Dwinda
Adrianto
ENGL
114 B
Sean
Pessin
04/22/2012
Power Politics: A Predetermined Perseverance
The notion of power has always been around for centuries since the dawn
of mankind. It is a grotesque notion that believes that survival of the fittest
is the principal virtue that will ultimately ensure individual or group
survival. It justifies the realist position that “the strong shall devour the
weak” as a natural order of the universe. In the field of International
relations, power falls into two distinct categories: Soft Power and Hard Power,
whereas soft power believes that principle strength derives from an individual
or a group’s ability to influence others and hard power derives from an
individual or groups ability to coerce or dictate others to behave accordingly by
establishing a rigid hierarchy (Kegley 36). This notion of power plays a
dominant role throughout the Foundation series, throughout the series
the Author Isaac Asimov seems to focus solely on how the Foundation managed to
survive among hostile neighbors despite having limited military capabilities. This
paper will focus on the earliest stages of the Foundation establishment which
allowed it to navigate through various crisis along the book, it is an
undeniable fact that the Foundations dominance and influence is a direct result
of the effectively early exercise of its soft and hard power Overall the
Foundations survival is heavily attributed by its effective manipulation of
soft and hard power
The Foundation series that falls under the
science fiction genre illustrates many deep political aspects that are relevant
in actual life especially in the fields of international relations which
explain specifically on how a state dominates the hostile environment within
the international level. The book proposes the notion that military power is
not the only means to become a dominant player in the galaxy but also through
the effective combination of leadership, technological innovation and
establishing a dominant influence. The foundation’s survival against all odds
is a result of the foundation's ability to effectively maneuver
through its barbaric surroundings by establishing a dominant presence within
its periphery.
The story revolves around the
Galactic Empire and a prediction made by a man called Hari Seldon with a
background of psychohistory which predicted the inevitable fall of the Empire.
Seldons views were viewed as a severe offence and nonsensical by the empire’s
administrators which resulted on his immediate exile along with all of his
followers to a far and desolate planet in the far fringes of the
galaxy called Terminus. Here Seldon wishes to establish a scientific haven
in order to preserve humanity's achievement if the galaxy were to fall in a
period of barbarism after the empire's fall. From there on the plot revolves
around how does the foundation managed to survive while it is surrounded by
hostile natives which hopes to exploit and conquer the foundation itself. Through
the effective combination of technological supremacy and effective diplomacy
the Foundation quickly become one of the most influentially powerful planets
within the periphery rivaling that of the declining Galactic Empire itself. The
Foundation Series compromise out of three books: The Foundation, Foundation and
Empire and Second Foundation. The first book focuses on how the foundation was
established and how it became a dominant power within its periphery, the
Foundation and Empire focuses on the war between the foundation and remnants of
the Galactic Empire before being destroyed by a mind controlling creature
called “the mule”, the Second Foundation focuses on the foundation’s success in
catching the mule off guard and telepathically altered his psyche and the
search for the second foundation located in Trantor. This paper will break down
the role of power throughout the three foundation series book which will be
done by sections.
The deep political aspect is always relevant as
the book progresses. It describes the aspects of applied soft power and hard
power possessed by the foundation in which ensures its survival. Firstly by
soft power the book relates on how other planets depended on the foundation's
technological innovation for survival and how the Foundation managed to
establish a religious order centered within Foundation. The hard power aspect would
be the foundation's possession of atomic energy which other planet feared as
being atomic weapons. The Effective manipulation of these two aspects of
power ultimately led the Foundation to become a dominant and influential player
among its hostile neighbors. Another political aspect which could be discussed
would be the role of the central government in shaping the foundations policy
which relates to external threat, where a constant conflict between a more
pacifist government and a more assertive government within the foundation is
always prevalent. The pacifists were people who believed that conflict should
be the last measure in dealing with external threat while the hardliners
believed that the Foundation should strengthen its military capabilities to
deter possible aggressions. However as it turns out the pacifist under the
mayor Salvor Hardin were the one who took control calling for other means
either than war to deter possible aggressors, this illustrates the idea that
force is not the only possible option to survive from external threats. This
correlates with true events on what we see happening in our own world and
judging by the overall aspect dominant throughout this book, Isaac Asimov must
be inspired by actual events the events on which the author draws its
inspiration. The story's overall suspense for me at least lies in the
events unfolding when the foundation faces would be aggressors and
then later on deterring them "peacefully". Overall this book has
an overall plot where many readers will find overwhelming with information,
too fast paced and a lack of significant characters. My guess would be that the
characters the author made for this book only compliments the overall plot, and
generally speaking it is likely that the plot itself is the story given
the less amount of time the author gave in describing and developing some
of the numerous characters in the book
First, we shall analyze the first
book and how does power politics of play through the foundations effective use
of diplomacy. During the period when Terminus have just been settled down by
researchers whose sole aim is to finish the Encyclopedia Galactica, the
founders soon finds that the planet is scarce of steel and aluminum and their
primary supply comes from the empire itself which is considered too far away
while its sole survival is determined by a kingdom called Anacreon which has
the agenda to dominate Terminus itself. The foundation is divided into two
different factions first one calls for a more pacifist approach towards
aggressors by relying on the Empire for its protection while it focuses solely
on the completion of the Encyclopedia Galactica this faction is led by Lewis
Pirenne and the other faction calling for the complete independence from the
empire led by Salvor Hardin. It is inevitable that the foundation will have to
rely on the Anacreon for protection and resources since the empire seems
uninterested on providing safety for the foundation from outside aggressors.
