This article will examine, via statecraft, the buildup and requirement for maintaining a global power or at least regional powerhouse. The primary goal is to maximize own gains, whilst making others dependent on you.
This article could be seen as a continuation of 48 Nation building; the economics: What happens after the nation was built. This text could be applied to corporate parties seeking to expand. Since one of the benefits of being at the top, is being able to give all benefits to your own, whilst denying them to others, so there are a lot of economic gains to be had.
To successfully build a powerhouse you need a good number of qualified statesmen; people who oversee the daily operations and can be assigned special projects. These are currently called politicians or civil servants, depending on their specific jobs. Their general lack of high standing, throughout the ages, does highlight the importance of selecting the right person for the right job.
1 Statecraft build up
They must all be centrally organized, to fully follow long term objectives. This part is not meant to stifle new ideas but is a genuine risk; a standardized method to introduce, with guaranteed discussion should exist. The ability to add something to the agenda should always exist.
Holding regular elections, during which parties can voice ideas and receive voter feedback is a possible way to maintain internal order, whilst updating your policies to contemporary needs.
All statesmen need to understand that they are required to be both decisive and thoughtful: Any action taken cannot be made in haste or suffer from rashness, whilst still appearing to have been made at a moment’s notice. This can be achieved by going through potential scenarios in advance.
Otherwise, a group of advisors can be set up to create potential scenarios, with the requirement of also adding at least two solution to every scenario. Failure to come up with a scenario must not be punished harshly (unless repeated or often useless), to avoid being surprised by scenarios that have no easy answer.
All of this whilst keeping in mind that Machiavellianism may be frowned upon, but when successful is easy to forgive. Besides, this article assumes control of the discussed organization, so no one will be able to hold your underlings accountable other than yourself.
To compensate for any potential failings, strong institutions are required, such as two chamber of governance (one makes rules, that the other one checks a priori to ratification).
2 Managing external relations
Once we have established a group of governors for the country, they need to be aware that they are being watched, well beyond own borders.
2.1 Hard power
The primary goal of power is the ability to use it, more so than actually use it: Think of it as having the bigger stick, a deterrent of some sort.
This is best achieved by having a strong presence near your biggest allies, or those that you wish to be (more) friendly towards you. Situated most along disputed/threatened areas or focussing on potentially problems can be a good idea. With the latter, be careful not to do so if the hostile parties are part of your allies’ core business, as the potential backlash can harm relations.
When assembling your team, note that reliance on outsiders, even for auxiliary or support can result in them switching sides. Using local parties for supplies is likely to be beneficial as it breeds goodwill, fully relying on them breeds risks. Just have 2nd own locally placed source ready, with enough to keep things running while you set up a full production line yourself.
2.2 Soft power
A combined approach tends to work best:
1 In any manner of relevant institutions secure the top positions for yourself, with friendly parties serving in less important positions or as vice to your roy.
2 Assign contracts to friendly parties, plus try to make slightly less friendly parties more dependent on you by offering to pay for installations that work only on your specific kind of product.
Example: We currently have regular gas and liquified natural gas, with gas composition, and thereby potential further steps before it can be refined, differing based on where it is from. If you pay for refineries that are far more efficient with your type of gas, they will have no real choice in what to put in those refineries. As such assuring yourself of a loyal customer. Naturally it would be possible to change the installation or accept lower efficiencies, but that would be costly and take time; so a real hurdle exists for the competition. In 2022 the EU decided to stop using Russian gas, over the war in Ukraine: In 2026 it was still part of the mix.
An absolute must is interdependency; stimulating a lot of trade and owning bonds of each other shows trust and commitment. Also stashing equity or gold with each other really helps as both can be sold, but are hard to ignore as a potential sign if something happens to them.
Whenever something happens, lead the effort to remedy it.
3 How to act
There are a few things to remember, to avoid being seen as a negative influence:
– Always help out if a friend asks you to. If only to avoid them becoming reliant on a third party willing to fill the void you left by not helping.
– If an agreement was made, even by predecessors long past, try to follow up. Agreements made during completely different times can be difficult to honour, in such cases explain why not and maybe offer alternatives, that suit the current relation. This could be an opportunity to rid yourself of an outdated relation.
– Humans tend to act negatively (selfish, fearful, etc.) remember this when making decisions. Also keep in mind that fear for your power can result in more beneficial actions.
– Even to your own underlings, beware of being perceived as too forgiving. Show forgiveness, after delivering a verdict and in a small percentage of cases, so that they know a punishment is absolutely possible. But also that leniency is on the table for those deserving.
– Despite having a military presence, attempt to keep peace. This will help in soft power as both parties could become more reliant on your ability to keep their citizens safe. Peace is also likely to have a lower price tag, in more ways than one.
– Remember who your allies are, try to work with them on anything that could interest them. Foster relations over mistrust. The goal here is to persuade them to come to you if they have something that will be of use.
4 Case for cooperation
Besides the above described single entity, it is perfectly possible to work with others and get on top together. This would spread the need for top tier statesmen across multiple societies, increasing the chance of finding good ones. Whilst also decreasing demand on the military, as placing it with allies who are in the same confederation could be considered a prelude to civil war. Partners do not have to be comparable to you in any way; it is about achieving a goal, having something that ties all parties together.
This would only work with real cooperation, deviations from a shared goal must be punished, or the group will quickly lose focus. Once shared goals are achieved there is room for smaller goals and ambition. Much like our earlier note about elections bringing new ideas; a party sharing a better option is a good thing, as long as it is in line with the bigger picture.
Depending on your goals, a grand coalition might be more suitable to achieve those goals: Willing participants tend to have a better output, or at least is part of the solution. Enabling advantages such as coming up with own resources, or solutions, instead of hiding them in hopes of achieving a benefit for themselves.
The intensity of cooperation does not have to be 100% for all parties involved, for those located on the fringes or not really required for goals, can be given a special status with agreements being made as needed. Just be careful not to be too chivalrous with them, as special status might be tempting for partners that consider their current agreements as too heavy.
There is one huge risk to cooperation, if you are one of the smaller parties: Big parties will demand more for their bigger contribution, allowing them to make big decisions that could favour their approach. Or all involved parties could gradually become independent in name only, as the cooperation’s central body gets more powerful overtime.
