The idea is negotiating peacefully but also having strength in case things go wrong.
Roosevelt described his style of foreign policy as "the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis." As practiced by Roosevelt, big stick diplomacy had five components. First it was essential to possess serious military capability that would force the adversary to pay close attention. At the time that meant a world-class navy. Roosevelt never had a large army at his disposal. The other qualities were to act justly toward other nations, never to bluff, to strike only when prepared to strike hard, and the willingness to allow the adversary to save face in defeat.
