Every state has political, economic and security interests, just like every issue in international politics has a political, economic and security dimension. Grand strategy has to be comprehensive, therefore, and tackle all three dimensions at once. A strategy that defines ends in only one dimension while ignoring the others is unlikely to achieve durable results. A state that does not develop instruments and muster resources in all three dimensions will soon run into situations in which it has no way of acting. A great power must thus surely be a power in political, economic and military terms in order to sustain its ambition to have global impact. Political power, that is the attractiveness of one's way of life as well as one's influence in another state or in an organisation (which can acquired by legal or illegal means), allows one to convince others to act in accordance with one's interests. Economic power can be a carrot as well as a stick, to entice another state or to coerce it, by offering or withholding trade, investment and development cooperation, or access to one's domestic market. Military power too can entice as well as coerce, offering assistance or threatening war.

Convincing, enticing and coercing, or hard and soft power, go hand in hand. The best strategists manage to convince the other so that they do not have to revert to coercion. but it is easier to convince or entice when the opposite party knows that you have the power to coerce it (through economic or military ways) if you decided to, even if the option is not openly put on the table. Diplomacy does not always need to be directly underpinned by economic and military power to be successful; a small state that acts as an honest broker can achieve remarkable success – but the actual parties to the negotiations will be aware of the balance of power and how they will fare if they do not find agreement. ‘Diplomacy, underneath the conventions of form, recognises only realities’, concluded De Gaulle. Vice versa, the result of coercion will probably be more durable if afterwards the opposite party can be enticed into accepting it by the offer of political and economic benefits.