Let's define the difference between political and economic power
What is power? What is the difference between political and economic power? Is there such a thing as cultural power? What is the difference between power and influence or power and force?
Power, officially, is "control over the minds and actions of other actors in order to maintain the distribution of power that exists in a particular moment. More generally, the ability to control resources, to control the behavior of other actors, to control events, to control the outcomes of interaction -- even to control the structure of the interaction itself" (Kaufman 853-4). That control is wielded to win friends and influence people, just as Dale Carnegie wrote those many years ago. However, the kind and friendly Carnegie may not have realized just how powerful and intoxicating power can be, especially when used as a tool to achieve political ends.
Our first thoughts regarding power go to the state. The Machiavellian, practical use of power is to extend the state's influence beyond its borders. Power is its own reward, and it is used to ensure the stability and perpetuation of the leadership. The Prince uses his power to maintain his own authority and also to promote his own interests within and without the state. Through this, the leader also extends his power to future generations.
In addition to its external influence, power can also be measured by its ability to nudge or coerce internally. With the power of public opinion, a politician cannot accomplish what he or she sets out to do. The ancient realist Thucydides posited, "an increase in Athenian power and the insecurity this excited" was "the cautionary tale about the arrogance of power and what happens when a state reaches too far" (lecture notes, "Early Realists").
Political power differs from economic power by its means of coercion. When political power is wielded, threats of violence or war are thrown about. Robert J. Art uses terms like "compellence" as the opposite of deterrence when referring to the wielding of political power (Kaufman 79). Art continues to describe the uses of both defensive and offensive force in order to wield political power. Economic warfare is influential: both subtler and more effective, at least in this day of the almighty dollar. According to Mingst, "states may use economic statecraft -- both positive and negative sanctions -- to try to influence other states" (116). Negative tactics in the economic realm include boycott, sanction, or even embargo; positive incentives for cooperation may include trade agreements, most-favored-nation status, and juicy industrial contracts. All uses of political or economic power -- the flexing of the national muscles -- are functions of force to gain power over the state's foes or competitors. It is the level of subtlety in the force used by the state to achieve its ends that tells the state's ability for statecraft and coercion: how it uses its power.
Sources:
Carnegie, Dale. How to Win Friends and Influence People. From http://www.dalecarnegie.com/, accessed 28 March 2006.
Kaufman, Daniel J., et al., Understanding International Relations: The Value of Alternative Lenses, Boston: McGraw Hill Custom Publishing, 2004.
Lecture notes, "Classical Realism." Norwich University. Accessed 28 March 2006.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. New York: New American Library, 1999.
Mingst, Karen A. Essentials of International Relations. 3rd Edition, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004.