Power in International Politics

This excerpt can be found here.

November 24, 2009

Political power is cited by E.H. Carr, the author of this article, to be divided between economic power, power of opinion, and military power. The word ‘political’ is always applied to situations concerning power. When states cooperate on matters of “controlling the spread of epidemics or “suppressing the traffic in drugs”, this is not politics, because there is no concern over power. “Politics begin where the masses are,” as Lenin said, which references the fact that power mostly exists among regions with high populations or with greater prominence in the global community. An apt example given by Carr is that one is less interested in relations between Nicaragua and Great Britain, and more interested in politics between Great Britain and Japan. Carr sees many issues with Liberalist theory, as this ideology shares the same intentions as realism, but hides this fact with more subtle political tones. After WWI with the League of Nations, there was an idea that small nations would have no voice, as the League of Nations was created mostly for the benefit of the Great Powers. Like the previous article discussed, Power Politics today have been disguised under the name of “security”, and the effort to protect one's nation using sometimes preventative measures. In reality, war is never morality versus a villainous pursuit of power, but rather two nations competing over power. The treaty resulting from the Ruhr Invasion was unfulfilled when one nation, France, felt they had greater power over the weaker one, Germany. But as Germany became more powerful, only then was France willing to begin acting on the treaty’s agreements. This was spurred by a fear of power, not a desire to create diplomatic relations as the Liberal perspective espouses. The Locarno Treaty had ultimately failed when Germany no longer feared France, and France began to fear Germany., as “effective control of any government depends on its source of power.” Treaties and their effects don’t last forever; but the new mandates system trying to internationalize the globe has the same influences and appears as if it will have more lasting effects. If different states shared power within a same territory, their efforts to exert their separate strengths would incite rivalry and lead to increasingly more devastating wars.