Balance of Power Theory

Theory guides the course of research and affects our understanding of the world by prioritizing the problems to be analyzed and by providing a methodological approach to the study of these problems. In terms of the study of international relations, one of the oldest and yet most persistent theoretical approaches is known as the "balance of power" paradigm. The balance of power theory has undergone many developments through history and assumed many different forms, but the overall concept remains relevant to global affairs today.

This research charts the origins and development of balance of power theory and defines this methodological perspective according to its contemporary model. The contemporary balance of power theory is then applied to recent events in Middle Eastern international relations, particularly the role and functions of the Gulf Cooperation Council in managing regional conflicts.

Realism Versus Utopianism in international Theory

The idea that an equilibrium in political affairs is the ideal condition of society is as old as Greco-Roman philosophy. It is rooted in a realistic rather than utopian perspective toward human nature. A student of politics may begin with the paradigm that humanity's natural state is fundamentally orderly and peaceable, or one may commence with the assumption that humanity's natural state is one of conflict (Seabury, 1965, p. 5). It is this latter assumption that dominated the thinking of philosophers in ancient Greece and

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ontemporary theory. Instead of simply the United States military might versus the Soviet military might, the west formed the NATO alliance to integrate their economic power and isolate Soviet economic development. The Soviets responded by organizing the Warsaw Pact with the same objectives of using economic power, backed up by military strength, in the mutual struggle to gain "spheres of influence" across the globe, weaken the adversary through isolation, and create a viable economic, social and military threat to coerce compliance to non-aggressive standards of behavior (Beloff, 1967, pp. 17-21). Under all circumstances of this contemporary model of balance of power, self-interest (national survival) continued to be the prime motivational factor in international relations, and a reasonable balance of power through economic coercion and military policing authority maintained the peace. Several different techniques of maintaining a balance of power are justified within this model of international relations. Some of these techniques include: (1) divide the adversary's support to weaken their position; (2) territorial compensations after war; (3) creation of buffer states to increase the costs of invasion; (4) the formation of

Category: Government - B