Power and Balance of Power

AGP-LW2115
Sanghamitra
POWER
• Harold Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan who define
power as participation in decisions.
• Power, influence, authority and capability are
related terms and often used interchangeably
and loosely.
• The master of statecraft in ancient India- Kautilya
wrote about power in the fourth century B.C as
the “possession of strength” derived from three
elements knowledge, military and valor.
Contd..
• While defining power, Schleicher also makes a
distinction between power and influence.
Power is the ability to make others do what
they otherwise would not do by rewarding or
promising to reward or by depriving or
 threatening to deprive them of something
they value.
• To Robert Dahl power is “ability to shift the
probability of outcomes.”
• According to him, “A has power over B to the
extent that he can get B to do something that
B would not otherwise do”.
• Thus, power is the ability to control the
behavior of the ability to control the behavior
of others in accordance with one’s own
intentions and interests.
 DIMENSIONS OF POWER
• Deutsch gives three dimensions of power that
can be easily measured and that allow analysis
to quantify and rank the actual and protected
capabilities of nation states.
• In brief these dimensions are as follows:
• DOMAIN OF POWER
• Domain answers the question, over which
power is exercised. Power is often exercised
over people, territory and wealth.
• Domain can be divided into internal domain
and external domain. In the context of
international relations only the external
domain is relevant.
• A. RANGE OF POWER
• Deutsch defines range as “the difference
between the highest reward and the worst
punishment which a power-holder can bestow
upon some person in his domain”.
• Range has also internal and external
components within its territory a state may
 control its people by benign and tyrannical
measures.
• Governments can exercise power over their
subjects both through rewards as well as
punishment.
• The rewards include welfare measures,
demarcation rights, facilities etc.
• B. SCOPE OF POWER
• The scope of power, in the words of Deutsch, is
“the set or collection of all the particular kinds of
 classes of behavior, relations and affairs that are
effectively subjected to governmental power”.
• This ‘set of collection’ embraces all the types of
activities a governmental seeks to control,
domestic as well as foreign.
• For example most of the Latin American countries
are economically and politically controlled by the
US albeit they are not its formal colonies.
KINDS OF POWER
• Military strength of a state is known as physical
power. Both USA and USSR were top ranking
powers owing to their military might.
• Government of a state enjoys political power
because of the subordination of the military to
the political authority.
• As a result of rapid technological development,
the physical power of the state is divided among
its different wings such as the armed force, the
air force, the navy and of late, the nuclear force
with its missiles.
• B. PSYCHOLOGICAL POWER
• It is a power over public opinion. It consists of
symbolic devices that are utilized to appeal to
the emotions of men.
• Psychological power is used very tactfully. In
India, the republic day parade of the local
made tanks and weapons is meant to impress
upon the other nations its growing military
power.
• Psychological power is usually employed to
weaken the opponent countries by spreading
 disloyalty among their people and instigating
them against their government.
• C. ECONOMIC POWER
• Economic power is the ability to control the
behavior of other nations by having greater
control over economic goods and services.
• Economic development enhances the capacity of a
nation to influence others through persuasion and also
enables it to resist persuasion and punishment by
others and both of them are the important methods of
power.
• Economically prosperous state possesses the ability to
buy and the ability to sell and both are used to
increase a nation’s power through international trade.
• The developed countries follow that 101 has been
propagated as economic aid policy towards the
developing countries.

