nach oben

Erschienen in:

2018 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

3. A Comprehensive Concept of Power in International Relations

verfasst von : Richard Q. Turcsányi

Erschienen in: Chinese Assertiveness in the South China Sea

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config

KI-gestützte Suche

Aus

Abstract

Power is defined in this book as the ability to achieve and/or sustain a desired goal. It is seen as an issue-specific ability, and it should not be mistaken for sources of power, exercise of power, or influence. Assessing the power of an actor by looking at its sources of power and outcomes is the best available method for approximations of the actual power. To take into account all potentially relevant sources of power, three levels of power sources will be considered—the state, international, and societal levels. One should consider the specific intentions of the given country, for different policy goals may require different sets of power sources. In this thesis, altogether eight areas of power will be considered to form a sufficiently comprehensive assessment of the examined actor’s power.

In the critical engagement with the published works on China’s power, it was shown that even literature which deals directly with China’s power does not necessarily present the full and up-to-date story. It can be suggested that the topic of China’s power and its influence on its foreign policy in general, and after 2008 in particular, is significantly under-researched. Based on the conceptual understanding of power and the discussion of China’s power, it is argued here that it is mainly due to a lack of rigorous and comprehensive work with the key concept of power both within the China watchers’ community and among scholars of international relations in general.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Vorheriges Kapitel Chinese Assertive Actions in the South China Sea

Nächstes Kapitel China’s Sources of Power at the State Level: The Military, Economy, and National Performance

Joseph S. Nye (2015) or Hugh White (2005, p. 469).

However, this does not mean everyone thinks the gap between China and the USA is narrowing down; e.g. see Michael Beckley (2011, pp. 41–78).

See, e.g., Robert G. Sutter (2012), Deng and Wang (2010), Gill Bates (2010), Rex Li (2008). In the Czech context, one of the very first publications dealing with the international relations in the Indo-Pacific region also contains the key words of the Chinese (and Indian) rise: see Rudolf Fürst (2011).

For example, Nathan and Scobell (2012) or Avery Goldstein (2005).

For an excellent collection of all known quantitative measurements of power, see Karl Hermann Höhn (2011).

Parts of this section appeared in Richard Q. Turcsányi (2016).

Similar versions of the definition of power have been used by a number of authors, e.g. Nye (1990b, pp. 177–192), Zygmunt Bauman (2011), and Martin Luther King (1967).

Cited in Steven Lukes (2005 pp. 20–25).

See Fig. 3.1 for the scheme of power and related concepts.

See the relevant chapters in Tellis et al. (2015).

The scheme of asymmetrical interdependence and the concepts of sensitivity and vulnerability have been significantly developed by Keohane and Nye (1977).

The idea of using trade for political goals is not new and has been in the discipline of international economy at least since the publication of Albert O. Hirschman, National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1945).

See Table 3.1 for the scheme of three levels and eight areas of sources of power.

Shortly before the manuscript of this book was finalized, a new highly relevant book on the topic of China’s power appeared; see Enrico Fels (2017). The contribution of this book is going to be discussed at the very end of this section.

Actually, it can be argued that Fels implicitly signalled here some problems with his treatments of the second and the third understandings of power. Based on the power model presented here, his chapters discussing middle powers are not that much about relational power as about structural power.

Indeed, some findings of Fels will be used at appropriate places of this book.

Baldwin, D. A. (1971). Money and power. Journal of Politics, 33(3), 578–614.CrossRef

Baldwin, D. A. (1979). Power analysis and world politics: New trends versus old tendencies. World Politics, 31(2), 161–194.CrossRef

Barnett, M., & Duvall, R. (Eds.). (2005). Power in global governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bates, G. (2010). Rising star: China’s new security diplomacy. Washington: Brookings Institute Press.

Bauman, Z. (2011). Collateral damage. Social inequalities in a global age. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Beckley, M. (2011). China’s century? Why America’s edge will endure. International Security, 36(3), 41–78.CrossRef

Beeson, M. (2009). Hegemonic transition in East Asia? The dynamics of Chinese and American power. Review of International Studies, 35, 95–112.CrossRef

Berenskoetter, F. (2007). Thinking about power. In F. Berenskoetter & M. J. Williams (Eds.), Power in world politics. New York: Routledge.