However Anacreon wanted compensation in exchange for ensuring the foundations
protection among them being allowing Anacreon to establish military bases in
Terminus itself which doesn’t sit very well with the faction that focuses
solely in the development of the encyclopedia. Hardin, thanks to his skillful
diplomacy at first deters Anacreon military base intentions by announcing that
the foundation is in possession of atomic energy which Anacreon has none of
therefore intimidating Anacreon by the possibility of the Foundation possessing
advanced weaponry this is seen by the look of surprise of Anselm Haut Rodric an
envoy of the Anacreonian kingdom when Hardin mentioned of the Foundations
possession of atomic power.
One could analyze this aspect of
power by using the realist notion of “Hard Power” which defines power derives
from the capability to intimidate others (Viotti 15). This notion can be
observed in the field of international relations which defines the relationship
between two or more states based on distrust and suspicion. If related with the
issue we see in regards to the relationship between the Foundation and Anacreon,
it is clear that Anacreon fears the possibility of Terminus possessing atomic
energy which will not rule out the possibility that the Foundation is also in
possession of atomic weapons and being able to us it at its disposal. What
added to the fear of the Anacreonian is that its own lack of similar power for
its disposal, so in order for Anacreon to annex Terminus as its territory it
must be really careful or risk possible destruction in the hands of atomic weapons.
In real life we can observe this phenomenon in such cases where countries who
possesses atomic energy tend to have the capabilities to develop atomic weapons
tends to arouse fear of its neighbors and tends to be treated carefully if they
potentially posses such capabilities this. Through this witty remark made by
mayor Salvor Hardin, it successfully asserted diplomatically that the Foundation
is a force to be reckoned with and will demand respect. Through the combination
of the effective use of diplomacy which is considered soft power and the use of
coercive intimidation which falls under the hard power category Terminus
ensured its survival as it goes through the first Seldon Crisis one could not
argue that a perfect combination of the foundations Soft Power and hard power
ultimately ensures its survival and independence from a foreign power in this
case the Anacreonians.
Through the effective use of discreet
intimidation masked as the willingness of the Foundation to agree with
Anacreonian proposal on establishing a military base within the foundation in
exchange for protection and resources, Mayor Hardin succeeded in stalling the
inevitable invasion of Anacreonian forces in Terminus. Mayor Hardin perceived
that cooperating with Anacreon is the only feasible alternative because due to
the Galactic Empire’s reluctance to help protect the Foundation from possible
aggressors and the Foundation’s relative isolation from other parts of the
empire, mayor Hardin also knew that the best way to avoid direct confrontation
with Anacreon is to pretend to cooperate with Anacreon and simultaneously
reaping the benefits of Anacreon providing for the Foundation’s security and
providing them with steel and aluminum. There’s no arguing that mayor Hardin is
well versed in the field of politics, and his ideas itself is not exclusively
exists in this particular science fiction series, Sun Tzu an ancient Chinese
war strategist mentioned “For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is
not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of
skill”, therefore one must not solely rely on direct confrontation with the
enemy in order to win however being able to win battle through the effective
use of strategy is of the extreme excellence.
It is an
undeniable fact that when the foundation is still at its weakest diplomacy plays
an important role in ensuring the Foundations survival. Diplomacy can be defined as the art and practice of negotiations
between different nations or the skill of handling affairs without hostility
(Nau 7). There are many aspects in soft
power but for this case example soft power is distinguished as “smart power”
which can be defined as a nation’s leadership capabilities in conducting
diplomacy without the excessive use of force (Nye). A correlation with the
effective use of soft power would be if it were not for Hardin’s policy in not
resorting to force to expel the Anacreonians, the Foundation will find itself destroyed
because it has no means for direct conflict with the Anacreonians at that time
so Hardin bought time for the Foundation to develop. Another indirect result of
this smart maneuver by Hardin is the fact that the foundation manages to
develop sophisticated technology under the Anacreonian protection that allowed
the Foundation to become a major power in the future. During the earliest times
of the Foundations establishment the Foundation finds itself lacking the basic
resources necessary to establish a respectable civilization and in this
vulnerable state the risk of facing an all out war with Anacreon is far too
great. By pretending to cooperate with Anacreon despite the pro encyclopedia
faction insistence on taking a more tougher role it reaps more benefit that it
would be from an all out war therefore biding the foundation time to develop
peacefully under Anacreon’s protection and when the Foundation slowly becomes
more sophisticated than Anacreon they will rebel and kick them out of their
planet once and for all. The point of this that through the effective
manipulation of soft power diplomacy achieved through effective leadership, the
Foundation managed to navigate the threat of direct Anacreonian assault without
deterring through the use of force.
