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OF THE
BALANCE
OF POWER
CONCEPT
443
One writeris certain the concept holds the key to understanding modern history;the other is equally convinced that it never
had any actual historical existence at all. Other analysts-forinstance, Gulick-are willing to concede that
datingback
history
Balanceofpowerpoliciestodayhavea continuous
to the time of the Italian Renaissance....
of the nation-states,
restof Europe in the wake of the development
and soonbecameone of thecardinaltenetsof diplomacythroughout
theWest.
On the other hand, the same writershasten to demonstratethat
the theory of the balance of power-theories, would be more
accurate-is not only illogical, but fallacious because it cannot
efficientlyrealize policy aims, and harmful because it runs
counter to moral law.8 And, finally,while Gulick considers the
theoryas having a definite historical reality but as being fallacious, a very large number of writers since the Renaissance
have not only insisted on the fact that the theoryhas been the
mainspring of actual diplomatic decisions, but have concerned
1 W. Stubbs, Seventeen Lectures on the Study of Medieval and Modern History,
Oxford, i886, p. 225.
2R. Cobden, Political Writings,London, 1878, pp. 111-14.
3 E. V. Gulick, The Balance of Power, Philadelphia, 1943, pp. 14-15; A. F. Pollard,
"The Balance of Power," Journal of the British Institute on International Affairs,it
(1923), pp. 6off.
444
WORLD POLITICS
themselves
withperfecting
over-alltheoriesof internationalrelationson thebasisofthebalanceofpower.That theuse ofboth
thetermand thetheoryis notfreefromsemanticdifficulties
has
not escaped the attentionof AlfredStern,forone. Sternnoted
that the term,in one breath,is used to describean objective
stateofaffairs,
whilein thenextit impliesa guide to themaking
offoreignpolicy.In one instanceit meansan equalityof power,
in thenexta slightsuperiority,
in thewordsof thesamespeaker
or writer."Usuallythe tendencyis to use it in the formersense
in peace time and in the latterduring a time of diplomatic
crisisor warfare,"concludesStern.4Clearly,the meaningof the
termis obscuredby thevaryingintentionsof writersemploying
it. Apologistsfora givenpolicyare likelyto resortto one meaning,whileadvocatesof a radicallynew policytendto emphasize
others.The veryvaguenessof the termcommendsits application in the rough-and-tumble
of policy-making
in a democracy.
These multifarious
usageshave givenrise to severalattempts
to classifyboth the meaningsof the termand the theoriesassociated with them. Thus Bucher, investigating
only its philologicalmeanings,reachedtheconclusionthatthetermhas three
connotations:"balance" meaningan exact equalityof political
forces,in a two-state
system;"balance" meaningthe existence,
in a three-state
system,of twoapproximately
equal forces,with
a thirdone "holdingthebalance,"i.e., enablingwhicheverside
it decides to join to win the conflict;and "balance" meaning
the same thing as hegemony,contradictory
though this may
sound.5Kaeber analyzedthe contentof numerousformulations
of the theoryand thoughtthatthisgeneralclassification
is adequate: theoriesstatingthe termto mean the exact equalityof
two contendingstates,or statesystems;theoriesimplyingsuch
a distributionof power,in a multi-state
system,thatno single
to overawethe otherstates;
statewould be able, withimpunity,
and "balance" meaningthe existenceof two contendingstate
witha thirdstateagain "holdingthe balance."6
systems,
4 A. Stern, "Das politische Gleichgewicht," Archiv fur Politik und Geschichte, iv
(1923), pp. 48-49.
5 L. Bucher, "Yiber politische Kunstausdrficke. II. Politisches Gleichgewicht,"
DeutscheRevue,xii (i887), pp. 333-39.
in derpublizistischen
6 E. Kaeber,Die Idee desEuropiischenGleichgewichts
Literatur
445
446
WORLD POLITICS
CLASSIFICATION
OF VERBAL MEANINGS
447
448
WORLD POLITICS
18
449
These formulations
of the balance of power as a purelyexternaland international
equilibriumbetweencontendingstates
or blocs of statestake no accountof the possibleexistenceof a
similarrelationship
betweencontendinggroupswithinthestate.