ROLE AND USE OF POWER

• Power in international relations may be used by nation
for various purposes, the chief among them are:
• NATIONAL SECURITY
• Defense of its territory and sovereignty is the main
purpose of any modern state.
• National security is the vital national interest as well as
major determinant of foreign policy of every nation.
• Power plays a significant role in achieving this purpose.
Many nations have fought defensive wars. A defensive
war may be pre-emptive or preventive.
• PRESERVING STATUS QUO
• The policy of status quo aims at preserving the
distribution of power prevalent at any time in
history.
• CHANGING STATUS QUO
• Any effort to change the existing 102 distribution
of power in its favor means that state is following
 a policy of imperialism, Alexander, Napoleon,
Hitler and more recently Saddam Hussain used
military power for their expansion.
• USE IN DIPLOMACY
• Diplomats of a powerful country act more
confidently in their diplomatic activities than
diplomats of less powerful states.
• Power helps nations at the negotiation table. The
Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung once wrote:
“political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”.
• Like wise it can be said that diplomatic strength
comes out of political power.
• ENHANCING PRESTIGE
• When the USA tested the atom bombs in the pacific in
1946 she invited a large number of foreign dignitaries
to see the fact that the USA was bombing a group of
ships larger than many of the world’s navies.
• SERVING NATIONAL INTERESTS
• These may be geographical, political, economic, social,
educational, scientific, technical, strategic, and cultural
and so on. Power is thus the main tool used by nations
to fulfill their various national interests.
METHODS OF EXERCISING POWER
• The question arises how a nation can influence
another nation? How can it exercise power?
There are four means and methods by which one
nation can influence or control other as per its
own desire.
• There are:
• 1. Persuasion
• 2. Rewards
• 3. Punishment
• 4. Force
 Contd..
• 1. PERSUATION
• In this method what a nation A does is to
influence another nation B by way of
arguments or superior logic or to redefine the
whole situation so that nation B changes its
mind about what it ought to do.
Contd..
• 2. REWARDS
• The rewards can be material in the shape of
territory, military aid, weapons, troops and training
facilities.
• The rewards may be economic in the form of aid,
loans, grants, capital supply, technical assistance etc.
• Political rewards consist of support for another
nation’s viewpoint in international conferences and
forums.

POWER BASE ELEMENTS

• The various power base elements are:
• 1. Geography 2. Size 3. Location 4. Climate 5.
Topography 6. Natural resources and
availability of raw materials 7. Economic
development 8. Military preparedness 9.
Political structure and leadership 10. Ideology
GEOGRAPHY
• Geo-politician such as sir Halfords Mackinder
(1869-1947), Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan
 (1840-1914), Karl Haushofer (1869-1964) and
Nicholas J. Spykman (1893-1943) attached
great importance to geography.
Contd..
• Mackinder in his “heartland theory” expounded,
“who rules East Europe commands heartland; who
rules heartland commands World Island; and who
rules world island commands the world.”
• Geography, therefore, may be regarded as the most
stable determinant of national power.
• This includes the size of the territory, topography,
location relative to sea, and landmasses relative to
other nations and control of strategic places.

SIZE
• The size of states varies from one state to
another, but the most important factors,
which contribute to its national power, are
the state’s internal organization, its capacity
for foreign political unity and if it is capable of
providing it with the capacity of containing a
 large population and a large varied supply of
natural recourses.
LOCATION
• More important than size is the geo-strategic
location of the state in the sense that,
position of a state in relationship to other
land bodies and to other states which
profoundly affects the culture, economy and
both its military and economic power.
CLIMATE
• It is another geographical feature that plays a
crucial role in determining the national power.
Climate affects the health, temperament and
energy level or the population. It is closely
related to productivity.
TOPOGRAPHY
• It not only determines the density of
population, which a region can support, but
the climate of the land. Wind, rainfalls
temperature and consequently soil conditions
 are influenced by the position of the land, sea
and mountains.
NATURAL RESOURCES AND
AVAILABILITY OF RAW MATERIAS
• Natural resources are available naturally to the
states in the form of soil and its products and
minerals. These in turn help the states to develop
industrially, economically and also military.
• The most noteworthy incident shaking the
international economy was the oil embargo by the
OPEC countries in 1973. Self-sufficiency in food,
 mineral and energy resources has also helped the
United States and Russian foreign policy choices.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• The economic performance of a state in terms of
GNP per capita provides the key to understand the
state’s ability to utilize its natural and human
resources which adds up to its national power and
determines its policy choices and menu.
• However, the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) has forwarded a different view
of development.
 MILITARY PREPAREDNESS
• Military capability is the most determining
factor as far as national power and prestige is
concerned. Russia, the United States and
China have huge army under their command
as compared to Iceland, Costa Rica, Maldives,
Mauritius and other small countries.
POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND
LEADERSHIP
• The political structure of a state and the
nature of the ruling elite determines to a
greater extent the direction and realization of
national polices and also influences the
formulation of foreign policy of a state the
quality of rule is also an important factor in
considering the effectiveness of national
power.
IDEOLOGY
• Ideology is also an important element of
national power. Padelford and Lincoln defined
ideology “as a body of ideas concerning
economic, social and political values and goals
which pose action programme for attaining
their goals.”
MEASUREMENT AND LIMITATIONS
ON POWER
• The major limitations on national power of
each state can be discussed as under:
• 1. Balance of power
• 2. International law
• 3. The world public opinion
• 4. International morality
• 5. Disarmament and arms control
• 6. International organization
BALANCE OF POWER
• Balance of power is one of the oldest concepts of
international relations.
• The presence of states with varying degrees of power makes
it necessary to study the pattern of relationship among them.
• If one goes by the realist assumption, the international
system is unrestrained and unprotected by any international
government, where states have to look after their own
national interests and, obviously, national security thereby
including insecurity in others.
• Contemporary writers have called this theory ‘a basic
principle of international relations’, ‘a fundamental law of
politics’.