Chan, S. (2008). China, the U.S., and the power-transition theory: A critique. New York and London: Routledge.

Christensen, T. (2015). The China challenge. Shaping the choices of a rising power. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company.

Chung, J. H. (Ed.). (2015). Assessing China’s power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

D’Anieri, P. (2014). International politics. Power and purpose in global affairs. Wadsforth: Cengage Learning.

Dahl, R. A. (1957). The concept of power. Behavioral Science, 2(3), 201–215.CrossRef

Deng, Y. (2008). China’s struggle for status. The realignment of international relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Deng, Y., & Wang, F.-L. (Eds.). (2010). China rising: Power and motivation in Chinese foreign policy. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Dressler, D. (1989). What’s at stake in the agent-structure debate? International Organization, 3(89), 441–473.CrossRef

Fels, E. (2017). Shifting power in Asia-Pacific? The rise of China, Sino-US competition and regional middle power allegiance. Cham: Springer.

Finnemore, M., & Goldstein, J. (2013). Back to basics: State power in a contemporary world. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRef

Foucault, M. (2002). Power: Essential works of Foucault. London: Penguin.

Friedberg, A. L. (1993). Ripe for rivalry: Prospects for peace in a multipolar Asia. International Security, 18(3), 5–33.CrossRef

Fürst, R. (Ed.). (2011). Vzestup Indie a Číny: přichází asijské století? [The rise of China and India: Is the Asian century coming?]. Prague: Institute of International Relations.

Goldstein, A. (2005). Rising to the challenge. China’s grand strategy and international security. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the prison notebooks. London: Lawrence & Wishart.

Haugaard, M. (2012). Rethinking the four dimensions of power: domination and empowerment. Journal of Political Power, 5(3), 33–54.CrossRef

He, K. (2009). Institutional balancing in the Asia Pacific. Economic interdependence and China’s rise. London and New York: Routledge.

Hirschman, A. O. (1945). National power and the structure of foreign trade. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Höhn, K. H. (2011). Geopolitics and the measurement of national power. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Hamburg.

Hu, A. & Men, H. (2004). The rising of modern China: Comprehensive national power and grand strategy. In KIEP International Conference, Seoul. https://myweb.rollins.edu/tlairson/china/chigrandstrategy.pdf.

Ikenberry, G. J. (2013). East Asia and liberal international order: Hegemony, balance, and consent in the shaping of East Asian regional order. In T. Inoguchi & G. John Ikenberry (Eds.), The troubled triangle. Economic and security concerns for the United States, Japan, and China (pp. 13–33). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Jacques, M. (2012). When China rules the world. The rise of the middle kingdom and the end of the western world. New York: Penguin Books.

Kang, D. (2007). China rising. Peace, power and order in East Asia. New York: Columbia University Press.

Keohane, R. O., & Nye, J. S. (1977). Power and interdependence: World politics in transition. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

King, M. L. (1967, 16 August). Where do we go from here?, Annual Report Delivered at the 11th Convention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Atlanta. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~gmarkus/MLK_WhereDoWeGo.pdf

Kissinger, H. (1995). Diplomacy. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.

Lampton, D. M. (2008). The three faces of Chinese power. Might, money, and minds. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Li, R. (2008). A rising China and security in East Asia: Identity construction and security discourse. London and New York: Routledge.

Lukes, S. (2005). Power: A radical view. London: Palgrave.CrossRef

Mearsheimer, J. J. (2007). Structural realism. In T. Dunne, M. Kurki, & S. Smith (Eds.), International relations theories. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mearsheimer, J. J. (2010). The gathering storm: China’s challenge to US power in Asia. The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 3(4), 381–396.CrossRef

Melissen, J. (Ed.). (2005). The new public diplomacy. Soft power in international relations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Morriss, P. (2002). Power: A philosophical analysis. In M. Haugaard (Ed.), Power: A reader (pp. 278–203). Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Nathan, A. J., & Scobell, A. (2012). China’s search for security. New York: Columbia University Press.

