What is Power and the Balance of Power in International Relations?

What is power? Power has many different meanings in different contexts, but power in the context of international relations is the ability of one nation’s decisions to influence other nations. A nation’s power can be derived from military might, economic strength, or cultural influence. The more power a nation possesses, the more its decisions will influence another nation. There are two categories a nation’s power can be broken down into hard power and soft power. 

Hard power is a nation’s ability to influence countries through tangible assets, such as a strong military or economy. hard power is used to coerce other nations into making decisions. Take the Spanish-American War for example, where the United States was able to seize Spanish colonial holdings in only four months. The United States was more powerful than the Spanish because their military and economy were superior, thus they were able to exert their hard power and force Spain into quickly conceding. The Spanish had to give up their colonies and had no effective way of resisting. The threat of military action or economic sanction equates to hard power. Nations that currently hold the most hard power are the United States, China, Russia, and Germany. 

On the other hand, power that comes from a nation's cultural popularity is called soft power. Soft Power is where nations grow their global standing through policy, values, and culture. Nations that make themselves appealing to trade with or adopt popular domestic policies are using soft power to grow their influence. Nations with vast amounts of soft power grow strong because other nations are enticed to partner with them. For example, South Korea has become a global superpower largely because of its cultural and social desirability. South Korean television shows, bands, and food have become popular, which has allowed it to project a favorable global image. Currently, 77% of Americans have a favorable view of South Korea, up from 47% in 1991. This surge in popularity has allowed South Korea to leverage its pop culture and democratic values to secure economic and diplomatic partnerships with many strong countries, catapulting them into a position of global leadership and power. Nations with the most soft power are the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Japan. 

How power is distributed to all nations on the international stage is called the balance of power. The balance of power is always fluid, as countries are always trying to maximize their relative power. However, the balance of power is typically at equilibrium, with nations aligning themselves with allies who share similar systems of governance, economic structures, or political motives to prevent a single nation or group of nations from gaining overwhelming power. Sometimes, nations align with other nations to maintain the balance of power and further their interests even if it differs from their former policies. For example, in the Thirty Years War, Catholic France allied with Protestants resisting against the Holy Roman Empire becoming officially Catholic. While the Holy Roman Empire was Catholic like France, France feared the Holy Roman Empire would gain too much power, so to maintain the balance of Power, France allied with Protestants. This example demonstrates how nations form foreign policy by prioritizing political motives and maintaining the existing balance of power. Another example of the balance of power was the Cold War. Many nations aligned with either the United States or the Soviet Union to prevent one side from gaining too much power. One argument scholars have made challenging the concept of the balance of power is that after the fall of the Soviet Union the United States held almost unilateral global power and there was no longer a balance of power. While this is true, in the most recent decades nations such as China, Russia, and Iran have begun to balance the United States’ power and contest its global hegemony. 

Bibliography: 

 Inc, Gallup. “South Korea’s Image at New High in U.S.” Gallup.com, 20 Feb. 2018, news.gallup.com/poll/228050/south-korea-image-new-high.aspx.

 Colombo, U. S. Embassy. “Soft Power, Hard Power and Public Diplomacy: Deputy Chief of Mission Robert B. Hilton’s Remarks at BIDTI.” U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka, 8 June 2018, lk.usembassy.gov/soft-power-hard-power-and-public-diplomacy-deputy-chief-of-mission-robert-b-hiltons-remarks-at-bidti/#:~:text=As%20we%20have%20discussed%2C%20hard.

 “Top 10 Most Powerful Countries in the World in 2023.” Forbes India, 31 Jan. 2024, www.forbesindia.com/article/explainers/top-10-powerful-countries-in-the-world/87201/1.

“Soft Power 30.” Soft Power, softpower30.com/?sort_by=culture.