Hard power is “The ability to get others to act in ways that are contrary to their initial preferences and strategies”(1)

In simple terms, hard power is how nations express their influence through force. Force could be in the form of threats, economic sanctions, or military force.

Physical hard power is now less common. Conflicts are no longer two armies on a battlefield. There is a global difference in the military sizes to the overall power status of a nation. For example, the emerging powers of China and India have a high ranking in terms of military size but much less for measures of soft power. Furthermore, the ability to control other nations’ economies through economic sanctions is increasingly used.

Mackinder’s geo-strategic location theory determines changes in power status, amongst other development theories in geography. For more on these, see Development Theory Geography.

Here is a chain of recent hard power examples in the United States:

The UK and the United States imposed sanctions on Iran following news of its nuclear development program.

Donald Trump proposed sanctions on imports from China as a tactic to reduce Chinese influence on the domestic manufacturing industry. This included taxes on $500 billion worth of ‘Made in China’ goods and the rejection of Huawei Technologies, one of China’s largest mobile phone and tech companies.

However, according to Forbes magazine, Trump did not join the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal designed to exclude China. (2) The Trans-Pacific Partnership never came into effect.

Arguably, China is now the centre of global supply chains, thanks to the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership of 2020. Other nations could be held hostage if imports were blocked in geopolitical decision-making. This is an imaginary future hard power scenario.

World leaders at Armistice Day 2018. Image: Titlutin on Wikemedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Traditionally, military strength, including naval forces, demonstrated the brute force of hard power on other nations. The Victorian British Empire nearly conquered the world with its impressive naval fleets.

But, look more closely… cultural identities were also passed onto the colonised countries. The Boston Tea Party, a protest in 1773 against British taxation policies in North America, marks the beginning of the revolution against the British Empire as a physical symbol of rejection of the English tea-drinking culture. The British Monarchy is still the honorary head of several countries. Superpowers may initially exert power from characteristic measures of dominance, but their presence requires varying levels of soft and hard power. See Development Theory Geography for discussion of other strategies.

Look at the development of emerging powers; do they follow similar patterns?

The United States has suffered from a loss of confidence in hard power following the well-publicised difficulties with the Vietnam War, Afghanistan withdrawal, and the continued war on terror.

China has followed the traditional route of first expanding military size to project hard power but is thought to be moving towards more soft power influences such as in the building of Africa under ‘China’s New Africa Policy’.

The future of superpowers will rely on smart power, which is a balance between soft and hard power.