It is evident
that leadership plays an important role in ensuring the foundations survival
during Hardin’s period. Leadership itself falls under the category of soft
power where the ability or inability of a particular state to project power
outside its borders rests solely in the individual leader’s leadership
capabilities. Before Hari Seldon re emerges in terminus after years of his
death thanks to holographic projection to announce what is called the Seldon
Crisis: A prediction of events that will happen to the Foundation within a
particular period of time he mentions that the Foundations will go through a
turbulent period of time marked by the Galactic Empire’s decline and the fall
of its surroundings into a period of barbarism, I personally believe that
Hardin with his sheer combination of mastery in politics, effective use of
diplomacy and strategically thinking is the right person to lead the foundation
as it undergoes its early years of turbulent periods marked by power struggle
of the planets within the fringes of the Galactic Empire.
Another case
example of soft power execution which could be observed throughout the book
would be the Foundations effective use of trade. The ability to influence the
policies of other states or planets in this case is through the foundations
establishment of trade dependence centered within the foundation. Trade dependence
centered in the foundation also plays a huge role in deterring would be
aggressors to the Foundation. The Foundation being a technologically superior
among the less technology sophisticated countries within its periphery made the
Foundations survival important for all the other planets that depended on the
Foundations technological capabilities and engineering capabilities. It is
generally believed that a nation would be reluctant to attack another nation if
it risks the threat of injuring itself economically (Nau 7) the Foundation is
able to assert control towards other planets policy through the dependence of
other planets through trade with the foundation. In the areas of political
economy trade plays a huge role in determining a nation’s soft power capability
since it is one of the fundamental aspect to assert control without the use of
force. No doubt the foundation gained tremendous benefits through the
establishment of a Foundation centered trade as a result of its technological
innovation that allowed it to dominate the system as less developed planets
rely heavily on the Foundations technological capabilities for its survival.
The greatest
achievement the Foundation made in ensuring that no planet dared to attack its
territory is through the establishment of a religious order based on technology
centered within the foundation itself with priests who happen to also be
engineers which are stationed in other planets, in reality this could be
similar with the Vatican centered Catholicism and Saudi Arabian centered
Islamic world which plays a dominant role in being the center of faith for
millions of people. The same argument also applies through the Foundation
centered religious order, by establishing a religious order the Foundation has
managed to control the minds of the people within its periphery, it’s an
undeniable fact that faith plays a huge role in determining people’s actions.
Within the book the Anacreonians tried a second attempt to occupy the
Foundation but the attempt failed because other planets condemned the invasion
calling it sacrilegious. The Anacreonian troops also are reluctant sacred
ground since the Foundations religious order has established dominant roots in
other planets. The soft power nature of religion lies in the fact that if you
manage to control people’s minds and perception you ultimately have the upper
hand in the areas of diplomacy so it could be considered another way of
establishing a dominant influence.
Overall the
foundation series being a science fiction genre relates to the actual real life
possibilities of things relating with reality or the areas of what could happen
in the future. Being of the science fiction genre the author Isaac Asimov has
managed to tie the significant plot throughout the book with the actual reality
of the world system. In the case of the foundation series it is evident that
there is a deep rooted political aspect happening throughout the book on which
this paper analyzes with the use of theories within the field of international
relations. In the world of anarchy power plays an important role for survival
and power itself can be categorized as hard and soft power. It is clearly
evident that like in actual life, the Foundations survival is a result of the
effective manipulations of the aspects of power and the things which
contributes to that specific power respectively therefore in order to survive
in a world where according to Hobbes is complete anarchy where men devours other
man is through obtaining power and having the necessary capabilities to assert
them.
Sources
Kegley, Charles w. World Politics: Trends &
Transformation. 9th edition. Thompson Woodsworth Publishing 2008.
Print. April 22 2012
Nau, Henry. Perspectives On International Relations:
Power, Intitutiona, Ideas. 3rd eition. CQ Press Publishing. Print.
April 22 2012
Nye, Joseph. Foreign Policy Magazine April 2011. “The War
On Soft Power”. Web. April 22 2012
Viotti, Paul R. International Relations And World
Politics: Security, Economy, Identity. Prentice Hall Publishing. Print. April
22 2012
