spring countries swept by revolution with more than $800m in economic aid, while maintaining military aid to Egypt
  • Providing incentives for long term reform and expanded the US's bilateral economic support for countries like Yemen
• Cultural soft power
• Cultural soft power

  Puts states in strong leadership position
• Globalisation

  Referred to as 'Americanisation' leading to a homogenous culture and giving the US more authority that persuades other states to emulate its world view and achieve positive global recognition
• Cocacolonisation

  If shared values can persuade to act in particular way
• Soft power is more important in an interlinked world
• Soft power


  • Gordon Brown hosting the G20 summit in 2008 to achieve collective outcome of financial crisis which was a collective security problem transcending state borders
  • Germany taking a leading role in 2016 migrant crisis accepting large numbers of refugees
• Vaccine diplomacy

  Covid vaccines used to improve diplomatic relations, while the West focused on vaccinating their own populations some emerging powers harnessed the vaccines to increase their international influence - China incorporated it in its BRI framework using African summits to offer vaccines along with investment opportunities
• Smart power

  Term coined by Joseph Nye, key feature of Obama administration - 2009 Cairo speech he focused on the benefits of Islamic culture and emphasised the need for cooperation and co-existence - break from Bush empathising hard power through war on terror - but he acknowledged that the West had been antagonistic in the past and demonstration of cultural understanding - but also showed clear willingness to use hard power where necessary as he stated US wouldn't tolerate extremist threats and he used drone strikes
• Carrot and stick

  Realists illustrating the concept of power within international system - US offered North Korea the carrot of energy and food aid and the stick of economic sanctions in relation to its testing of nuclear weapons - can have carrot (reward) if it stops testing but will face stick (punishment) if it continues with nuclear programme
• Hard power by Trump

  • In April 2017 he launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against the Assad regime to deter further chemical attacks
• Soft power move to BRICS

  • Formation of BRICS move to increase soft power by bolstering their diplomatic influence especially within IGOs like G20
• The Cold War period was not stable, dangerous and turbulent as both sides continually advancing military, economics, diplomatic interests at expense of others creating fear and hostility
• Modern example of China and Russia challenging the USA's dominance - (2023) Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin proposed a new global order to replace the post-1945 US-led model. Xi has offered to "stand guard over the world order
• Modern example of hard power (economic)

  • The EU has adopted 10 packages of sanctions against Russia and Belarus since the Ukraine invasion; 70% of assets of the Russian banking system are under sanctions and around €20 billion of assets of more than 1,500 sanctioned persons and entities have been frozen
• Recent example of soft power

  • In 2017, Japan had the fifth largest diplomatic network in the world (5th soft power). Anime, manga and Japanese films are considered to be soft power.
• Mao Huibin (Chinese journalist) was arrested after publishing articles about the 2022 Tangshan assault, demonstrating China's lack of democratic values despite calling itself a democracy
• 2023 US and South Korea conducted joint amphibious landing drills


  North Korea responded by launching a new ICBM and conducted drills simulating a tactical nuclear counterattack, demonstrating a security dilemma developing because of a rogue state's uncooperative nature
• As China's economic power has increased it has been building up its military capability: 2009 military spending was $70 billion, 2021 military spending was $293 billion
• China may have increased military ability but it has not been able to assert its legal claims over the South China Sea or establish military superiority in the region (or assert its influence in Taiwan), US bases in Japan, South Korea, Guam, Philippines, Australia and the Malacca Straits effectively encircle China
• Russia's defence spending in 2021 was $66 billion
• The Iraq War has reduced the USA's power in the Middle East and given rise to more terrorism and instability in the region, limiting its military power
• Top three soft powers in the world

  • 1st USA, 2nd UK and 3rd Germany
• Where the EU demonstrated success for soft power over hard power


  • The EU saw success when negotiating with Iran over its nuclear weapons programme, resulting in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
• The EU-Japan Trade Deal in 2019 was the largest bilateral free trade agreement
• Why America is a global hegemon in economic terms

  Largest economy $23 trillion (2021), Large population 332 million (2021) that is highly educated with more than 80% living in urban areas, a sign of economic development, High GDP per capita $70,000 (2021)
• Why America is a global hegemon in military terms

  Largest military spending $801 billion (2021), High military spending as a portion of GDP 3.5% (2021), 11 aircraft carriers and 9 helo carriers, 800 military bases in 70 countries
• Why America is a global hegemon in political terms

  Substantial power in IGOs (UN, IMF etc), helped design them and manipulate them in its interest; UNSC veto, dominates IMF/WB, dominates procedures in the WTO, G7/20
• China's economy is catching up at $17.7 trillion in 2021 (has been projected to over take the USA by 2035), the EU GDP is over $16 trillion, limiting America's economic hegemony
• The USA has fewer nuclear warheads than Russia (around 6000 to 5,400), has suffered humiliating military defeats such as Vietnam and failed to remove the Taliban from Afghanistan after 9/11, withdrew in 2021, and is not a traditional empire with colonies, limiting its military hegemony
• The G20 accounts for 59% of the global population, 85% of global GDP, 75% of global trade, and 80% of global defence spending, suggesting a multipolar world order
• Why China is a contender to challenge the USA's dominance in terms of the economy

  2009 became world's largest exporter (Workshop of the World), 2010 overtook Japan to become the second largest economy in the world, Population of 1.4 billion (2021) giving it a sizeable domestic market, Rate of growth far higher than USA, estimated to overtake in 2035
• Why China is a contender to challenge the USA's dominance in terms of military

  Has been a nuclear power since 1964, Second largest spending at $293 billion, Largest army in the world with over 2 million active personnel, Has been showing ambitions to extend its influence over Taiwan; 2022 conducted 'military exercises' around the island
• Why China is a contender to challenge the USA's dominance in terms of politics

  Belt and Road Initiative (investment in foreign economies to extend influence and improve links around the world), Has been influential when addressing global issues such as climate change through its membership of the WTO and G20, China's membership of the G20 has led to many seeing the G20 as more important than the G7, Has invested money into various economies around the world especially Africa to gain access to raw materials in return for access natural resources, UNSC
• China has high potential for economic growth but this is not guaranteed, Japan and Germany both had high rates of growth in the 1960s and 1970s but this was not sustained, limiting its ability to challenge the USA's economic dominance
• China


  • Largest army in the world with over 2 million active personnel
  • Has been showing ambitions to extend its influence over Taiwan; 2022 conducted 'military exercises' around the island