1. Which of the elements of national power do you think may yield the most influence if used correctly? Explain your answer with examples and cited sources.
2. What elements of national power does your chosen country possess? What are its strengths and weaknesses in a DIME context?
• Module Notes: The Elements of National Power – DIME
Nations rely on diplomacy, information activities, military strength, and economics to exercise their influence in their region and across the globe. The way nations exercise their DIME is in accordance with their socio-economical makeup. When looking at how the United States asserts and exercises its military might we have to focus necessarily on the historical, cultural, and industrial reasons behind the development of that particular element of national power. The same can be said when looking at Burundi or Italian DIME. Immerse yourselves, for a moment, into the identity of a fellow world citizen. Look at a different socio-economic reality as it now applies to you. Forget that you are an American and decide what tools of national power are really available to you to grant your people stability, safety, wealth, well-being, and peace.
In this fourth learning module, you are required to read both the reading assignments and anything else you might deem useful to your understanding of what elements are available to nations to exercise influence. You will also be required to watch the movie Syriana. Again, your job here is to forget where you were born and where you grew up and try to become an Iranian, a Chinese, a Ghanaian, or a Russian. Think freely and again, do not hold back. Think of your own life, your needs, and the national power tools which are available to your nation because of your very own socio-economic conditions.
view the movie Syriana from 2005, loosely based on the book by Robert Baer.
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WEx-1m1m2o (Links to an external site.)
• Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B000HF6XKO/ref=atv_dl_rdr (Links to an external site.)
• Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=6WEx-1m1m2o (Links to an external site.)
• Vudu: https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Syriana/10938 (Links to an external site.)
• iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/syriana/id525216635
• NO COUNTRY LEFT BEHIND (Links to an external site.) by Colin Powell – Foreign Affairs, January/February 2005
• On Strategy: Integration of DIME in the Twenty-first Century Download On Strategy: Integration of DIME in the Twenty-first Century [PDF, File Size 444 KB] by Lieutenant Colonel John G. Krenson United States Army
• Turning on the DIME: Diplomacy’s Role in National Security Download Turning on the DIME: Diplomacy’s Role in National Security [PDF, File Size 218 KB] by Anton K. Smith, October 2007
• Multinational Corporations and the Shape of the Global Economy: The Economic Dimensions of National Security (Links to an external site.) by Nikolas K. Gvosdev April 2011
• Globalization and International Trade (Links to an external site.) (Handout) [PDF, File Size 262 KB]
• Major Actors in the Global Environment: States (Links to an external site.), Globalization, and IGOs by Hayat Alvi, PhD, May 20, 2011
