Strategic Regions in 21st Century Power Politics - Zones of Consensus and Zones of Conflict

China, Perceived Power

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and added others, such as the quality of diplomacy, the nature of the
political regime, and so on. With this school of thought, we can align
scientific contributors including Hans Morgenthau, Karl Deutsch,
Abraham Kaplan, Raymond Aron, and even Kenneth Waltz.^6
For Cline, it is certain that power can be measured. Therefore,
perceived power is the result that can be obtained using the following
formula/equation:

Pp = (Territory^ +Population) + Economic Capacity + Military Capacity)

x (S + W).

Territory plus population generates a vector called Critical Mass, a
key idea in Cline’s analysis. He deduces that states without critical mass
have neither a role in strategic international decisions, nor even the means
to be able to aspire to make a decision with any impact on the ground.
Ratzel foretold this eventuality in his book Political Geography.
States with an immense territory and a huge population are not
common. A table of states with the maximum critical mass is a
prerequisite to discovering the distribution of power among the states of
the world. That is why Cline stated: “In view of this age-old fact, we begin
our measurement effort with this oversimplification: Pp = MC. Obviously,
additional factors and coefficients are needed for the accuracy of the
formula of perceived power.”^7

Figure 6-2: Critical Mass^8

Country Population Points Territory

(km2)

Points CM

Russia

143 200 000

50 17 075 400 50 100

United States 313 900 000 50 9 363 520 50 100

Brazil 194 300 000 30 8 547 403 50 80

China 1 350 400 000 25 9 596 961 50 75

Indonesia 241 000 000 36 1 919 433 20 56

Canada 34 900 000 6 9 970 610 50 56

India 1 259 700 000 25 3 287 263 27 52

Australia 22 000 000 0 7 741 220 50 50

(^6) Waltz, Realism and International Politics.
(^7) Cline, “World Power Trends.”
(^8) Cline.