The Politics of Power: New Forces and New Challenges (More Than Might? DEFINING POWER‪)‬

What are the primary forces that characterize power in today's world? What you are asking boils down to distinctions between different kinds of power. Power comes in a number of packages. You have military power, economic power, diplomatic power, some would even say cultural power. What all these types of power have in common, however, is that power is not to be confused with influence. Power is another word for potential; power is a capacity. What foreign policy is about--what national security policy is about--is translating capacity, potential, and power into influence or accomplishments. Power is simply what you begin with. The question for the people who have it, wield it, or who influence those who wield it, is what do you do with that power.