David Clowes

Cracow University of Economics

Poland

clowesd@uek.krakow.pl

Aspects of global security – the measurement of power & its projection

Results from twenty selected countries (2000-2013)

Cracow University of Economics

Poland

mrozowsd@uek.krakow.pl

ABSTRACT. The end of the cold war marked the beginning of a new era, characterised by economic liberalisation and political freedom. This stimulated waves of regional in- tegration around the world. The North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) replaced the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement of which Mexico became a part in 1994. A number of countries from the former Soviet East bloc signed as- sociation agreements and later joined the European Union (EU). The expansion of these two trade blocs together with the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) connected the world and generated increased economic opportunities, which have improved standards of living in numerous countries. Yet, and ironically so, the world has witnessed increased tensions and a growing numbers of wars in the 21st century. All of them vary in terms of scale, duration, strategic approach and in their outcomes. The projection and/or defence against acts of war and aggression require a range of resourc- es, which when combined together make up the components of a nations power. The objective of this paper is to apply an existing power model with added modifications to twenty selected countries from four different regions globally. Of central interest to this work is whether the reworked version of the model can be regarded as a realistic measure of a country’s total power and in this regard what the results reveal about change over time.

Received: February, 2015

1st Revision: April, 2015

Accepted: May, 2015

DOI: 10.14254/2071-

8330.2015/8-1/5

JEL Classification: F51, F52, H56, P44, Q40

Keywords: : International Conflicts, National Security & War, National Income, Energy