There are 195 countries all over the world that have to work together to create a harmonious planet that everyone can live in. The existing world order has gradually been developed over many decades of implementing different laws that have aimed to resolve major dilemma in international relations. Some of the most notable international laws that have maintained favourable good relations between the different nations include; the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (1996), and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) (Blanchard & Lu, 2012). These laws have been supported by a majority of the nations of the world, and have served to ensure that there is a rules-based system of resolving any international legal dilemmas.
Although there are many members of the community of nations around the world, some are more powerful than others. Currently, there are five permanent members of the security council at the United Nations that include the United States, United Kingdom, France, Peoples Republic of China, and the Russian Federation. These countries are among the most powerful in the world and play an important role in determining and deciding on issues that affect the community of nations (Mabee, 2022). This work aims to explore the notion of power within International Relations and highlights some of the different approaches for how the risks of armed conflict between states can be mitigated.
International Relations
International relation refers to the relations that exist across the borders of different nations. It focuses on important elements such as economy, intercultural relations, foreign policy issues, the environment, diplomacy, social movement, international security, and other issues that different nations may be interested in discussing (Baldwin, 2016). International relations is hence a multidisciplinary field that requires different approaches to reach the desired outcomes. Some of the methods used in this field includes historical analysis, discourse analysis, and statistics. This field is increasingly becoming more important the world become increasingly more interconnected by trade, migration, and telecommunications.
The use of effective international relations is beneficial to all people because it creates favourable relationships between countries that allow them to live in a better society than ever before. By creating more robust international relationships in the past century, the world has managed to attain unprecedented economic integration, peace and security, and a focus on individual human rights and environmental protection. Modern international relations have played a major role in determining the overall nature of the society people live in through many ways. In recent times, effective international relations has played a major role in addressing, anticipating, and resolving public policy problems.
The application of international relations in the modern world has continually been developing. It aims to understand the origins of war and the maintenance of peace all over the world. The field also tries to define the nature and existence of power all around the world. International relations have also paid a lot of focus on changing the character of state and non-state actors who are directly involved in decision-making (Nye, 2009).
Power in International Relations
The notion of power has been studied for a long with the general consensus being that it is best to have the most power. The defining and application of power differs based on each individual situation. On the global system, different countries hold more power than others, and they use their power to influence decision making in their favour (Barnett & Duvall, 2005). This section will try to detail the different ways that power is help in the international system. In the current global system, power can be stated to be exercised through; the goals of leaders and states, as a measure of influence or control over the outcome of important issues, victory in conflict and the restoration of security, control over resources and capabilities, and the status that individual countries hold and possess.
Power as a Goal
Realist scholars such as Niccolò Nachiaveli and Hans Morgenthau has defined power as part of a human innate goal and of states made up of people. Most of the efforts that governments take are intended to accumulate more power and influence that can be applied in different situations to realise favourable outcomes (Steinberg & Zasloff, 2006). Hence, this view perceives power as an inherent objective of people, and that they will seek to become more powerful when they form states. This means that they will seek forms of power such as economic, military, and cultural influences over more areas than they previously held.
Characterising power as an inherent trait of people has a profound impact on understanding its essence. It means that all people are inherently seeking power; and that those who are powerful are not wrong or unjustly holding their positions. Rather, they have attained what everyone is trying to achieve because seeking power is a humanistic attribute rather than an effort of a few. The reasons why people seek power is unique to the challenges they face, and may hence change from time to time. For example, some people may seek power to defend themselves from oppression while others may seek power to support economic growth.
Power in international relations from the point of view of it being influenced by goals has many possible applications. Many states around the world would like to be the leading entities in areas such as the economy, politics, and the military. Based on this view, all these efforts are made because it is in the human nature to seek out power and leadership in all these areas.
