The Interlocking Trinity

Abstract

The basic instruments of statecraft are military force, diplomacy, and economic power. Looking more closely, we can see variants of each: military force is comprised of both use of force and threat of force; diplomacy encompasses both governmental contacts and public diplomacy; and economic power can range from sanctions to aid. Nonetheless, these are lesser distinctions. Like Caesar's Gaul, the means of national strategy only divide into three parts. Each instrument has its particular advantages and constraints, but it would be a mistake to evaluate the question of national power by focusing on these instruments in isolation from each other. They are interdependent and fundamentally inseparable. Together they form an interlocking trinity which explains the conduct of national strategy just as, on a lesser level, Clausewitz's paradoxical trinity illuminates the nature of war.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 05, 1990
Accession Number
ADA437807

Entities

People

  • Steve Mann

Organizations

  • National War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Arms Control
  • Diplomacy
  • Governments
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • Law
  • National Politics
  • Negotiations
  • Public Diplomacy
  • Second World War
  • Security
  • Treaties
  • War

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Theoretical Analysis.