DEFINITION
• George Schwarzenberger (1951) viewed balance of power as
“equilibrium’ or a certain amount of stability in international
relations.”
• According to Professor Sidney B. Fay (1937), balance of
power is such a “just equilibrium in power among the
members of the family of nations as will prevent any one of
them from becoming sufficiently strong to enforce its will
upon others.”
• Castlereagh referred to balance of power as “the
maintenance of such a just equilibrium between the
members of the family of nations as should prevent any of
them becoming sufficiently strong to impose its will upon the
rest.”
 Contd..
Dyke- “ The prime object of the balancing of power is to
establish or maintain such a distribution of power
among states as will prevent any one of them from
imposing its will upon another by the threat or use of
violence .”
Palmer and Perkins- “ The concept of power assumes
that through shifting alliances and countervailing
pressures no one power or combination of powers
will be allowed to grow so strong as to threaten the
security of the rest.”
 Contd..
• Power was distributed in such a way that each state was able
to balance the others. In theory, if any state tried to increase
its power, thereby posing a threat, all the others would unite
to prevent it.
• This was what came to be known as the balance of power.
• In such a case, the balancing power, either by one single
nation or by a group of nations, will prevent any particular
nation, from imposing its will upon others.
• If state A increases its power, state B must try to equalize it. If
B alone cannot match A’s might, it can join other states and
together they can offset the power of A.
 Basic assumptions
• Quincy Wright has enumerated five major
assumptions:
• 1. First assumption is that states are
committed to protect their vital interest by all
possible means including war, though it is up
to each nation to decide what its vital interest
are and which methods it would adopt to
protect them.
Contd..
• The second underlying assumption is that the
vital interests of states are or may be
threatened. If not threatened, no need for
state to protect them.
Contd..
• The third assumption is that balance of power
helps the protection of vital interest either by
threatening other states with committing
aggression or by enabling the victim to
achieve victory in case an aggression occurs.
 Contd..
• The fourth assumption is that the relative
power position of various states can be
measured to a great degree of accuracy and
that this measurement can be utilized in
balancing the world forces in one’s own favor.
• The fifth assumption is that statesmen
formulate their foreign policy decisions on the
basis of an intelligent understanding of power
considerations.
 NATURE OF BALANCE OF POWER
• 1. Equilibrium
• 2. Temporary and Unstable
• 3. Active intervention
• 4. War tests the efficacy of BoP
• 5.Big power game
• 6. Requires Multiple States
• 7.National Interest is the priority