Such an addition to the theory,however,was furnishedby
HaroldLasswell.'6Lasswellspeaksofa balancingofpowerrather
than a "balance," since the attempttowardequilibrium can
neverbe a whollysuccessfulone, owing to various non-objective factorswhich interferewith scientificbalancing.Lasswell
rounds out the conventionalpresentationof the search for
equilibriumby pointingto the domesticpolitical processas
a parallel spectacle.Furthermore,
offering
he establishesa relationshipbetween the domesticand internationalbalancing
processesby describingliaison and support between various
societal groups in one state,workingwith or againstcertain
othergroupsin theopposingstateor in the"balancer state.
(3) Balance meaning"Hegemony."This analysisleads easily
to the meaningof balance of power equivalent to hegemony.
Examplesfromthe literatureare numerousand only two will
be given: one fromthe eighteenthcenturyand one modern.
Thus, the Count of Hauterive,a pamphleteerforNapoleon I,
arguedthatthe balance of powerdemandedNapoleon's breaking the Treaty of Campo Formio,to enable France to bring
about a confederation
of the continentagainstEngland and in
thisway reduce the hegemonialsuperiorityof Britainon the
seas and, incidentally,
And
establishthe hegemonyof France.17
Pollard, op.cit., p. 59 (italics in original).
H. D. Lasswell, World Politics and Personal Insecurity,New York, 1935,ch. II.
17 Hauterive, De l'tat de la France a' la fin de l'an VIII, cited in Stern, op.cit.,
p. 32.
15
16
WORLD POLITICS
450
Should equilibrium be attained at one point, it would immediately be wiped out by the search for slight superiority.
19N. Spykman,America's Strategyin World Politics, New York, 1942, pp. 21-25.
F. G. Leckie, An Historical Research into the Nature of the Balance of Power
in Europe,London,1817, pp. 4, 242ff., 292, 303,35off.
20
451
21 0.
22 D.
WORLD POLITICS
452
453
force, there is bound to be a "balance" of states seeking aggrandizementand states opposing that search. In Frederick L.
Schuman's version of the balance, there is a tendency for all
revisioniststates to line up against the ones anxious to conserve
given treaties,and in ProfessorMorgenthau's analysis the "imperialistic" states tend to line up against those defending the
status quo, producing a balance in the process.27It is often inherent in this formulationto consider Europe as a great "confederation" unified by homogeneous morals and religion and
tied togetherby internationallaw. The balance of power struggle, equally, is part of that systemand tends toward its preservation by avoiding the hegemony of a single member. And, of
course, it is in this formulation that the analogy to the mechanical balance is most frequentlyfound. As Rousseau put it:
The nationsof Europe formamong themselvesa tacit nation.... The
actual systemof Europe has precisely the degree of solidity which
maintainsit in a constantstate of motion without upsettingit. The
balance existingbetween the power of these diverse membersof the
European societyis more the work of nature than of art. It maintains
itselfwithouteffort,in such a manner that if it sinks on one side, it
reestablishes itself very soon on the other....
454
WORLD POLITICS
I, pp.
19-20,
30-35.
455
I, pp.
456
WORLD POLITICS
grandizement
ofonemaymeantheruinand subjectionofall theother
neighbors.... This attention
to themaintenance
of a kindof equality
and equilibriumbetweenneighboring
statesis whatassurespeace for
all.34
457
458
WORLD POLITICS
would immediately
resultin thecoalitionof theotherstatesinto
an opposingalliance.The ever-present
readinessto do just that
and theconstantvigilancedeclarednecessaryto preventanyone
state'shegemonywould in themselves
producethissystemof the
balance of power.It is at thispoint thatthe theorygrowsmore
fanciful.The earlierdoctrines,based on the guide-and-system
idea, contentedthemselveswith the so-calledsimple balance.
