ABSTRACT
The second chapter discusses the conception of power that will be used to evaluate US and Chinese power in Chapters 4 and 5. Starting from a critique of Joseph Nye’s ‘soft, hard and smart power’, I then discuss my framework for analysing power in the international domain, based upon a development of Max Weber’s conception of power that treats power as a unitary phenomenon comprising two foundations: the internal foundation, i.e. the three socio-psychological processes through which the ruled comply with the orders given by the rules, and the external foundation which implies the use of material means, i.e. a mix of administrative and economic means. Starting from these premises, the chapter develop a three-levels approach to power: the structure of power, the interactive processes that develop within the power structure and the resources produced by these processes. These elements are illustrated by several historical examples, most of the time from US and Chinese foreign relations history.
