A Comparative Analysis of the Power of Selected European Countries. The Economic Determinants

The ever-increasing need for in-depth analysis and quantification of the national power, in particular ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ power-generating factors as well as difficulties in identifying a comprehensive and effective method for scientific determination of the national power, have given rise to research in the indicated scientific issues within this article. The presented considerations aim to define the assumptions for a descriptive sub-model that would enable a comparison of Poland’s power in the economic sphere (which is a component of the non-military sphere) with the power of selected European countries. The research hypothesis is that, among the variety of descriptive variables in the economic sphere of the national power, there is a subset of mutually independent variables, at the same time strongly correlated with the national power, which make it possible to define assumptions for the sub-model of the national power. The steps of the research procedure were carried out using the method of system analysis (multi-criteria comparative analysis) and statistical analysis. The research activities undertaken have shown that the factors that are strongly correlated with the national power in the economic area of the European countries adopted for the analysis are: dynamics of industrial production, private sector credit flows and economic freedom index. The comparative analysis carried out demonstrates that the greatest increase in the economic power in the analysed period took place in Germany (0.68). Slightly smaller growth was recorded in the Czech Republic (0.62) and Poland (0.60), while the lowest value of increase was in Romania (0.23). The conducted qualitative comparative analysis of the economic power of selected European countries allowed to conclude that the independent variables identified are crucial for the formation of the economic power of the analysed countries. At the same time, a fairly strong position of the Czech Republic and Poland in relation to the economic power of Germany was found. The performed quantification of the economic power of the European countries provides a basis for the correct determination of changes in the power distribution of political units, assessment of the power and resources held by the state.