问答题 Power means an ability to do things and control others, to get others to do what they otherwise would not. One can affect others’ behavior in three main ways: threats of coercion ("sticks"), inducements and payments ("carrots"), and attraction that makes others want what you want. A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics because other countries want to follow it, admiring its values, emulating its example, or aspiring to its level of prosperity. Because the ability to control others is often associated with the possession of certain resources, politicians and diplomats commonly define power as the possession of population, territory, natural resources, economic size, military forces, and political stability. For example, in the agrarian economies of eighteenth-century Europe, population was a critical power resource since it provided a base for taxes and recruitment of infantry. Traditionally, the test of a great power was its strength in war. Today, however, the definition of power is losing emphasis on military force and conquest that marked earlier eras. The factors of technology, education, and economic growth are becoming more significant in international power, while geography, population, and raw materials are becoming somewhat less important. In this sense, it is important to set the agenda and attract others in world politics through soft power, which co-opts people rather than coerces them.