National Power In International Relations

If international relations are to become a science it will have to establish a definitive quantitative measure for its most basic variable—national power. By this standard, international relations are still not a science, because it has failed to produce a generally accepted measure of national power. The root problematic in measuring national power is the absence of an underlying universal theory to justify one set of variables and methods vis-à-vis others. The first power formula was developed in 1741; the others all appeared in the period 1936 to 2010. A power formula typically consists of quantified power indicators.

In order to attack the problem of quantifying national power we may approach the three different yet interdependent aspects

This can be broadly attributed to increased globalization, relatively peaceful global atmosphere, greater uniformity of military strength and recent occurrences of major economic crises. . Entering into the 21st century, economic globalization has not only been accelerating the process of the integration of the world economy but has also reduced the importance, or rather the problem for some deficit nations, of the natural as well as technical resources required for production. Fortunately, there is relatively lesser number of armed conflicts between nations or groups of them as compared to the previous century when first half was almost consumed in the two world wars and then Cold War prevailed between the USA and then USSR (two major world powers then) in the next half. Furthermore, presently there is more even distribution of military strength around the world as compared to the previous century. Since WWI, Western Europe has lost much of its hard power despite the industrialization and reconstruction of Germany and France post-WWII. US’ hard power steadily declined between WWII and around 1990. Military strength can be sustained in the long run only by a strong economy and not the other way round. Western Europe, the UK, the former Soviet Union all failed to sustain their hard power, partly because of their inability to economically sustain their hard power in the

The current paper is an attempt to bridge the divide along with the aim of complexity reduction in the calculation of ‘Index of Global Economic Power’. Our focus is on the BRICS nations. Goldman Sachs coined the term in 2001 to call attention to profitable opportunities in what it considered emerging markets. Together, they account for 42% of world population and one-third of global economic growth in the past ten years. China and India are seeking global influence commensurate with their economic weight; Brazil and South Africa are emerging as continental powerhouses, and hydrocarbon-fueled Russia is chafing at its status on the margins of the Western system. Not surprisingly, many think that the current international economic system is ready for a