RESOURCES FOR COLONIZATION:
I played the "Settlers of Catan" game. One interesting aspect was that you had to collect enough resources to build roads (technology) and establish settlements (colonization). So, if you were to colonize something, you need enough resources to do so.

CASHING IN RESOURCES:
Another thing was that in the game if you had 4 cards of any resource, you had the option of trading them in for 1 card of another resource (cashing them in to the dealer/"god", not another player). So, I could trade my 4 cards of grain for 1 card of ore. In our World Simulation, maybe we can trade a certain amount of resources for Hard Power cards? Or vice versa?

HARD POWER SUB-CATEOGRIES:
Wolf's break-down of different types of power and Lynndee's idea of natural disasters got me thinking of the post-effects of war disasters. Specifically Nuclear War. I've been to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki and am familiar with the drastic effects of this technology.

So, what if the "Hard Power" had some break downs on types of power. And then certain kinds of Hard Power have prolonged effects. For example, if you use "Nuclear Hard Power" of "Chemical Hard Power", then you have high numbers on the cards, plus you have the effects of diseases (coryclem84's idea).

CIVIL STRIFE:
What if some countries had certain levels of Civil Strife. So, they would be unstable coutries where the goals fo the coutry could drastically change (threat from within). This could be regulated with rolling dice at certain times (ie- before every decision, every 5 minutes, etc.). So, take like 3 dice with an outcome of 18 total, and then your country had a 35% possibility of being overrun by a coup; so if you roll 13 or more, your country is now reformed under new rules.

Along with cheitman's mention of slaves, maybe your possibility of civil unrest increases when you take on slaves (or controversial methods); so it becomes closer to 50/50.

Also,

MORAL FACTOR:
Also, just wanted to add, that we could also have a "moral factor" to measure scrupulousness. So, whenever a country decided to make certain decisions that are controversial (like war, genocide, etc.), they have to pass their moral factor rating to do it. So, like a boyscout might be 22/24 (so would have to roll the dice to get 22-24 in order to kill someone), versus Hitler who would be more like 2/24. This would prevent peopel from committing genocide on a whim. Maybe they could re-roll after a period of time?