Declining and Rising Powers - Essay Example

Declining and Rising Powers Introduction In foreign policy and international relations, power is described as the power amongst states to control the relations and minds of other states and individuals. It also includes the external relationships between a state and another or between a state and a group of other states with focus on control, subordination, dominance or dependency (Jackson and Sorensen 2012, p.87). Under international law, each state has the right to enter into relations and foreign affairs with other states as long as it has attained independence. In the international arena, different states have varying levels of state powers with others on the rise, others declining while others just exercise state power in the manner that they deem fit. Closely connected to state power is the connotation about relativity which means that a state can only be ranked as a rising or declining power through a comparative assessment with other states in the international system of nations. In our discussion, the focus will be on The People’s Republic of China as a rising power, the United States of America as a declining power and the exercise of power in The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea. The People’s Republic of China as a Rising Power China has continuously risen to be a serious power as seen through its tremendous economic growth and transformation in its foreign policy aimed at increasing its power and influence. It has used its growing influence to reshape the international rules and institutions within the international community of nations to serve its interests and its allies thus posing a serious threat to other international powers especially the United States of America (Pumphrey 2002, p.25). Therefore, China is on its way to become a global superpower buoyed by the size of its economy, which has increased four-fold since it launched liberal market reforms. It has also accumulated substantial foreign reserves while at the same time increasing its military spending and at the same time extending its diplomacy to other continents especially Africa. Through the increase of state power of China, it is increasingly becoming capable of creating and enforcing rules and institutions aimed at pursuing its interests and security (Gill, 2010, p.99). It is important to note that the rising state power of China can also be attributed to the changes in its own regime and its dissatisfaction of the old international order led by the United States and other Western powers such as the United Kingdom. Through foresight in its leadership led by the Communist Party, China understood that globalization would require that it comes up with strong and strategically positioned around the world (Gill, 2010, p.140). It therefore embarked on making new alliances especially in Africa to entrench itself as an important actor in the international systems of nations capable of exerting its foreign policy on other nations. It has therefore joined international organizations such as the United Nations where it pushes its foreign policy through the Security Council while at the same time pursuing its economic interests through the World Trade Organization. It can therefore be concluded that the rise of China, as a global state power has been through political reasons either positive or negative ones through its desire to undertake more international responsibilities. China has on different occasions coined the term “Peaceful Rise” or “Peaceful Development” to show its intention to wield its political power for geopolitical and international positioning purposes. This coupled with enormous strides made in its economic policies as well as military spending has empowered China with the ability to impose and spread its foreign policy all over the world with an aim of exerting influence on world affairs. The People’s Republic of China has therefore adjusted its foreign policies and strategies accordingly with the aim of spreading its foreign policy, which sets it as a rising superpower capable of changing the world order. The United States of America as Declining Power The United States of America remains the only superpower in the world now but its influence in the international system of nations has greatly been eroded due to the shift in global power to the “East” especially from China (Lundestad 2012, p.57). The United States is termed as a superpower due to its economic strength and military superiority as well as its political influence over global affairs, but this is under threat, as it no longer has a hold on most affairs in the world. Other than China, the threat has also come from other serious players such as Brazil, India and Turkey amongst others that control large sections of global affairs due to their strategic geopolitical positions (Mackinnon and Powell 2008, p.158). The question that therefore comes to mind are the reasons that have made the United States to continuously lose its clout as the major state actor in the international system of nations. In the past, the US has relied majorly on its European allies like United Kingdom and Japan in order to spread capitalism and liberal democracy in the world as a means of dominating the world affairs. However, now this has changed as they no longer act on their collective strength but each of these nations pursues its own domestic and international policies majorly due to their declining economies thus reduced international political influence. As this happens, other actors have come together to form economic blocks which control nearly half of the world’s economy and thus global output. The BRICS organization that comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has come up as a serious threat to the super power status as they control major economies in the world spread in different continents. This grouping is majorly to blame for the declining power of the United States’ foreign policies as it can only exert its influence in the world only by consulting these important players in world affairs. Due to the rising power of the East and the nations that form the BRICS, most nations now align their foreign policies with their allies in the East especially China to the erosion of United States’ international political power. Nations such as Turkey and India, which were United States’ allies with regard to foreign policy, now chart their own foreign policies and create their own spheres of influence in the international system of nations. Therefore, the declining power of the United States is attributed to competition from other emerging powers such as China and the uncertainty about the global economic environment that has made it focus on its domestic economy more than exerting its foreign policy elsewhere. The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea as a State Power The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) was established in the year 1948 under the Soviet Union who installed Kim II Sung as the first president of the nation to be governed under the ideology “Juche” that stresses on self-reliance. The Socialist Constitution lists independence, peace and stability as the principles underpinning its foreign policy, but the Korean Workers’ Party is usually ambiguous on how the foreign policy should be conducted (Chaesung 2011, p.6). Instead it calls for solidarity of the Third World against international imperialism and the strengthening of its military through nuclear enrichment due to its fear of being attacked by the West mostly United States. The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea has therefore exercised a foreign policy of ensuring that the regime remains as currently constituted by stabilizing the domestic political situation. It achieves this by ensuring that it makes use of the international balance of power to its advantage whenever possible. Through adoption of different policies with other superpowers, a major state actor ensures that its interests in the international systems of nations are met or implemented. This is made possible through foreign policies that are antagonistic aimed at setting nations against each other to its own advantage. Their foreign policy therefore remains grounded along the interests of the United States, the Peoples Republic of China, Japan, South Korea and to some extent Russian Federation (Gill 2011, p.3). North Korea attempts to improve relations with the United States with gestures for peace as a cover to improve its international standing and reputation while at the same time try to isolate South Korea in the diplomatic circles. It further emphasizes isolation as a means of impeding policies for reforming its domestic system and discourages openness in its affairs. Its relationship with China is pegged on extracting aid for its battered economy and protection from the United States and its allies in case of a military invasion due to its consistent attacks on South Korea and Japan. North Korea persistently threatens to attack South Korea and Japan as its way of attracting economic aid and relief food to its economically downtrodden from China and United States who fear that a war in the Korean peninsula may threaten their economic and political interests as well as international influence (Gill 2011, p.6). North Korea therefore remains a serious player in the Korean Peninsula as it uses its nuclear activities and isolationism to put the United States and the Peoples Republic of China at loggerheads thus preventing them from having a common ground on how to tackle its state power. The competition between a rising power represented by China and a declining power represented by the United States gives DPRK an advantage to exercise its state power in a manner that it desires. References Chaesung C. (2011). Coevolution Strategy for North Korea: Diplomacy. EAI. (EAI Asia Security Initiative Working Paper). 1-41. Gill, B. (2010). Rising star Chinas new security diplomacy. Washington, D.C., Brookings Institution Press. Gill, B. (2011). Chinas North Korea policy assessing interests and influences. Washington, DC, U.S. Institute of Peace. Jackson, R. H., & Sorensen, G. (2012). Introduction to international relations: theories and approaches. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Lundestad, G. (2012). The rise and decline of the American "empire": power and its limits in comparative perspective. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Mackinnon, A., & Powell, B. (2008). China calling a foot in the global door. Basingstoke [England], Palgrave Macmillan.. Pumphrey, C. W. (2002). The rise of China in Asia security implications. Carlisle, Pa, Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. Read More