The Three Fundamental Forces of Geopolitics
The Conversation
“The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must.”
So wrote Thucydides in the “History of the Peloponnesian War,” and the Greek historian’s cold-eyed observation still holds.
But in today’s world, strength doesn’t always present itself in the form of armies or aircraft carriers. The means by which power manifests has expanded, growing more subtle, more layered and often more dangerous.
As a result, it’s no longer enough to talk about power in purely military or economic terms. Rather, we need to distinguish between three overlapping but distinct forms of power: hard, soft and sharp.
These three concepts of power are more than just academic abstractions. They are real-world tools to, respectively, coerce, attract and manipulate the people and governments of other nations. They are used by governments to shape the choices of others. Sometimes they operate in concert; often, however, they collide.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE OF HARD, SOFT AND SHARP POWER
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