Balance of power in international relations
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Balance of power in international relations is a central concept in realist theory. Within a balance of power system, a state may choose to engage in either balancing or bandwagoning behavior. In a time of war, the decision to balance or to bandwagon may well determine the survival of the state.
A doctrine of equilibrium
A balance of power exists when there is parity or stability between competing forces. As a term in international law for a 'just equilibrium' between the members of the family of nations, it expresses the doctrine intended to prevent any one nation from becoming sufficiently strong so as to enable it to enforce its will upon the rest.
The basic principle involved in a balancing of political power, as David Hume pointed out in his Essay on the Balance of Power, is as old as history, and was perfectly familiar to the ancients both as political theorists and as practical statesmen. In its essence it is no more than a precept of commonsense, born of experience and the instinct of self-preservation; for, as Polybius very clearly puts it (lib. i. cap. 83)
- "Nor is such a principle to be despised, nor should so great a power be allowed to any one, as to make it impossible for you afterwards to dispute with him on equal terms, concerning your manifest rights."
Historical perspective
Universalism, which was the dominant direction of European international relations prior to the Peace of Westphalia, gave way to the doctrine of the Balance of Power. The term gained significance after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, where it was specifically mentioned.
It was not until the beginning of the 17th century, when the science of international law assumed the discipline of structure, in the hands of Grotius and his successors, that the theory of the balance of power was formulated as a fundamental principle of diplomacy. In accordance with this new discipline, the European states formed a sort of federal community, the fundamental condition of which was the preservation of a 'balance of power, i.e. such a disposition of things that no one state, or potentate, should be able absolutely to predominate and prescribe laws to the rest. And, since all were equally interested in this settlement, it was held to be the interest, the right, and the duty of every power to interfere, even by force of arms, when any of the conditions of this settlement were infringed upon, or assailed by, any other member of the community.
This 'balance of power' principle, once formulated, became an axiom of political science. Fénelon, in his Instructions, impressed the axiom upon the young Louis, Duke of Burgundy. Frederick the Great, in his Anti-Machiavel, proclaimed the 'balance of power' principle to the world. In 1806, Friedrich von Gentz re-stated it with admirable clarity, in Fragments on the Balance of Power. The principle formed the basis of the coalitions against Louis XIV and Napoleon, and the occasion, or the excuse, for most of the wars which desolated Europe between the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Congress of Vienna (1814), especially from the British vantage point (including, in part, World War I).
During the greater part of the 19th century, the series of national upheavals which remodelled the map of Europe obscured the balance of power. Yet, it underlay all the efforts of diplomacy to stay, or to direct, the elemental forces let loose by the French Revolution. In the revolution's aftermath, with the restoration of comparative calm, the principle once more emerged as the operative motive for the various political alliances, of which the ostensible object was the preservation of peace.
See also
Reference
- [Virginia.edu] - 'Balance of Power', Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Gaddis, John Lewis. (2004). Surprise, Security and the American Experience. United States of America: Harvard University Press
Kaplan, Lawrence & Kristol, William. (2003). The War Over Iraq. San Francisco: Encounter Books
Keylor, William. (2003). A World of Nations. New York: Oxford University Press
Morgenthau, Hans. (1967). Politics Among Nations: The struggle for Power and Peace, 4th Ed. New York: Knofp
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