Nye, J. S. (1990a). Soft power. Foreign Policy, 80, 153–171.CrossRef

Nye, J. S. (1990b). The changing nature of world power. Political Science Quarterly, 105(2), 177–192.CrossRef

Nye, J. S. (2004). Soft power: The means to success in world politics. New York: Public Affairs.

Nye, J. S. (2007). Notes for a soft-power research agenda. In F. Berenskoetter & M. J. Williams (Eds.), Power in world politics (pp. 162–172). New York: Routledge.

Nye, J. S. (2015, 3 April). The China Challenge. Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/04/03/the-china-challenge/fCvYDdIwhtSjBctl0nfn3J/story.html.

Organski, A. F. K. (1968). World politics. New York: Knopf.

Organski, A. F. K., & Kugler, J. (1980). The war ledger. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Pansardi, P. (2012). Power to and power over: Two distinct concepts of power? Journal of Political Power, 5(1), 73–89.CrossRef

Rolland, N. (2015). China’s national power: A colossus with iron or clay feet? In A. J. Tellis, A. Szalwinski, & M. Wills (Eds.), Foundations of national power in the Asia-Pacific, Strategic Asia 2015-2016. Seattle and Washington, D.C.: The National Bureau of Asian Research.

Shambaugh, D. (2013). China goes global. The partial power. New York: Oxford University Press.

Shirk, S. L. (2007). China: A fragile superpower. How China’s internal politics could derail its peaceful rise. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Singer, D. J. (1961). The level-of-analysis problem in international relations. World Politics, 14(1), 77–92.CrossRef

Strange, S. (1994). States and markets. London: Continuum.

Sutter, R. G. (2012). Chinese foreign relations: Power and policy since the cold war. Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Tellis, A. J., Bially, J., Layne, C., McPherson, M., & Sollinger, J. M. (2000). Measuring national power in the postindustrial age: Analyst’s handbook. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1110z1.html.

Tellis, A. J., Szalwinski, A., & Wills, M. (Eds.). (2015). Foundations of national power in the Asia-Pacific. Strategic Asia 2015-2016. Seattle and Washington, D.C.: The National Bureau of Asian Research.

Tung, M. T. (1966). Quotations from Mao Tse Tung. Beijing: Peking Foreign Languages Press. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/ch05.htm.

Turcsányi, R. Q. (2016). Contradiction of strategic goals as a major constrain of Chinese power in the South China Sea. In E. Fels & V. Truong (Eds.), Power politics in Asia’s contested waters. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea and a rising China. New York: Springer.

Turcsányi, R. Q. (2017). Assessing the power of China: Insights from the conceptual thinking about power. Journal of Chinese Political Science, 22(3), 473–486.CrossRef

Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern world-system, vol. I: Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the european world-economy in the sixteenth century. New York, London: Academic Press.

Wallerstein, I. (1980). The modern world-system, vol. II: Mercantilism and the consolidation of the European world-economy, 1600-1750. New York: Academic Press.

Wallerstein, I. (1989). The modern world-system, vol. III: The second era of great expansion of the capitalist world economy, 1730s-1840s. San Diego: Academia Press.

Wallerstein, I. (2011). The modern world-system, vol. IV: Centrist liberalism triumphant, 1789–1914. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Walt, S. M. (1991). The renaissance of security studies. International Studies Quarterly, 35(2), 211–239.CrossRef

Waltz, K. N. (1979). Theory of international politics. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

White, H. (2005). The limits of optimism: Australia and the rise of China. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 59(4), 469–480.CrossRef

Wohlforth, W. C. (1987). The perception of power. Russia in the pre-1914 balance. World Politics, 39(3), 353–381.CrossRef

Yan, X. (2006). The rise of China and its power status. Chinese Journal of Political Science, 1(5), 5–33.

Yan, X., & Huang, Y. (2011). Hegemony in the stratagems of the warring states. In X. Yan, D. A. Bell, & S. Zhe (Eds.), Ancient Chinese thought, modern Chinese power. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Titel: A Comprehensive Concept of Power in International Relations
verfasst von: Richard Q. Turcsányi
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: Chinese Assertiveness in the South China Sea
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-67647-0

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-67648-7

Copyright-Jahr: 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67648-7_3