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INTRODUCTION
This book takes a fresh approach to an old concept: statecraft. The venerable art of statecraft has been practised ever since state-like entities first came into being. From the emperors of the Roman Empire to the European monarchs of the Middle Ages, from the rulers of citystates in Renaissance Italy to the hallways of the White House in the United States, statesmen have had to make the necessary decisions to promote the interest of their state and the well-being of its inhabitants.
All statesmen, regardless of the period in which they live, are confronted with three givens: 1) the imperfectability of human nature; 2) the need to interact with other states and to pursue a foreign policy that will allow their state to flourish and remain safe from attack; and 3) the dilemma surrounding the use of force.
Humans are capable of committing horrendous crimes, but they are also capable of behaving morally if they do not suffer from severe injustice and deprivation. Statesmen need to have an insight into human nature and pursue policies that help bring the best out of every human being. How they can do so will be elaborated throughout the book.
In order to interact with neighbouring states and pursue a foreign policy that allows their state to flourish and be safe from attack, statesmen first need to know the geography of the broader area in which their state is located and study the balance of power among surrounding states. They need to know how geographic, economic and demographic factors impact international relations, the study of which is encapsulated in the discipline of geopolitics discussed in Chapter 2 of this book.
Statesmen can employ a broad variety of tools when interacting with other states: negotiation and diplomacy, economiccooperation agreements and the offering of economic incentives, coercion and the use of military power. How and when these policy tools should be used are questions related to the third constant theme in the
art of statecraft: the dilemma surrounding the use of force – under what circumstances is the use of military power and economic coercion justified?
While the major themes of statecraft have remained the same, the means through which a state’s external relations are pursued have evolved. As the world has become more complex, so has statecraft. With the evolution of military technology that allows states to fight wars in far-flung regions of the world, geopolitical calculations today have to be not just regional but also global. Similarly, as a result of states’ dependence on natural resources found on other continents and their reliance on trading partners from around the world, the policy calculations of a statesman today usually span the globe. The rapid process of globalisation – and with it the growing interconnectedness of states and people – has also multiplied transnational threats and with them the necessity for states to work together more than in any previous century in order to tackle these threats effectively.
1. Structure of the Book
This book starts off by discussing the traditional concepts of statecraft and geopolitics in Chapters 2 and 3. The remainder of the book will focus on a number of innovative concepts that provide statesmen with new tools for conducting statecraft. These new tools and concepts will prepare statesmen to face the international circumstances of the third millennium more effectively.
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