Kean University
Political Science Department
LECTURE NOTES
DR. CHARLES KELLY
Components of National Power are: (1) geography, (2) demography, (3) economic,
(4) history-psychological-sociological element, (5) organization-administration and
(6) military.
I.
Geographic Element – most stable, its two major features are – location
and size.
A. Location is significant for the following reasons:
1. geographically, for climate and natural resources.
2. strategically, in terms of its neighbor and its vulnerability to invasion.
The climate of a state is important in terms of: sufficient heat to grow crops
sufficient rainfall also in terms of temperature for human activities and natural
resources e.g. iron, oil, coal, etc.
Strategically speaking—location has great influence on influencing power. It
is axiomatic that where a state is located must effect directly not only its power
but also what it will consider its national interest e.g., geopolitics.
B. Size
1. Like location, it has an intimate bearing on national power and policy.
2. It is obvious that size by itself does not determine national power.
a. where is the size located.
b. Can it support life.
II.
Demographic Element
A. Population size—more people—more works and more soldiers.
B. Population trend—which way is the direction of the population moving—forward
backward, or remaining the same e.g. getting older, younger, it is proportionate
regarding the sexes.
C. Distribution of population
For military age
For literacy
For professional class
III.
Economic Element
A. Raw material resources
1. possess them
2. have access to them
a. colonial power
b. import them
3. substitute for them
B. Production rates present and projected
1. the amount of basic resources
2. the amount of heavy and light industry
3. Gross National Product per capita
IV.
Historical-Psychological-Sociological Element—less than tangible but not
less important
A. Historical Experience and its psychological and sociological effects on the
contemporary scene.
B. National Character or national outlook
1. questioned for its validity—not all
2. typical and modal views exist.
3. should be at least a sizeable amount
4. should be representative or have influence in its governing.
B. Structure and Morale of a National Society
1. morale—will to fight
2. not torn by cleavages—class vs. class
race vs. race
religion vs. religion
ethnic group vs. ethnic group
V.
Organization-Administration—if government can bring the potential
power of the nations to bear upon a problem, the power might as well not
exist.
1. actual power is not derived from the type of government a state claims to
have. The constitutional arrangement and legal system espoused by
certain states are often misleading in assessing the importance of the
organization-administration factor e.g. Soviet constitution of 1936.
2. forms and types of organization of government that a state actually have in
itself does not necessarily reflect the true amount of power this factor
contributes to the total national power.
a. type of government is often a result of the interaction of the
historical-psychological-sociological element and the people of
the state.
3. attitude toward government by the people
4. problems of bureaucracy
Thus what is the attitude of a people toward their government? Is the government
viewed as legitimate and or what basis is it legitimate? Legitimacy is not only
based on government efficiency – it is based on the values of the people in society
and whether government reflects those values. There are three types of
legitimacy; rational, charismatic, and traditional.
VI.
Military
1.
2.
3.
4.
size of armed forces
quality of their training
how industrialized the state is
weapons and equipment
An assessment of national power should keep in mind:
1. all elements are interrelated
2. the last two are crucial in translating potential to actual power
3. some elements are difficult to measure
4. since both potential and actual power are constantly changing the total is
even more difficult to measure.