National Power

-Hans J. Morgenthau’s elements of National Power

- Joseph S. Nye’s soft power

National power can be classified into two types:

1. Hard power the ability to make others do what one wants, based on asymmetries in the possession of material resources

• In any case, the elements of hard power are no longer the final determinants in the age of globalization

Hans J. Morgenthau’s nine elements of national power

• geography• natural resources• industrial capacity• military preparedness• population• national character• national morale• quality of diplomacy• quality of government

2. Soft power the ability to persuade others to share one’s goals and vision based on the attractiveness and success of one’s ideas.

• Joseph S. Nye, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, 2004 : “Soft power is the ability to affect others to obtain the outcomes one wants through attraction rather than coercion or payment. A country's soft power rests on its resources of culture, values, and policies.”

Complementarities b/w hard and soft power

• Soft power can complement hard power. Hard power alone is not sufficient to ensure national security and to create sustainable peace throughout the world. Soft power can change antipathy and hatred into favourable feelings and sympathy.

• International order could be established through the combination of dominant hard power and superior soft power.

• National power is dynamic and relative power.

• In the international community, national power is always compared among nations.