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DIFFERENT UNDERSTANDING OF STATE POWER AS A KEY NOTION WITHIN THE REALIST THEORETICAL APPROACH

Summary/Abstract: The concept of power is not a new phenomenon, so the intellectual origin of this concept can also be found among ancient philosophers. However, the reconsideration of this concept within the International relations and Security studies starts 60-70 years ago. The representatives of the realistic theoretical approach were mostly those who dealt with the concept of power of state, as well as representatives of other theoretical approaches (eg. liberalism, social constructivism, critical theories, feminist approaches, etc.). But, despite the great interest in this concept, consensus exists only on two key issues related to power of state. First, in the terms of importance, everyone agrees that the power of state is one of the key concepts, and second, in the terms of complexity. Therefore, no one should be surprised by pluralism of viewpoints regarding to the concept. Those viewpoints could be reduced on three prevailing comprehensions of power of state: power as control over resources, power as control over actors and power as control over events and outcomes. All this prevailing comprehensions has its own advantages and disadvantages. The aim of this paper was to present the views of relevant scholars (through the theoretical discussion not only by the realists), and to offer an adequate overview of the advantages and disadvantages of each of these comprehensions. Such a review of literature could certainly be useful for researchers in the case of selecting an adequate comprehension of the power of state for their particular specific research. The researcher should make this kind of decision based on particular school of thought that he prefer, his personal affinities, but primarily based on the object and purpose of his the research. The conclusion of the paper could be reduced to the notion that the concept of the power of state is far beyond the scope of realistic theoretical approach, and that its represent a key concept (and by some scolars it's the most important concept in the IR), as well as that each of these prevailing comprehensions of the power of state has its own place in the theoretical conceptual apparatus of International relations and Security studies

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