THE ELEMENTS OF NATIONAL POWER AND ITS RELEVANCE TO NATIONAL SECURITY

Abstract

National security is of paramount interests to small states. Security cannot be solely dependent on military might alone. It requires the actions at various fronts including diplomatic, intelligence and economic, and delivered in a concerted effort by a whole-of government and whole-of nation approach. Malaysia is well blessed by the basic instruments of power i.e. diplomacy, informational, military and economic elements (DIME). However, for efficient employment of all these instruments of power, a coherent set of National Security Policy documents must be formulated and implemented with strong leadership at all levels to achieve an effective outcome for National Security. This paper endeavours to investigate how small nations can use their instruments of national power to support their national security objectives. The Malaysian context is used as an example to validate the employment of the various elements of national power to protect and secure the nation whilst confronting the various non-traditional security threats.