This question I could say has raised some of the most controversial issues in the Political System today. There are some key words that pooled together from what scholars and students of International Relation Can refer to as the entirety of the international relation. Let us examine war for example .Frederic the Great, the King of Prussia (1732-1783) once said that diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments. Wars play a vital role in the conduct of inter-state relations in the international system. It is the lingua franca of anarchy in international politics as realists have made us understand the dynamics of the deceptive human mind. How relevant is this to strategy and military power.
It is pertinent to note that strategy and a sovereign states military capability comprises the most imperative part of any successful war. Military power can be said to be most effective instruments of strategy.For good or ill, military power adds to a countrys ability to prevail in international disputes. It is based on an array of tangible factors such as Leadership, morale and reputation. Microsoft Encarta defines strategy as an art of employing all elements of the power of a nation or nations to accomplish the objectives of a nation or an alliance in peace or war; also the art of military commanding combat .Sun Tzu; one of the greatest Chinese philosophers that ever lived, sees military power as an effective way of achieving interests in a state especially as it relates to foreign policy. A good example of the strength of strategy and military power can be identified in the Franco- Prussian war of 1870-1871. The military strength possessed by Prussia (now contemporary Germany) posed a huge threat to the existence and survival of France.
The Term Paper on Us Military Power Today Tomorrow
U. S. Military Power: Today and Tomorrow March 23, 2003 U. S. Military Power: Today and Tomorrow Over 100 years ago, those involved in the nation's national security wrestled with many of the same issues that we face today, says General Richard B. Myers (2002)."Then and now, regional powers can threaten the nation's interest in distant conflict. Then, as now, internal strife from religious ...
On August 30o of 1871, Prussia won the war as a result of military guile and proficiency. The question we should ask ourselves however, is that is military power still an important element of statecraft especially with the growing complexity of politics and technology in this dynasty of globalization? Is military power still an important element of statecraft? And how much power does it still wield in the international system? The answer to this question is far fetched. Today, military power holds little significance in international politics because the level of military capabilities of sovereign states is increasing especially with the nuclear arms race and the fear of nuclear war. There are however, several significant reasons why military power is loosing much of its jurisdiction as a powerful instrument of statecraft. Military power creates too much temptation especially in the contemporary international system. There is always the tendency to use it in a situation that is peripheral to the national interest.
The United States went to a war with Vietnam despite the fact that it was regarded as s raggedy- ass fourth rate country. One of the reasons America intervened in Vietnam War was because of a so called arrogance of power. Had U.S. military power been more modest, the United States might have emphasized diplomacy or maybe even acquiesced to the unification of North and South Vietnam. One cannot be sure but it is certain that is hard to shoot someone if you do not have a gun. Above all, military power is extremely expensive.
Beyond short term decisions about spending (domestic or defense programs) and how to pay the bills (taxes and deficits), there is a more general, more long range concern. Scholars have said that imperial overstretch is a major cause of denigration. The superpowers of the past poured so many resources into military power thus weakening the economic strength by siphoning off resources that should have been devoted to maintaining and improving the companys infrastructure. The collapse of the USSR for example, followed the pattern of overspending on the military, thereby enervating the countrys economic core. It is also pertinent to note that technology is gaining momentum in the power differential between states. The exquisiteness of technology lies in the fact that its tentacles are not limited to the military alone.
The Term Paper on Iraq Military Campaign Iraqi War Operations
... daily briefings of journalists were provided. International journalists were embedded with military units on the battlefield. We can ... (WMD) The official basis of war was Iraqis non-cooperation with United Nations inspectors who were trying to ... casualties. Some conventional targets, such as bridges, electrical power plants and major routes were also left intact, ... for cheap gasoline in the United States.
Technology now plays a major role in politics as well as economics and trade. Communication gap is becoming an incident of the past thanks to the sophisticated and enhanced communication channels that make ass new tricks to the game of politics and the pitch of economics. From our understanding of the contemporary international system, we are made to understand that political considerations have economic undertones and vice versa. You can no longer separate politics from economics at a global stage because they are both key players in the international political system. We should take into cognizance the existence of the nuclear arms. The mere existence of dangerous weapons of mass destruction is feared as the greatest threat to mankind in all of world history. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, during World War II.
The blast destroyed 67% of the city and damaged another 24%, 60 000 to 70 000 people were killed or reported missing, according to United States estimates. In the late 1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met with United States President Ronald Reagan in a series of meetings to negotiate treaties to reduce the two countries nuclear arms. Military power in this area can be said to still yield some use in statecraft but we should take into cognizance that it is only economically stable economies that have ventured into such missions. This only goes to show that economic strength is still one of the greatest determinants of military power whether we reason with it or not. We can no longer isolate politics neither can we idolize economics when it comes to the international system. Both play a vital role in diplomatic relations amongst sovereign entities.
The Term Paper on The Cold War And The New World Order
The Cold War and the New World Order (1) It would not be an exaggeration to say that Gold War served as metaphysical foundation, upon which international relations were based, from the time of Churchills famous Fulton speech in 1946, to 1991, when Soviet Union has painlessly ceased to exist. One month prior to committing suicide in his bunker, Hitler had prophesied: With the defeat of the Reich ...
We shall examine the Economic Recovery Program (ERP), United States program of financial assistance that helped to rebuild European nations devastated by World War II (1939- 1945).
It is commonly called the Marshall Plan, named after U.S. secretary of state George Catlett Marshall. After the war, Europes agricultural and coal production had nearly stopped and her people were threatened with starvation. The United States responded for four reasons. First, Europe had been a great market for American goods, without a prosperous Europe, the United States might have suffered a severe economic depression.
Second, without American aid, Western Europe might have used socialist or communist methods to rebuild, and U.S. leaders considered that undesirable. Third, Western Europe appeared open to influence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which the United States was beginning to see as its main rival. Fourth, West Germany now part of the United Federal Republic of Germany), historically the continents industrial hub, had to be rebuilt as a buffer against Soviet expansion; European fears of their World War II foe would lessen only if Germans were integrated into a larger Europe. The U.S. as well as the Soviet Union couldnt have turned the cold war into a real war even if they wanted to. They were both political as well as economic superpowers and so were should I say, evenly matched.
It would have suicidal for both parties to have embarked on a total war that would have threatened the existence of the then current world order. All this only goes to sustain the relationship between the issues of military engagements and issues of peace simply states that the state will preserve the peace, law and order of its boundaries while the military would preserve the interest of the state by protecting it from external aggression thereby preserving peace in the International System (by deterring states from going to war as its consequences would be borne by all).
Therefore, in relating military engagements and the issues of peace with strategy, we would agree with Colin that strategy is the bridge that relates military power to political purpose. Todays politics adds the parables of politics and economics to the gospel of statecraft preached by the international political system. One can therefore conclude by saying that military power still holds a little portion of relevance in statecraft but most of her wildcards are now under the umbrella of political and economic considerations. References: Gilpin Robert, (1981) War and Change in World Politics. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press Rourke John, (2001) International Politics on a World Stage.
The Essay on Europe On The Eve Of World War I
... military power of Europe. ”18 It was defeated by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 but it was not stated whether this war ... in addition to their own. Conclusion On the eve of World War I, Britain, France and Germany were all ready for the ... the empire became united in 1871, “imperial Germany had rapidly emerged as the dominant industrial and military power”21 in Europe and such ...
New York: McGraw- Hill/ Dushkin Press Microsoft Encarta 2003.
