Balance of Power

What is Balance of Power?

Symbolizes Stability in International
System
Specific State of Affairs
Actual State of Affairs
Approximately Equal Distribution of
Power
Any Distribution of Power

Balance of Power and Collective Security

Concert of Europe: Post Napoleonic Wars
>WW I
Failures: Crimean War 1854-56,
Russo-Turkish War 1877-78
Dependent on the Balance of Power
League of Nations: Post Word War One
Regional Security Arrangements : Locarno
1926 and Kellog-Briand Pacts 1928
Failures: Japans Invasion of Manchuria 1931
United Nations Organizations

Controls in International Relations

Military Muscle : National Power

Economic Might : National Power
Legal Aspects : Intangible
Public Opinion : Intangible

Balance of Power and International

Law
Indispensible Condition to Existence of
Intl Law
Absence of Central Political Authority
Over States
No Nation State Should become Too
Powerful
Intl Law Converts BoP into Collective
Security
International System: Law Dominates
Politics

Balance of Power:
Characteristics

Change is Constant and Permanent

Balance of Power Configurations Change
War Needed to Preserve Balance of Power
Regard Forces that Shape Changes of
Power
Test of Balance of Power
Maintain Independence of States
Preserve Peace Among States
Role for Great Powers or Small States ?

Great Britain: Holder of Balance

Time Period : 18th and 19th Centuries

Sea Power, Semi Detachment from
Continent
Industrial and Political Strength
Deft Diplomacy
Rise of New Powers: Europe, America, SE
Asia
Bipolar or Multi Polar World ?

Balance of Power:
Mechanisms

Alliances and Counter Alliances

Compensations
Armaments and Disarmaments
Interventions an Non Interventions
Buffer States
Divide and Rule

Balance of Power: Relevance

Today?

Relevant to Europe
Approximately Equal Strength of States
Limited Decision Makers
Well Established + Generally
Recognized Rules
Post French Revolution
Expansion of European Balance to
Global System

Balance of Power : Relevance Today?

Two

Impact of New Forces

Nationalism, Industrialism, Democracy
Mass Education, Unconventional Warfare
Importance of Public Opinion
New International Organizations/Law
Economic Interdependence of Nations
Disappearance of Colonial Frontiers
Emergence of New Nations
Nuclear Weapons and Space
Technology