Introduction
Balance of power theory has been the focal point of international relations (IR) political theory, especially concerning the various generations of realism – one of the main theories in this field of academic study. Under realism – classical realism, structural realism, and neoclassical realism – the three “generations” of the theory, power remains a major consideration in any calculation. For any scholar seeking to oppose the arguments of realists, balance of power is an important point of rebuttal or repurposing in order to undercut a power-centric position.
Thus, balance of power has been used in a variety of ways with a range of different definitions. Most revolve around the idea of balancing the amount and accumulation of power among great powers in world politics. Past events – such as World War II between 1939 and 1945 – have pointed to the importance of understanding balance of power as a consistently fluid process that affects systems drastically through...
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References
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Further Reading
Fearon, J. D. (1994). Signaling versus the balance of power and interests: An empirical test of a crisis bargaining model. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 38(2), 236–269.
Schweller, R. L. (1998). Deadly imbalances: Tripolarity and Hitler’s strategy of world conquest. New York: Columbia University Press.
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Duerr, G.M.E., Wilt, M. (2019). Balance of Power. In: Romaniuk, S., Thapa, M., Marton, P. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Security Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74336-3_4-1
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