Is Military Power Declining in Importance?

Is military power declining in importance?

Military power can be seen to be the most crucial element of hard power as it is the fundamental source of forcing another state. Military power can come in several forms such as sea, air and land, this variety gives the possessive state more tactical opportunities to attack its opponent. Power in the form of military also serves purpose when it comes to militant groups (non-state armed groups) such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah as to check their advancement in military based supplies. However military power comes with several negative factors as well. As inter-state wars have decreased drastically it could be claimed that military weapons have become of much less use in international wars yet still useful for civil wars. Another argument could be the economical value of such power is fairly costly, if not used efficiently it can often lead to failure. In cases such as the Russian Intervention in Ukraine 2014, where Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin former president of Russian attempted on invading Eastern Ukraine after the success of invasion of Crimea by joining with pro-Russian troops in the southeastern region. Yet due to a role of unsuccessful tactics and violation of several sovereignty regulations Russia ended up losing miserably, as the Ukrainian rebel groups were easily removed by the government hence forcing Russia to leave the territory. This not only caused Russia a lot of international humiliation but also a major loss in money as military weapons are very costly and hard to maintain; which is another reason for which states are beginning to prefer not to invest into excessive military functions rather pay for better facilities for the citizens. Therefore it could be claimed that military power is not only used for violent or forceful action but for humanitarian purposes too such as helping and providing aid to countries during hardship.