Contd..
• 1. Some Sort of Equilibrium in Power
Relations:
• The term Balance of Power suggests
‘equilibrium which is subject to constant,
ceaseless change. In short, though it stands
for equilibrium, it also involves some
disequilibrium. That is why scholars define it
as a just equilibriums or some sort of
equilibrium in power relations.
Contd…
• Temporary and Unstable:
• In practice a balance of power always proves
to be temporary and unstable. A particular
balance of power survives only for a short
time.
Contd…
• To be Actively Achieved:
• The balance of power has to be achieved by
the active intervention of men. It is not a gift
of God. States cannot afford to wait until it
 “happens”. They have to secure it through
their efforts.
• Favours Status quo:
• Balance of power favours status quo in power
positions of major powers. It seeks to
maintain a balance in their power relations.
However, in order to be effective, a foreign
policy of balance of power must be changing
and dynamic.
• The Test of BOP is War:
• A real balance of power seldom exists. The
only test of a balance is war and when war
breaks out the balance comes to an end. War
is a situation which balance of power seeks to
prevent and when it breaks out, balance
power comes to an end.
• Not a Device of Peace:
• Balance of Power is not a primary device of
peace because it admits war as a means for
maintaining balance.
 THE PREREQUISITES FOR BALANCE
OF POWER
• A. A multiplicity of states.
• B. Absence of a centralized legitimate and
strong authority over these sovereign actors.
C. Relatively unequal distribution of national
power
• D. Requirement of a balancing power
• E. Perpetuation of existing power distribution
which benefits the balancer nations mutually,
i.e., status quo.
TYPES OF BALANCE OF POWER
• The balance of power has the following forms:
1) Simple balance
• 2) Multiple balance
• 3) Local, regional and global
• 4) Flexible and rigid
 Contd..
• 1. SIMPLE BALANCE If power is concentrated
in two states or in two opposing camps, the
balance of power is said to be simple. The
chief characteristics of this type are that states
or group of states are divided into two camps
like the two scales of the balance. In simple
balance of power distribution between two
opposing camps is almost equal.
Contd..
• 2. MULTIPLE BALANCE : When there is a wide
dispersal of power among states and a
number of states or groups of states balance
each other, the balance is called multiple or
complex. A simple balance may turn into a
multiple or complex balance and vice versa.
Contd..
• 3. LOCAL, REGIONAL AND GLOBAL
• Balances may, terms of their geographical
coverage, be spoken of as local, regional and
 global. The balance is local, if it is at local level,
like we may speak of the balance of power
between India and Pakistan.
Contd..
• 4. FLEXIBLE AND RIGID
• Sometimes, balances have also been known as rigid
or flexible.
• In the monarchical days when princes could make
sudden and radical shifts in their alliances, the
balance was generally flexible. With the coming of
ideologies and greater economic interdependence,
 patterns of balance of power have tended to become
rigid.

TECHNIQUES/DEVICES AND
METHODS
• Writers on international politics have generally identified six
various ways in which nations try to maintain balance of
power in their favor.

• 1. Amassing of armaments
• Whenever a nation increases its military power base its rival
and opponent nations try to match it up with similar scramble
for more military weapons. The present state of increasing
 budget allocations for more armament including nuclear
weapons among great powers is an indication of gaining an
edge over others in military strength and power.

Contd..
• 2. To seize more and more territory
• Whenever this method is used, a nation
increases its power unless nations on the
other side take immediate steps to increase
their own power also. Sometimes it so
happens that a powerful nation which can
swallow a smaller nation may have to share
 the territory of the smaller nation in question
amongst other rival nations.
• 3. Establishing a Neutral buffer state
• The third way is to set up such a neutral buffer state which is weak and
which is situated between two large and unfriendly nations.
• Geo-strategically, some states may be placed in between some powerful
states in such a way that they tend to keep rival powers out of direct
contact with each other.

Contd..
• They come to constitute a buffer between the two. Palmer
and Perkins point out those buffer states are of great
 importance because of their cushioning effect between the
great powers.
• They may be neutral or neutralized states, satellite states or
dependent territories. The function of such a buffer state is to
keep the large unfriendly nations apart and thus minimize the
chances of war between them. For example, Poland was a
buffer between Russia and Germany; Tibet was also a buffer
between China and India during the British India and even
during the initial period of independence of India.