The analogyis thatof a pair of scales,and the suppositionwas
thattherewould be onlytwomajor states,withtheirsatellites,
in the "system."The idea of a strictphysicalequilibrium-or
slighthegemony-wouldthen apply. Later doctrines,however,
introducedthe notionof the complexbalance, on the analogy
of the chandelier.More than two states,plus satellites,were
postulated,and the necessityforpreservingthe freedomof all
fromthelust fordominanceby any one was thoughtto involve
thesettingintomotionofvariousweightsand counterweights
on
all sides of the chandelier.It is thissystemwhichis closelyrelated to the idea of the "balancer,"introducedinto the theory
by Britishwritersduringthe seventeenthcenturyand a commonplacein the eighteenth.It implied,of course,the existence
ofpowerssufficiently
unconcernedby themeritsofwhateverthe
issue of the crisiswas to be willing to "add theirweight"to
whicheverside was the weaker,and thus preventthe possible
victory-andimplied hegemony-ofthe stronger.The balance
of powerconsideredas a guide was the reasoningprocessat the
base of the system.40
MEANINGS
AND THE
INTENTIONS
OF
USERS
459
just as the emphasis on collective securityand Wilsonian liberalism in internationalrelations tends to exclude discussion of the
balance of power-either as irrelevantor else as undesirable-for
essentiallyideological reasons,so can the application of the term
by its proponents vary with their ideological, theoretical, and
practical preoccupations. An attemptwill thereforebe made to
correlate the application of various usages of the term with the
intentionsof its users,at least insofaras these intentionsmay be
ascertained fromthe context of the writingsand statementsexamined. Four areas of intention can thus be distinguished: a
purely descriptive intent; a conscious or unconscious propagandistic intent; an intention of using the term as an analytical
concept in the development of a theory of international relations; and an intention of using the term as a guide to foreign
policy-making.
BALANCE OF POWER AS DESCRIPTION
WORLD
460
POLITICS
OF POWER
AS PROPAGANDA
AND "IDEOLOGY"
461
doubt that at certain times the concept of balance was an extremelypopular one, whether it was used for policy-makingor
not. If used in a patently forced manner, the term becomes
indistinguishable from plain propaganda. Of this particular
usage some strikingexamples may be cited.
Thus, the anonymous author of the Relative State of Great
Britain in i8I3 saw fitto make the phrase cover the total complex of his social, economic, moral, and political predilections:
The Frenchrevolutionbeingfoundedin the principleof depraving
thehumanheartand feeling(as theAmericanRepublic
and reversing
and calculationof gain),it is not difis builtupon frigidindifference
ficultto perceivehow everything
whichtendedto preservethe bond
and
and thereciprocity
of benefits
of sacredness
of nationalcontracts,
engagements-howhistory,and memoryitself,became objects of
hatredand jealousy,and organizedassaultand hostility-andhow the
theviewsof
opposedand threatened
balanceof power,in particular,
and the viewsof
France,whichwereto ruin and destroyeverything,
upon theruinand destruction
Americato makeprofitand percentage
of everything.
Nor is it easy to pronouncea justeror morehappy
reand immediately
thanwhatevidently
upon thatsystem,
panegyric
sultsfromtheforcedand unnaturalcoalitionof suchpowersas these
and the comand despotism),
of democracy
(theveryworstextremes
to have discoveredin
mon interesttheirleadersconceivethemselves
it.
extinguishing
The depraved ideology of France and the United States seemed
here to be identifiedwith the upsettingof the balance of power.
And the re-establishmentof the balance would be the means to
end thisdeplorable state of morality:
thatI am able to form
For mypart,I shall neverblush to confess,
in anypeace thatshallhave no guaranof anysecurity
no conception
and partitionof
withouta distribution
tees-any effectual
guarantee,
force,adjustedby politicalallianceand combination-ofanydefense
forthatdistribution
withouta permanent
and recognized
or protection
of publiclaw,and a real or reputedbalanceof poweramongst
system
the severalstatesit embraces.42
This treatment,then, identifiesthe balance of power with the
kind of world conditions,in their totality,which the author desires. The fact that domestic, moral, and ideological factorsare
haphazardlymixed up with considerationsof pure power seems
not to have made any difference.
