In
international relations, 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.
"BoP" is a central concept in
neorealist 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.
Kenneth Waltz, a major contributor to
neorealism, expressed in his book, "Theory of International Politics" that "if there is any distinctively political theory of international politics, balance-of-power theory is it.". However, this assertion has come under criticism from other schools of thought within the international relations field, such as the
constructivists and the
political economistsA doctrine of equilibrium
right|thumb|300px|[[NATO and
Warsaw Pact power blocs during the
Cold War.]]
The basic
principle involved in a balancing of
political power, as
Charles Davenant pointed out in his
Essay on the Balance of Power, is as old as history, and was 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.
More precisely, the theory of Balance of Power has certain key aspects that have been agreed upon throughout the literature on the subject. First of all, the main objective of states, according to the Balance of Power theory is to secure their own safety, consistent with
political realism or the realist world-view. Secondly, states reach an equilibrium because of this objectives of self-preservation. States, by trying to avoid the dominance of one particular state, will ally themselves with other states until an equilibrium is reached.
As Professor L. Oppenheim (
Internal. Law, i. 73) points out, an
equilibrium between the various powers which form the family of nations is, in fact, essential to the very existence of any
international law. In the absence of any central authority, the only sanction behind the
code of rules established by
custom or defined in
treaties, known as 'international law', is the capacity of the powers to hold each other in check. If this system fails, nothing prevents any state sufficiently powerful from ignoring the
law and acting solely according to its convenience and its interests.
Historical perspective
Preserving the balance of power as a conscious goal of foreign policy, though certainly known in the ancient world, resurfaced in post-medieval Europe among the
Italian city states in the 15th century.
Francesco Sforza, Duke of
Milan, was the first ruler to actively pursue such a policy, though historians have generally (and incorrectly) attributed the innovation to the Medici rulers of Florence whose praises were sung by the well-known Florentine writers
Niccolò Machiavelli and
Francesco Guicciardini.
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, duc de Bourgogne.
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 Europe experienced 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.
England
It has been argued by historians that in the sixteenth century England came to pursue a foreign policy which would preserve the equilibrium between Spain and France, which evolved into a balance-of-power policy:
The continental policy of England [after 1525] was fixed. It was to be pacific, mediating, favourable to a balance which should prevent any power from having a hegemony on the continent or controlling the Channel coasts. The naval security of England and the balance of power in Europe were the two great political principles which appeared in the reign of Henry VIII and which, pursued unwaveringly, were to create the greatness of England.
In 1579 the first English translation of Guicciardini's
Storia d'Italia or
History of Italy popularised Italian balance of power theory in England. This translation was dedicated to
Elizabeth I of England and claimed that "God has put into your hand the balance of power and justice, to poise and counterpoise at your will the actions and counsels of all the Christian kings of your time".
Sir
Esme Howard wrote that England adopted the balance of power as "a corner-stone of English policy, unconsciously during the sixteenth, subconsciously during the seventeenth, and consciously during the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, because for England it represented the only plan of preserving her own independence, political and economic".
See also
In history: 