Contd..
• 4. Alliances and counter alliances
• These are the most commonly used devices for maintaining
the balance of power.
• If one state increases its strength, its adversaries have no
other option but to balance it by forming coalitions against it.
• This has happened quite often in Europe. Coalitions of one
group of states may be met by counter coalitions formed by
another group of states.
• Twentieth century Europe witnessed formation of two such
coalitions and counter- coalitions- Triple entente and Triple
alliances. Alliances can be both offensive and defensive and
even a world balance or a regional balance.

Contd..
• 5. Intervention
• Nations always choose new friends and allies as dictated by
their self interest.
• As such, it often happens that a major nation tries to regain a
lost ally or pick up a new ally by intervening in the internal
affairs of a smaller country and establishing there a friendly
government.
• History is a witness to many such interventions by the great
powers. During the cold war period and after the post cold
war period America and Russia have intervened in many
countries to protect their own interest.

Contd..
• 6. Altering the distribution of power by
detaching allies from the opposite side
• There is a method of altering the distribution of
power by detaching allies from the opposite side,
compelling them either into neutrality or isolated
position or winning their friendship.
• Britain has pursued this policy with great success in
many of her colonies. Soviet Union and America
pursued this policy during the cold war. Even today
great powers try to pursue this policy through
various ways to win friends.
 Critical Evaluation
• Arguments in Favor of the usefulness of BoP as a tool
to maintain international peace and stability are as
follows:
• i) BoP is a source of stability in international system.
Fredric Geniz remarked “BoP has many a times
prevented a war. War breaks out only when any state
assumes excessive power”.
• ii) It aids in adjustments and readjustments so as to
prevent the outbreak of war.
 Contd..
• iii) Multiple states participate to maintain the status quo and
it often leads to bipolarity or multipolarity in the international
system.
• iv) Small states enjoy the public goods such as law and order,
international peace, security being offered in the balance.
• v) It discourages war. Usually a counter alliance exists to
counter the threat of a hegemonic alliance. A strong
opposition limits the excessive power of either party.
• vi) It is a source of peace and world order. From 1815-1914, it
successfully prevented war
 Contd..
• Arguments not in favour of BoP are:
• i) BoP lost its relevance in the 1990s as the world
became unipolar. In military terms, the world
remains unipolar and USA is the hegemon. No group
of countries can balance the US as of now.
• ii) BoP is not an adequate and efficient way of
maintaining order in international society. It
inculcates a sense of fear.
• iii) BoP is an uncertain and fragile arrangment. As it is
based on fear and insecurity looms large.
• iv) States are not usually free to break alliances.
Contd..
• v) It’s not real peace. International peace is
based on morality and protection of human
rights. Peace in BoP is based on constant fear
of conflict.
• vi) States are not static. Their powers keep
expanding or reducing which can, and does,
threatens the precariousness of BoP.
Is BOP Still Relevant?
• International relations have undergone a sea change.
Earlier, European states ruled the roost. Now the
emergence of various powers in Asia, Africa and Latin
America has abated the supremacy of major powers
making BoP principle redundant.
• Secondly, the end of imperialism and colonialism also
contributed to the decline of European powers who
were the major players in BoP.

Contd..
• Third, the balancer has disappeared from the
international arena. Britain had done this job
earlier.
• Fourth, proliferation of nuclear weapons has
created a dreadful situation. Their use can
lead to a catastrophic war that can cause
irreversible change. How do you balance a
nuclear power? The nations no longer want a
total war. Sadly, Balance of Power keeps the
option of war open
Contd..
• Fifth, the emergence of United Nations and other
international and regional actors have played an
important role in diffusing tensions and contributing
to harmony and peace.
• BoP belongs to the era when international
organizations did not exist. But BoP has not become
completely obsolete.
• From international arena, it has shifted to regional
area. Critics of BoP like Martin Wright and Friendrich
admit that BoP is still a fundamental element in
international relations.