Has military power become redundant

What is military power:

• Military power is a form of hard power, according to theorist Joesph Nye, where realists believe that it is the only effective way of ensuring survival in the international system.
• However, military power is becoming more redundant and obsolete because there have been other ways to resolve conflict and ensure survival that has arose, particularly since the WW2.

Military power is redundant because:

• Liberal belief in 'TRADE NOT WAR'

• DESTRUCTION OF WAR- linked with UNWINNABLE WARS

• Increase in CULTURAL GLOBALISATION-linked with democratic peace thesis (liberal idea of DEMOCRATIC ZONES OF PEACE).

Military power has become redundant because of the liberal belief of 'TRADE NOT WAR':

• This is where nation states trade with other states, which means they will be less likely to declare war with each other.
• This is because military conflict will affect their economies very badly, as their trade will no longer exist and be in place.
• This means that states no longer have to make economic gains out of conquest, like they used to do, due to the rise of economic globalisation allowing more countries to produce and export goods around the world.
• Friedman's Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention is strongly linked to this because he argues that states wo produces a part of Dell, or owns a chain of Dell, will not go to war as it would affect their economy.
• Therefore, military power is becoming more redundant because trade is now a vital source that interconnects states, meaning they are less likely to use war to gain their position economically, politically and culturally.

Miltary power has also become redundant because of the DESTRUCTION OF WAR and the likelihood of UNWINNABLE WARS:

• The destruction that war would cause it one of the major factors on why military power is less likely to be used.
• For example, although many states, such as USA, Russia and the UK are increasingly building nuclear weapons, they are less likely to launch them because they will destory Earth.
• Therefore, they are used as deterrents and a weapon to demonstrate their power.
• This is also known as MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION (MAD).
• This connects with the liberal idea that states will not go to war if they have calculated that their chances of winning are very slim.
• E.g. Vietnam and Afghanistan Wars:
  • Guerrilla tactics were used where the Vietnamese set bamboo traps on the Americans.
  • Afghan troops hid in mountains.
• This means that military power is becoming more redundant because nation states know what the dangers of war are, as they have been through it before.
• Therefore, these nation states espeically, will prefer to use soft power, such as diplomacy and the media, to resolve conflict.

The increase of CULTURAL GLOBALISATION has led to a redundancy of military power because:

• Cultural globalisation is the process where commodities, images and cultures of one part of the world enter a global flow, tending to 'flatten out' cultural differences.
• This has enabled the spread the democracy, through the rise of technology and the media.
• This has made military power obsolete because it has transformed authoritarian states into democratic states; the more democratic, the less likely to declare war (Democratic peace thesis).
• E.g. Democracy recently spread to the Middle East, through the widening of technology and media.
  • Seen in the Arab Spring 2011, which was a revolution where civilians had protestd against their authoritarian leaders, to gain a more liberal democracy, which resulted from Qatar News and Al Jazeera.
• The establishment of free and fair elections in Tunisia, Egypt and Morroco has increased the use of democratic peace thesis, where democracy links with harmony and less likelihood of war.
• The more democratic states, the less authoritarian states there are to compete with.

On the other hand, military power has not become redundant as it is still in act due to:

• The increase of MIILITARY EXPENDITURE

• THREATS TO SECURITY- spread of ideology.

• FAILURE OF DEMOCRACY-diplomacy

Military power has not become redundant because of the increasing MILITARY EXPENDITURE:

• Many nation states are ongoingly increasing their military force because they want to become more military powerful, to rise a superpower.
• E.g. The USA is seen as a superpower because they have the largest military force in the world, with an expenditure of $569 billion.
  • This may become even larger, as the newly elected President of America, Donald Trump, has pledged to increase the US military expenditure by at least $100 billion.
• This means that hard power has become more favourable than soft power, as again, the UK government pledge to renew Trident.
• Therefore, nation states are increasingly using military power as a means of a deterrent, and to be feared amongst other states.

An increase in SECURITY THREATS had made it difficult to resolve conflict, without the use of military force:

• This is because new security challanges, such as international terrorismhas made it difficult to fight against this with soft poer, as ISIS has been using more military force, such as the use of bombs and guns, to spread their ideoloy (a borderless Islamic State).
• E.g, ISIS were responsible for the French bombings in Brussels in 2015.#
• In addition, nation states react to attacks like these, by trying to oppress terrorism.
• This was demonstrated in 2015, when the British, Russian and American governments decided to launch air strikes on Syria, as a response to the terrorist attacks in France and in Brussels.
• Therefore, military power is still used today as a way to stop terrorism, whilst terrorist organisations have also used military force to spread their ideology, instead of using soft power (the media).

Military power is not redundant because of the FAILURE OF DEMOCRACY:

• Diploacy is the process of negotiations between states to attempt to resolve conflict.
• However, this has failed.
• This has been seen as a result of the 'ARAB SPRING' because, instead of seeking foreign help that they wanted, Syria recieved foreign, military intervention by the USA.
• Despite humanitarian aid being sent to Syria by the UN, these humanitarian convoys have been bombed allegedly by Russia.
• This illistrates that military power is not redundant because it has been used more than soft power (diplomay), to help countries under dictatorship, who try to overthrow this, to gain democracy, by using military power.