ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the literature on power and the distribution of power and to apply the concepts from that literature to assess the impact of the diffusion of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on domestic and international distributions of power. Power is helpful in suggesting the way words are used in ordinary language. In the social sciences, and particularly in political science, the concept of power has taken on a set of more specific meanings as part of an effort to achieve greater conceptual clarity, but also to serve as the basis for systematic inquiry. There are three approaches to observing power empirically: power as a resource or capability; power as a relationship; and power as a structure. Realist theories of international relations and works on "geopolitics" often rely on a power as resources approach. In recent years, besides the usual set of capabilities indicators used to measure power, technological capabilities are now viewed as potential power resources.