Power as Influence Over Outcomes
The modern world has become more interconnected over time; and has resulted in a state of affairs where different countries have to continually negotiate over different issues such as trade and geopolitics. The outcomes of such negotiations have a profound impact on the benefits that each individual country has. For example, if a country can negotiate a favourable outcome on trade, it can have major benefits associated with such negotiations. However, such negotiations may be difficult to hold or have minimal chances of attaining the desired outcomes. This is likely where the negotiations are tough, or the parties involved in the negotiations cannot reach an agreement (Rasheed, 1995)..
The view of power as the influence over outcomes is mainly held in political circles where there are efforts to reach specific outcomes but there exists many challenges and barriers. Hence, power in politics is viewed as an ability of a party to exercise influenced of other parties in the global system. Some states such as the United States and China have a lot of influence over other nations which means they are powerful. Such power and influence over other nations can be attractive, coercive, competitive, or cooperative. Powerful countries can hence choose to use economic attraction, threat of the use of force, political pressure, diplomacy, or cultural exchange when using their power over others (Rasheed, 1995).
Under specific conditions, states can organise a sphere of influence where they can more easily impose their influence. Organisations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and other organisations have been created to created specific conditions that are more aligned with the interests of specific states. This is a long-term application of power as a means of influencing others to support specific outcomes. According to Rasheed (1995), this needs both a material and social component that convinces other states to work closely with another. For example, they might have the same political systems or shared economic goals. This explains why there is a lot of support for the NATO organisation among countries that have similar political and economic models.
Power as Security
Security is one of the most important components of a successful state. It is attained when a country is able to manage internal and external conflicts to the point where they are able to guarantee the citizens, and others, about their capability to attain peace and security. Many states around the world have failed to be capable of attaining the type of peace and stability that results from the existence of adequate power and influence. Rather, they have failed to limit the emergence and rise of conflicts that they cannot manage. One of the main characteristics of powerful countries is that they have stable states that do not have any major conflicts (Rasheed, 1995).
Security has to be understood from the position of both the existing peace, and the ability to deter others from causing conflict. Some of the most powerful states such as the United States and the People’s Republic of China are powerful because they are peaceful, and they are also able to deter any incidence of war and conflict. Military victories are attributed to the power of a state. The current permanent states at the United Nations’ Security Council were the victors of the Second World War (Zhang, 2013).
Power as Resources and Capabilities
There is a lot of power in the ability to perform what others are incapable of achieving. This is mainly supported by the availability of resources and other capabilities such as influential industries. This explains why some of the most powerful states in the world are large and have many resources and industries through which they can have a lot of influence over other states. The resources that are available to the country can always be transformed to the capabilities that the state need to meet its obligations and goals. Capabilities are tangible; and can hence be measured, weighed and quantified. They include capabilities such as industrial capacity, energy production, and the size of the workforce (Rasheed, 1995).
Some of the resources that can be converted into capabilities include; military resources, economic resources, capital resources, government resources, natural resources, and cultural resources. They empower a state to be in a position to make important decisions that further give it more capabilities. Most states have their own approaches of assessing their power through their resources and capabilities. The globalised world has meant that there are significant efforts for different states to maximise and fully utilise the specific resources and capabilities available to them (Rasheed, 1995). For example, China has become one of the most powerful states by empowering its labour. The United States has one of the largest militaries in the world that it uses to support its influence around the world.
Although there is a direct correlation between the resources and capabilities available to a state and its power and influence, this is not always the case. There are many states with a lot of resources that cannot be converted into capabilities because of many reasons including the absence of peace and security. However, powerful countries need to have a lot of resources that can be converted into various capabilities. The lack of such resources can be remedied through different means that include entering into trade agreements with other countries that have the resources. Most powerful states have managed to enter into such agreements when they need specific resources (Rasheed, 1995).
Power as a Status
It is possible for a state to be powerful as a status; especially when compared with other states. If a state has a lot of influence in areas such as military, diplomacy, economic, and culture fields, it might be considered as a powerful nation even where it does not fully impose its influence on others. There are many sources of power based on the type of influence that a state has over others. Although a state may not have a lot of power and influence in one specific area, its cumulative influence in different spheres may bestow on it a status of a powerful nation.
