History of concept „balance of power” in International Relations

The paper focuses on a major question: should we abandon balance of power theory or seek to amend it in light many recent challenges? Author also raises crucial conceptual concerns: how should we define concepts such as „balancing”, „the balance of power”, and „balance of power theory”? Article elaborates a distinction between three related theories: balance of power theory, theories of power balances, and theories of balancing. In section II author discuss the concept balance of power in works of Edmund Burke. In section III he presents a survey of three historical international systems: ancient Middle Eastern system, the Greek city-state system and ancient China system. The weight of historical evidence casts significant doubt on the balancing efforts. This evidence shows that balancing processes rarely blocked the emergence of a prominent power or undermined it once it came into being. The balancing dynamics often failed in the face of the logics of domination. The balance of power theory is metaphor for the peculiar, impersonal form through which our collective human agency is expressed in the history of international relations. If and when it do disappear it will be through a process of social transformation, not one of cognitive reformulation. Balance of power theory must not any longer be the integrating theory of international relations.The paper focuses on a major question: should we abandon balance of power theory or seek to amend it in light many recent challenges? Author also raises crucial conceptual concerns: how should we define concepts such as „balancing”, „the balance of power”, and „balance of power theory”? Article elaborates a distinction between three related theories: balance of power theory, theories of power balances, and theories of balancing. In section II author discuss the concept balance of power in works of Edmund Burke. In section III he presents a survey of three historical international systems: ancient Middle Eastern system, the Greek city-state system and ancient China system. The weight of historical evidence casts significant doubt on the balancing efforts. This evidence shows that balancing processes rarely blocked the emergence of a prominent power or undermined it once it came into being. The balancing dynamics often failed in the face of the logics of domination. The balance of power theory is metaphor for the peculiar, impersonal form through which our collective human agency is expressed in the history of international relations. If and when it do disappear it will be through a process of social transformation, not one of cognitive reformulation. Balance of power theory must not any longer be the integrating theory of international relations