42
18I3,
London,
462
WORLD POLITICS
This invocationof the balance of powerwas no more propagandistic,however,than the use made of it by FriedrichWilhelm II in the Declarationof Pillnitz,June 25, 1792, which
constitutedthe manifestoof the allied monarchsattacking
France:
There was no powerinterested
in maintaining
the Europeanbalance
whichcouldbe indifferent
whentheKingdomofFrance,whichformed
sucha considerable
weightin thatgreatbalance,wasdeliveredforlong
periodsoftimeto internalagitationand to thehorrors
ofdisorderand
anarchy,
which,so to speak,havenullified
itspoliticalexistence.43
But the era of the Revolution and the Empire by no means provided the only examples of this type of application. It enjoyed a
renaissanceduringWorld War I. Then F. J. Schmidt,forinstance,
asserted that "Germany has the historical call to realize the
idea of the balance of power in all its territorialand maritime
consequences."44And as detached a scholaras FriedrichMeinecke
argued that the peace treatyshould establish a "new balance of
power" instead of depriving Germany of all her conquests.45
Nor was the invocationof the balance by Louis XIV much differentwhen he used it to justifythe accessionof his grandson
to the throneof Spain, nor Fleury'suse of it when he called
upon itsabsolvingforceto explain France'sattackon the Prag-
463
464
WORLD POLITICS
All this,Justiargues,means thatthe whole conceptis impossible.49 And again, he urges what he considers the real raison
d'etreof the usage, thus,incidentally,comingperilouslyclose
to characterizing
thebalanceofpoweras a purelypropagandistic
device:
When a statewhichhas grownmorepowerfulinternallyis attacked...
real or imaginary,
ing but theirprivateinterests,
and theyare far
frombeingguidedby a chimerical
balanceof power.Name one state
in a war contrary
whichhas participated
to its interests
or withouta
specific
interest,
onlyto maintain.the
balanceof power.50
p. 6b.
465
466
WORLD POLITICS
behavior pattern in internationalrelations. In the present context the reverse is true. Lasswell, in speaking of the "balancing
process," forinstance,assumes that under conditions of expected
future violence-domestic as well as international-any increase
in the coercion potential of one power unit will lead to a
compensatoryincrease in the competing unit or units. Further
increaseson the part of one side will always bring corresponding
increases on the part of its competitors,so that in effecta rough
equality of power potential will always prevail, a factorwhich
may make for either open conflictor induce fear of refraining
fromhostilities,depending on circumstances,the nature of the
elites in question, and the accuracy of intelligence reports concerning the degree of "balancing." The analytical application
of the equilibrium-meaning of the balance of power, in short,
generalizes the basic assumption of the absence of international
consensus and the consequent inherentpresence of conflictinto
a pattern of balancing.
Carrying the equilibrium-meaning one step furtherresults
in the application of the balance of power concept as implying
the search for hegemony.This application again findsits counterpartin the intentionsof detached analystsstrivingfor a generalized understanding of phenomena rather than for description. Spykman, as demonstrated above, clearly sets forth the
assumptions of this approach. His argument is that the search
for power by sovereign states is an end in itself,since conflictactual or potential-is the only consistentpatternin relations between state units. While the search forpower originallyimplied
a generalized desire for powerthe desire for self-preservation,
time
a
of
convertsthis process into an
over
seeking
long period
end in itself. On this level, the discussion of the balance of
power is identical with power politics generally.As in the case
of Lasswell's balancing process,however,the generalized process
of competitivepower-seekingmust result in equilibrium if war
is avoided-temporarily. But statesmen,as indicated above, seek
a margin of safetyin superiorityof power and not in equality
of power. Hence the search forequilibrium in effectis the search
forhegemony,and the balance of power as an analytical concept
becomes anothertermforthe simultaneoussearch forpreponder-
467
In thisrefinedanalysis,the balance of powercomesto be consideredas a special case-eitherin its equilibriumor its hegemony connotation-in the general pattern of power politics,
1-21,
103-4.