Historical facts have a lot of influence on the real state of any specific power. For example, many countries that have had a lot of power and influence such as the states in Europe still have a lot of influence today because of their history and extensive relations with other states. In the modern world, states with status as a form of power have used it to influence the political decisions made across the world. For example, the Western world has played a major role in supporting democratic policies all over the world.
The view that power is a status has a lot of psychological links that go beyond the conventional sources of power and influence such as the military and economy (BİLGİN & ELİŞ, 2008). Today, this is mainly done through political means where states that are perceived to be powerful are capable of having influence over others. For example, the United States has managed to influence the policies other states take for a few decades based on the fact that most people viewed it as having a “status” of a powerful nation. This has happened in many other instances.
Approaches for Mitigating Risks of Armed Conflict
Significant efforts have been made since the end of the Second World War to limit the overall incidence of conflict all over the world. However, this has not meant that such conflicts have been completely avoided. There are currently many conflicts ongoing in areas such as Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan. The United Nations have made significant efforts to mitigate the risks of armed conflicts between states through approaches such as negotiation, arbitration, mediation, and litigation (Zhang, 2013). These approaches have proven to be capable of achieving considerable outcomes when applied to any conflict.
Negotiation is one of the most common ways that the risks of armed conflict are mitigated. Most disagreements between states take a lot of time to escalate into conflicts. Because of this, there are many instances where such conflicts can be stopped before escalation. Negotiation refers back- and forth- communication between the different parties involved in the conflict to ensure that a peaceful resolution is attained. Some of the unique characteristics of a negotiated settlement include; its voluntary, inexpensive, can result in a win-win situation, and the parties have the freedom to control the process.
Mediation occurs when the parties in a conflict voluntarily to have an impartial person (the mediator) who would communicate with both parties to promote reconciliation. Mediation commonly takes place after negotiations have been successful. The mediator managed the process and assists in facilitating the best outcomes for all the parties involved. Some of the characteristics of a mediated conflict include; its voluntary, can result in a win-win situation, and allows the parties to solve the conflict on their own.
Arbitration occurs when a decision is made to submit the dispute to an impartial person (the arbitrator) for decision making. It allows the parties to resolve the dispute out-of-court, but with largely the same processes. This approach can be used voluntarily, in private, and can also be enforced in court of law.
Litigation is the final approach that can be taken to mitigate the likelihood of an armed conflict that involves different parties. It involves the use of existing court systems to seek justice using set legal processes. It is an effective solution where the aim is to compel a party to participate in the resolution of the conflict. Unlike most of the other approaches, it is mostly involuntary, public, and the decisions made are made on existing laws.
Summary
The existing world order has gradually been developed over many decades of implementing different laws that have aimed to resolve major dilemma in international relations. Some of the most notable international laws that have maintained favourable good relations between the different nations include; the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (1996), and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948). This work aimed to explore the notion of power within International Relations and highlights some of the different approaches for how the risks of armed conflict between states can be mitigated.
International relation refers to the relations that exist across the borders of different nations. It focuses on important elements such as economy, intercultural relations, foreign policy issues, the environment, diplomacy, social movement, international security, and other issues that different nations may be interested in discussing. The use of effective international relations is beneficial to all people because it creates favourable relationships between countries that allow them to live in a better society than ever before. In recent times, effective international relations has played a major role in addressing, anticipating, and resolving public policy problems. The application of international relations in the modern world has continually been developing. International relations have also paid a lot of focus on changing the character of state and non-state actors who are directly involved in decision-making.
The notion of power has been studied for a long with the general consensus being that it is best to have the most power. In the current global system, power can be stated to be exercised through; the goals of leaders and states, as a measure of influence or control over the outcome of important issues, victory in conflict and the restoration of security, control over resources and capabilities, and the status that individual countries hold and possess. The United Nations have made significant efforts to mitigate the risks of armed conflicts between states through approaches such as negotiation, arbitration, mediation, and litigation.
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