5.

BALANCE OF POWER
(Political Science,Degree Part-III,Paper-VI)
Gangesh Kumar Jha
Assistant Professor
Deptt. of Political Science
Marwari College,Darbhanga

MEANING
It has been traditionally the most powerful device of power management. In
Kautilya’s Arthashastra, we find a full fledged development of the concept of
balance of power.
DEFINITIONS
• Sidney B.Fay, “ it is such a ‘just equilibrium’ in power among the
family of nations as will prevent any one of them from becoming
sufficiently strong to enforce its will upon the others.”
• George Schwarzenberger, “it is‘equilibrium’ or ‘a certain amount of
stability in power relations’ that under favorable conditions is produced
by an alliance of states or by other devices. Balance of Power is of
universal application wherever a number of sovereign and armed
states co-exist.”
• Hans J.Morganthau, “it refers to an actual state of affairs in which
power is distributed among nations with approximate equality.”

NATURE OR CHARACTERISTICS
• It signifies some sort of equilibrium in power relations which is subject
to constant ceaseless change.
• It is temporary and unstable
• It is to be achieved by the active intervention of men.
• Favors status quo
• A real balance of power seldom exists. It comes to an end when war
breaks out.
• The objective view of historians holds balance of power as a situation
in which the opposing nations or groups of nations are almost equal in
 power. The subjective view of a statesman holds BoP as a situation
involving freedom to join one side other according to its own interests.
• It is not a device of peace but admits war as the means for securing
balance.
• In it, the big powers are the actors and the small powers are either the
spectators or the victims of the game.
• Multiplicity of states and not eliminating anyone in a war are the two
fundamental features of the BoP.
• National interest is its basis.
• Security and peace are the main purposes of the BoP.
METHODS OF BALANCE OF POWER
• COMPENSATION – it usually entails the annexation or division of the
territory of the state whose power is considered dangerous for the
balance.
• ALLIANCES – it is a device by which a combination of nations creates
a favorable BoP by concluding military or security pacts or treaties
aimed at augmenting their own strength vis-à-vis the power of their
opponents. An offensive alliance seeks to upset the balance in favor of
its embers whereas; the defensive alliance seeks to maintain balance
which is in favor of its members.
• INTERVENTION AND NON-INTERVENTION – intervention is a
dictatorial interference into the internal affairs of states with a view to
change or maintain a particular desired situation. Non-intervention
involves deliberate non-action in a particular situation which is
considered to be harmful to the other competing opponents.
• DIVIDE AND RULE – it has been resorted to by all such nations who
try to make or keep their competitors weak by keeping them divided
or by dividing them.
• BUFFER STATES OR ZONES – the major function of a buffer is to
keep the two powerful nations apart and thus minimize the chances of
clash and hence to help the maintenance of balance.
• ARMAMENTS AND DISARMAMENTS – armaments are used as the
means for maintaining or securing the favorable position in power
relations in the world. Now-a-days, disarmaments and arms control
are regarded as ideal devices for maintaining world peace and
security.
• THE BALANCER – the balancer is a nation or group of nations which
remains aloof from the policies of the two rivals and the opponents
 and plays the role of ‘the laughing third party’. Each contending party
tries to win over the support of the balancer. If any party to the
balance becomes unduly weak resulting into a threat to the balance,
the balancer joins it and helps the restoration of balance.
MERITS OF BALANCE OF POWER
• It is a source of stability in international relations
• It helps continuous adjustments and readjustments in relations
without any grave risk of war among nations.
• It ensures multiplicity of states.
• It guarantees the freedom of small states.
• It discourages war.
• It checks imperialism
• It is a source of peace in international relations
DEMERITS OF BALANCE OF POWER
• BoP cannot ensure peace. In fact several wars were fought in the
name of preservation of BoP.
• Preponderance of one power can also secure peace.
• It has a narrow basis. It fails to give proper weight age to other socio-
economic, cultural and moral factors.
• Equality of number of states is a myth
• Nations are not free to break alliances at their will.
• It is uncertain1.
RELEVANCE OF BALANCE OF POWER
The following structural changes in the international relations have adversely
affected the role of BoP –
• End of European domination of international politics
• The rise of propaganda, psychological and political warfare as
instruments of national policy
• Emergence of ideology as a key factor in post war international
relations
• Reduction in the number of major powers.

1
Bull, The Anarchical Society, p.58
 • The emergence of bipolarity and its recent transformation into
unipolarity
• The disappearance of imperialism and colonialism
• Disappearance of the ‘balancer’
• The change in the concept of war like ‘total war’.
• Emergence of global actors’ like UN.
Many of its critics like Earnest Haas 2 , A. Appadorai and others go to the
extent of describing it as a totally obsolete concept. But the concept of BoP
despite having lost much of its validity is still a meaningful concept. Palmer
and Perkins make an optimistic prediction about the continuance of BoP. To
quote them, “as long as the nation states system is the prevailing pattern of
international society, BoP policies will be followed in practice, however
roundly they are damned in theory.”

2
Haas and Whiting, Dynamics of International Relations