468
WORLD POLITICS
assumea consciousintentionon the part of statesmento "balance power with power" in a sense which would imply the
official
acceptanceofa balanceof powertheoryby governments.
Statesmen,to be sure, may be consciouslymotivatedby balancing notions.But, if theyare not, the policies which they
would mostlogicallyadopt would be thoseconsistentwith the
balanceofpower.As Professor
Morgenthauindicates,if theyfail
to do so, theydo not make "logical" policyand therebyviolate
historically
provenand generalizedmodesof conduct.The distinctivefeatureabout the balance of powerapplied as a tool of
analysis,then,is its possibleseparationfromthe motivationsof
governments.
BALANCE OF POWER AS PRESCRIPTION
469
isolated statesno longer exist . . . it is the societyof states,this imworld,which has to be watched
portantconditionof the contemporary
carefully.Thus each state, in addition to its particular interests,has
certain common interests,either with the totalityof the other states
or with certain groups among them. The great axioms of political
science derive from the understanding of real political interests,
of all states; the guarantee for their existence rests in these general interests,whereas particular interests. . . only possess a relative and secondaryvalue. Historyteachesthat wheneverthe particular
interestsof one stateare in contradictionwith the general interestand
wheneverthe latter is neglectedor misunderstood,this condition . . .
is to be regarded as exceptional and pathological. . . . The modern
world is characterized,in distinctionto the old world, by a tendency
of statesto approach one another and to enter into the bonds of society in some manner; so that the resultingbond rests on the same
foundationsas the great societywhich developed in the shadow of
Christianity.This foundation consistsof the command of the Book
of Books: "Do not do unto otherswhat you would not have others
470
WORLD POLITICS
This formulationof internationalrelations in general as necessary and close rapport between the states of Europe, which he
regarded in the then customarymanner as so many atoms in a
universe held togetherby Christian moral rules and the dictates
of internationallaw, and of the balance of power as the ad hoc
regulating mechanism of this system,is in almost all respects
identical with the formulation of Ancillon, of Castlereagh, of
Brougham, and of Gentz. Thus Ancillon, Prussian court chaplain in the 182o's, tutor to Frederick William IV, and State
SecretaryforForeign Affairsfrom 1832 until i 835, argued:
All forces are similar to the nature of expanding bodies; thus, in
the societyof large states in which law does not enjoy an external
guarantee, we take as our point of departure the possible or even
probable misuse of force.What will be the result? Mutual distrust,
fear and restlessness,
always recurringand always effective.Each state
can have no other maxims in its external relations than these: whoever can do us damage throughan excessivebalance of power in his
favor,or throughhis geographicalposition,is our natural enemy,but
whoeverin view of his position and forcesis able to harm our enemy,
is our natural friend.These simple maxims which the need for selfpreservationhas given to man, are and have been at all times the
anchorson which all of politicsrests.56
471
472
WORLD POLITICS
of thetheoryof thebalance of power.In his essayon "The Balance of Power,"writtenin 1803,he urgedthatthe balance was
the only tenable theoryof internationalrelations.He defined
it in the same termsas Gentzand Ancillonand added:
Had it not been forthat wholesomejealousy of rival neighbors,which
modern politicianshave learned to cherish,how many conquests and
changesof dominionwould have takenplace, insteadof wars,in which
some lives were lost,not perhaps the most valuable in the community,
and some superfluousmillions were squandered! How many fair portions of the globe mighthave been deluged in blood, instead of some
hundreds of sailors fightingharmlesslyon the barren plains of the
ocean, and some thousands of soldiers carryingon a scientificand
regular and quiet systemof warfare in countries set apart for the
purpose, and resortedto as the arena where the disputes of nations
mightbe determined.
473
64 Ibid.,
474
WORLD POLITICS
AND THEIR
OF
SIGNIFICANCE
INTERNATIONAL
TO A THEORY
RELATIONS
475
am indebtedforthissuggestion
OliverJ. Lissitzyn.
to professor
476
WORLD POLITICS
477