2013 Reports

Comparative Foreign Policy-The Challenge to Power Theories

Long, Yingxian

Although currently, classical realism theory based purely on power examination is under increasing criticisms. There is no denial that the power of a state is still a useful, if not the most fundamental, variable while assessing or predicting its behavior. The meaning of power has been extended since the further development of international studies. It contains traditional elements of power such as military, economic capability and also alleged soft power as a new emerging concept. The power talked about here is relative power of states rather than absolute power, which is the relative position in distribution of power. While at the same time, other plausible explanations of states’ behavior emerged separately or interdependently and they are all conducive for the creation of theories which have considerable explanatory power.