The Conceptual Development of Power in the Global Geopolitical System

Power has always had an important role in shaping social relations throughout human history. Dominant geopolitical frameworks have been dependent for centuries upon environmental determinism and physical, hardware and objectivist aspects of power. In recent decades, however, dominant frameworks have been challenged as the emphasis has shifted on to other dimensions of power, namely its software and subjectivist aspects and also to smart power. The latest theories of geopolitics seek to move beyond purely determinist and positivist thoughts and exploit new concepts, or those borrowed from other sciences, in order to explain and elaborate geopolitical conceptions and phenomena including the concept of power itself.The need to help the country’s foreign policy to secure its vital national interests as well as the aspiration to utilize all available capacities and employ principles of diplomacy at the service of defence functions, particularly protection of the country’s territorial integrity, have highlighted the role of this two-sided and reciprocal trend in synergizing its defence and foreign policies. This article will examine the issue of defence diplomacy in terms of understanding its foundations, levels and functions in the defence approach of states, and discuss the requirements to reinforce the trend of development and systematic management of the country’s defence diplomacy.