Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirovic
War and Capabilities
The destiny of warfare depends very much on actors’ relative capabilities. By definition, different capabilities are the means of the actor in international relations (IR) to achieve certain goals. Some of those capabilities can be tangible and, in principle, easy to measure, but others (such as morale or leadership) can be very intangible and, therefore, can only be estimated in practice.
Concerning global politics, IR, and warfare, there are at least five tangible capabilities of the actor (in principle, of the nation-state) that can be measured and consequently be known:The capability of the military power. It is directly connected with the questions of the size and capability of the actor’s armed forces and the quantity and quality of weapons possessed. Logically, the greater the military capability of an actor on these dimensions, there is and greater the accumulated power and, therefore, the real chances to win the war. Nevertheless, in practice, usually, it is not common for one actor is rank high on all of these dimensions of military capability, as, for instance, the state can possess more advanced weaponry and, therefore, reduce the size of its army regarding manpower.
Resources of economic power. In this respect, several issues are important to be known, like the actor’s GDP/GNP, how much the state is industrialized, the level of technological development, or what is the structure of the actor’s economy.
Resources of natural wealth. In this respect, the focal question is: Does the actor have enough natural resources to support its military and economic capabilities and designs in IR?
Demographic development. Here, the most important issue is how large the population of the actor as a large population is usually contributes to a larger military and labor force. However, at the same time, it is of extreme importance to take into consideration the structure of the population’s age, sex, health, or education. It is significant to know are there is enough labor force and people to serve the army. Another important question is can the people of the actor use modern skillful technology. Finally, the interrelations between the people and state authority are as well as of extreme importance as it is very important to know are the citizens politically support the government or do some social, confessional, or interethnic strifes are threatening internal homogeneity and political unity.
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