CHALLENGES OF DEFINING A COUNTRY’S MILITARY POWER

Abstract

The concept of military power seems straightforward, but it is a lot more complex than it appears at first glance, which has direct implications on defense decisions and analyses. A crucial issue in building a country’s armed forces and deciding on its appropriate size/strength derives from the fact that there is only one situation in which a country’s military power can be precisely assessed, that is in time of military conflict. Excluding this situation, the best military planners and decision-makers can do in peacetime is try to estimate the required and actual strength of a country’s military, an attempt not devoid of challenges. The focus of this paper is to address a few of the issues and challenges encountered in defining the concept of a country’s military power.

Keywords

• : military
• power
• challenges