Reflection 4 §

Class: IS404 Created Time: November 2, 2021 10:52 PM Database: Assignment Database Last Edited Time: December 2, 2021 3:38 PM Status: Done

In the chapter titled ‘Power’, it focuses on power, its use for states in conflicts, its source, and power’s role in ethnic conflicts. In the chapter, power is defined as a way for one party to get another party to do something they otherwise would not do. It can be in the form of the ability of actors to hurt each other economically, physically, and psychologically in direct confrontations. Power can be used through various means. Coercive power is used to manipulate the motivation and perceptions in their interest through threats of military capabilities, and credibility of the threat. Power can be used to enforce asymmetric arrangements that generates rising tensions between the parties. In the same light, in asymmetric relations, the weaker party is more willing to give more concessions or give up some of their interest than a powerful state. Power, or the absence of it, could be used as either threats or rewards. External support for weaker countries through political, economic, or military means might be required to resolve a conflict sometimes. Actors in the spotlight of the international community might act differently than in secret. In a conflict, the cost of fighting and the consequence of not acting is correlated to the commitment the actor is likely to put in such in the cases of international interventions in human right abuses. Power can come from multiple sources. A charismatic and determined leader could overcome challenges posed by structured international processes. The hierarchical relations of one actor over another would offer power to the higher of the two. The reputation of an actor and reliability is also another leverage in decision making power. Lastly, power is just the aforementioned credible ability to make decisions for another. Due to self-interested nature of people, hierarchical relations eventually forms with socio-economic disparities. These happens often in ethnic differed groups and cause ethnic discrimination and ethnic rivalries. Realism, Realpolitik, and Structural Realism provided their interpretations of the role of power and anarchy in conflicts.

In this chapter I learned that power can come in a lot of different forms, not only through military or economic means but also in asymmetrical relations, credibility of threats, and external influences. It’s also detailed in how power fits in ethnic conflicts that happens all over the world as ethnic hegemony could cause horrible oppressions of minority groups, how the ruling of a state just with an ethnic group will likely end up being a failed state, and how, in the absense of external or stabilitizing actor, power and military might becomes the deciding factor in power competitions.