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International Relations & Diplomacy vocabulary · Foreign Policy & the State

Hard power

Meaning in international relations & diplomacy, with examples

nounCommon term

In international relations & diplomacy, hard power means: A country's ability to make others act in a certain way through military force or economic pressure, such as threats, sanctions or payments.

In Turkish: sert güç

How it is used

Used together with 'soft power' to compare the tools of foreign policy. Hard power can be military (armed forces, alliances) or economic (sanctions, trade restrictions, aid used as a reward). 'Coercion' is a related academic term.

Example sentences

  1. Some analysts argue that hard power alone cannot win the support of foreign publics.

  2. The country has invested heavily in hard power, especially its navy.

  3. Sanctions are often described as a form of economic hard power.

Common collocations

  • use hard power
  • military hard power
  • hard and soft power
  • economic hard power
  • soft powerA country's ability to influence others through attraction, such as its culture, values, education and policies, rather than through force or payment.
  • deterrenceThe strategy of preventing an attack by making a possible attacker believe that the costs, such as a strong response, would be greater than any gain.
  • sanctionsPenalties, such as trade restrictions or frozen assets, that one or more countries or international organisations impose on a state, group or person to change their behaviour.
  • great powerA state with enough military, economic and political strength to influence events far beyond its own region and to shape the international system.

More terms: Foreign Policy & the State

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