Power politics

Power politics is a theory of power in international relations which contends that distributions of power and national interests, or changes to those distributions, are fundamental causes of war and of system stability.[1]

The concept of power politics provides a way of understanding systems of international relations: in this view, states compete for the world's limited resources, and it is to an individual state's advantage to be manifestly able to harm others. Power politics prioritizes national self-interest over the interests of other nations or the international community, and thus may include threatening one another with military, economic, or political aggression to protect one nation's own interest.

Techniques

Techniques of power politics include:

Machtpolitik

The German version is Machtpolitik. It celebrates the idea of conflict between nations as a means of asserting the national will and strengthening the state. This idea is somewhat related to "Realpolitik", but it specifically acknowledges that the German Empire was established through the use of force by the Prussian military and Otto von Bismarck's diplomacy. It also reflects a romanticized view of military virtues and the belief that international conflicts have a moral purpose. For instance, Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, who was instrumental in Prussia's victories over Denmark, Austria, and France, once expressed a Machtpolitik sentiment by saying that "war is a part of the divine order of the world." This concept is also linked to militarism and social Darwinism.[2][3]

See also

References

  1. Lemke, Douglas (October 2008). "Power Politics and Wars without States". American Journal of Political Science. 52 (Midwest Political Science Association): 774–786. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2008.00342.x. JSTOR 25193849.
  2. Keya Ganguly, "Machtpolitik." The Encyclopedia of Political Thought (2014) pp. 2224–2225.
  3. Martin Wight, Power politics (A&C Black, 2002).

Bibliography

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