Evolution of the Concept of Deterrence in Light of Semantics of International Affairs

A review of international relations during the 20th century and after indicates that this academic discipline has experienced constant theoretical and conceptual evolutions. As far as the evolution of concepts in international relations is concerned, we have seen accentuation of semantics in the theories of the international relations. This has overshadowed the majority of traditional concepts of international relations such as power. In that regard, deterrence-with power as its nucleus – as one of the most important fields of study in international relations as well as related strategic studies, have undergone semantic evolution. Therefore, this paper hypothesizes that the evolution of the international system and the accentuation of semantics have paved the ground for evolution of power generating resources and the emergence of a concept known as “soft deterrence” to go with its traditional par of deterrence which is basically based on hard power. This paper intends to use a descriptive-analytical method to prove the above hypothesis.