Book Review: Power in the Changing Global Order: The US, Russia and China by Martin A. Smith

Power in the Changing Global Order: The US, Russia and China by Martin A. Smith. Cambridge: Polity Press 2012. 224 pp., £16.99 paperback. 978 0745634722

Power is perhaps one of the most mysterious but least understood terms in international relations. Joseph Nye stated with some accuracy that ‘power is like the weather. Everybody talks about it, but few understand it.’ The study of power has become a key theme in international relations, largely due to Nye’s work of the last three decades. He challenged the realist assumption that power is primarily based on economic and military resources by introducing the idea of ‘soft’ and later ‘smart’ power; concepts which have spread beyond academia and entered the political sphere. However, gaining a precise working definition of power became no less difficult for students and scholars of international relations, and thinking about who has power and what is done with it still seems far more attractive than defining what power actually is. That is the gap Martin A. Smith’s new book ‘Power in the Changing Global Order’ tries to fill.

Martin A. Smith, Senior Lecturer in Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, deciphers the enigma of power not only by delivering a thorough and easily readable overview of theories and definitions, but by adding a further facet to the study of power: he criticises the Realist school (and the works of Joseph Nye particularly) for neglecting the social dimension of power. Power is essentially social because it is always relative and a product of human relationships, created and operationalized as a consequence of social interaction.

To prove his thesis, Smith takes a comparative perspective and analyses the role of China, the US and Russia in the changing global order of the 21st century. At first glance, covering three complex countries in a short book of 224 pages seems to be overly ambitious, but Smith masters this challenge with a convincing narrative and prose.

Although not clearly signposted in the table of contents, the book is roughly divided into five main parts: In chapters 1 and 2, Smith develops an approach to the understanding of power in the international arena by drawing upon the works of sociologists and philosophers. He introduces the idea of power as a social and relational construct and explains that power relations between states have to be based on a viable and effective system of international hegemony which implies an accepted sense of mutuality in terms of obligations and responsibilities (p. 33). With this definition at hand, Smith proves its utility by applying it to his three case studies.

Starting with the Unites States, Smith goes back to 1945 and explains the America’s role as a ‘liberal hegemon’ in a bipolar world. He argues that after the fall of the ‘system balancer’ Soviet Union, the US willingly chose to operationalize power through multilateral institutions and processes despite being the most important power in a unipolar world order. According to Smith, this period came to an end with the George W. Bush administration. America’s pivotal role was misused under that administration, with subsequent damage to that country’s reputation, and then a significant degrading of American power. However, this mistake was quickly recognized and the course was changed from early 2005 on. Taking into account the development of US power in the last twenty years, Smith concludes that despite all setbacks, the US still plays an unique role in international relations. A multilateral world order is thus wishful thinking rather than actual reality. Next the author moves on to Russia and analyses the claims for continuous ‘Great Power’ status, which have reappeared since 2000 under Vladimir Putin. Those claims were strongly influenced Russia’s negative experience during the war in Kosovo when that country’s opposition against the bombing remained unheard by the international community. The strive for ‘Great Power’ status is theoretically underpinned by the concept of ‘mutlipolarity’, which is quite well developed in Russian international relations study. Often however, the Russian concept of multipolarity is used as a weapon to criticize the position of the US in the international order rather than as a real dedication to power-sharing in the international arena.

Contrary to Russia’s self-positioning as a ‘Great Power’, China has labelled itself as a ‘rising power’ and framed its foreign-policy approach within Confucianist ideas of ‘harmony’. This foreign policy concept was largely developed by the influential Chinese thinker Zheng Biijan. Smith tries to answer the question: To what extent is the rise of China actually as peaceful as it is claimed? He comes to the conclusion that China’s capacity to become a world power is constrained due to its tense domestic situation. The ‘peaceful rise’ rhetoric is thus not only a propaganda ploy but in the self-interest of the Chinese regime.

Smith comes to the conclusion that neither Russia nor China will be able to challenge the position of the United States in the global order in the foreseeable future. Russia will likely be satisfied with the status of regional power, and China is too self-constrained given unsettled domestic circumstances to establish itself as a global rival. The question for the United States is not whether America has the lead, but how to lead. A central position in the core structure of international relations is not itself sufficient, but this central position has to be used effectively to orchestrate and facilitate bargaining, agreement, and consequent action. That is the nature of power as a social and relational network, as Smith defines it.

Given this definition of power, it is not clear why for example the European Union, a role model for bargaining and multilateral consultations, is not included in Smith’s case studies. It is certainly a more complicated actor in international relations, but seems to fit best into his concept of power. Surely, this introductory guide cannot cover all power holders comprehensively, but the lack of attention paid to the EU is regrettable.

Despite this small criticism, Smith’s work is overall a great introduction to theoretical and practical aspects of power, with detailed case studies and a convincing narrative. Albeit he has not reinvented the wheel, his new nuance about the social dimension of power is an interesting stimulus for further research. Smith’s book will appeal not only to students but also to academics and practitioners. The brief guide to further reading at the end of the book is a further added value.

Liana Fix is a Mercator Fellow on International Affairs working on Russian foreign and security policy at the German Federal Foreign Office, the EU Delegation in Tbilisi and in Moscow. She studied Theory and History of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science.