National power

This article is about the political term. For the former energy company, see National Power.

National power is defined as the sum of all resources available to a nation in the pursuit of national objectives.

Elements of national power

National power stems from various elements, also called instruments or attributes; these may be put into two groups based on their applicability and origin - "national" and "social".

• National:
  • Geography
  • Resources
  • Population
• Social:
  • Economic
  • Political
  • Military
  • Psychological
  • Informational

Geography

Important facets of geography such as location (geography), climate, topography, and size play major roles in the ability of a nation to gain national power. Location has an important bearing on foreign policy of a nation. The relation between foreign policy and geographic location gave rise to the discipline of geopolitics.

The presence of a water obstacle provided protection to nation states such as Great Britain, Japan, and the USA and allowed Japan to follow isolationist policies. The presence of large accessible seaboards also permitted these nations to build strong navies and expand their territories peacefully or by conquest. In contrast, Poland, with no obstacle for its powerful neighbours, even lost its independence as a nation, being partitioned among the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria from 1795 onwards till it regained independence in 1918.

Climate affects the productivity of Russian agriculture as the majority of the nation is in latitudes well north of ideal latitudes for farming. Conversely, Russia's size permitted it to trade space for time during the Great Patriotic War.

Measurement of national power

The instrument that synthesize the several capacities of the States (material, semi-material and immaterial) is the World Power Index (WPI) and consists of:

• Material capacities index (MCI), formed by six simple indexes who synthesize the economy (gross domestic product), territory (territorial extension), defense (military expenditure), commerce (volume of international exchanges), finances (total amount of reserves) and science and technology (research/development);
• Semi-material capacities index (SMCI), alike formed by other six simple indexes regarding population (number of inhabitants), individual productivity (gross domestic product per capita), energy (consumption of electric energy per capita), education (public spending on education) y health (health expense); and
• Immaterial capacities index (IMCI), formed by six simple indexes which compile public expenditure (final government spending), tourist attraction (amount of incomes received by means of international tourism), influence/dependence on foreign aid (official support for development), telecomm and connectivity (telephonic lines), university productions and think tanks (articles on scientific and technical publications) and migration (international volume of migrants).

The WPI is numerical expression which synthesizes material, semi-material and immaterial capacities of a State to execute its power in the international system.

See also

• World Power Index
• Geopolitics
• Power in international relations
• Composite Index of National Capability
• Comprehensive National Power