Alcock and Newcombe: The Perception of National Power
Alcock, Norman Z., and Alan G. Newcombe. “The Perception of National Power.” The Journal of Conflict Resolution 14, no. 3 (September 1, 1970): 335–343.
"...if international relations is to become a science it will have to establish a definitive quantitative measure for its most basic variable--national power" (335).
"There may be differences between 'real' power and 'perceived' power. Given some objective level of 'real' power, a nation may nevertheless be perceived as stronger, or weaker, y the people of another nation. Yet both objective and subjective power must ber based on a number of measurable facts. The purpose of this empirical study is to ascertain these measurable facts and thus help to establish a quantitative definition of national power. In addition to its theoretical value, a quantitative measurement of power can have an immediate practical application for peace--that is, in devising formulas for weighted voting in the United Nations, which is now floundering on the 'one nation, one vote' principle" (335).
They survey folks asking them to rank countries by "importance". This is the dependent variable for their analysis.
"We conclude, therefore, that perceived national power is some function of GNP or military expenditure (in purchasing-power-equivalent dollars) if none of the nations has been at war recently, but is a function of military expenditure alone if warring nations are included in the rating" (342).
Two regressions that are salient: Relative Power = -8.85 + 0.67 population + 0.47 GNP/cap
Relative power = 9.4 - 0.09 population + 0.93 GNP
