What are the levers of global power in order.

Governments & official records

Official records show two levers being used. Washington uses sanctions and access to its financial system: the Treasury acted against the Gupta network in 2019, and a 2025 House bill proposes sanctions over South Africa's ties with Russia and China. BRICS leaders, meanwhile, contest who controls the global institutions.

Treasury Sanctions Corrupt Members of the Gupta Network · home.treasury.gov
H.R. 2633 – U.S.-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act of 2025 (bill text) · govinfo.gov
BRICS New Delhi Declaration: Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability · pmindia.gov.in

Research institutes

Research institutes treat manufacturing output, market access and state-directed capital as the material bases of power. CSIS shows China's lead in manufacturing, CSIS also tracks trade preferences in Africa, and SWP shows how Gulf states turn their sovereign wealth funds into political influence.

Measuring China's Manufacturing Might · chinapower.csis.org
AGOA's Uncertain Future: What's at Stake for U.S.-Africa Trade · csis.org
Sovereign Wealth Funds and Foreign Policy · swp-berlin.org

News & reporting

Reporting shows two coercive levers at work. Western sanctions have pushed Iran and Russia into a partnership of convenience. Military force has destroyed much of Iran's conventional forces and nuclear programme, yet Iran's missiles and drones still proved resilient.

Strategic Transactionalism: The Iran-Russia Partnership · mecouncil.org
How Iran Might Rebuild Its Devastated Military: Courting Risk by Reinforcing Success · washingtoninstitute.org

Justice Council Political Analysis

In order of weight: (1) productive and industrial capacity; (2) control of money and markets, including the reserve currency, sanctions and trade access; (3) military reach; (4) gatekeeping of institutions, including the veto and control of funding; (5) state-directed capital such as sovereign wealth funds. The top two lead because they pay for and sustain the rest.

Weaker states can loosen the hold of others' levers by building their own industry, skills and payment and trade channels. Limiting the veto, and fixing UN funding so that no single contributor can hold it hostage, would turn institutions back into a check on power.

Conclusion

The sources do not rank the levers themselves; this ranking is the Council's own reading of them. Industrial and productive capacity comes first, then control of money and markets (the reserve currency, sanctions and trade access), then military reach, then gatekeeping of global institutions, then state-directed capital. Material power ranks highest because it pays for the other levers, while institutional rules hold only as far as the strongest states allow.