Global Politics IB

1. Balance of Power
Theory
IB Global Politics
UWC Costa Rica

2. Key Point
National security is
strengthened when military
capability is distributed so
that no single state can
dominate all others

3. Balance of
Power Theory
is a realist
theory

4. Key assumptions of realist
theories
• International order is anarchic
• Primary goal of all actors is survival
• Power is relative

5. What happens if one state
becomes stronger?
According to Balance of Power Theory, that
state will take advantage of its strength and
attack weaker neighbours
This provides an incentive for those
threatened to join each other in a defensive
coalition

6. How might states counter an
external threat?
• When faced with an external threat from a
more powerful state, states have several
options:
– Balancing
– Bandwagoning
– Buck-passing
– Blood-letting

7. Balancing
Balancing encompasses the actions that a
particular state or group of states take in
order to equalise the odds against more
powerful states
(make it more difficult and hence less likely
for powerful states to exert their military
advantage over the weaker ones)

8. Two types of balancing
Internal
Balancing
• Internal balancing
involves efforts to
enhance state's power by
increasing one's
economic resources and
military strength in order
to be able to rely on
independent capabilities
in response to a potential
hegemon and be able to
compete more effectively
in the international
system
External
Balancing
• External balancing
involves strengthening
and enlarging one's
alliances and interstate
cooperation in order to
prevent a hegemon or
counter a rising power.

9. Bandwagoning
A state aligns with a stronger, adversarial
power and concedes that the stronger
adversary-turned-partner disproportionately
gains in the spoils they conquer together
Question: Why would a state choose to
bandwagon instead of balance?

10. Buck-passing
• Instead of balancing against an aggressor,
some states instead choose to "pass the
buck" whereby instead of taking action to
prevent a potential hegemon's rise, it will
pass the responsibility on to another state
• Mearsheimer argues there are 4 strategies
states can use to facilitate buck passing

11. One:
• Seeking good diplomatic relations with the
aggressor in the hope that it will divert its
attention to the "buck-catcher”

12. Two:
• maintaining cool relations with the buck-
catcher so as not to get dragged into the
war with the buck-catcher and as a result
possibly increase positive relations with
the aggressor

13. Three:
• increasing military strength to deter the
aggressive state and help it focus on the
buck-catcher

14. Four:
• facilitating the growth in power of the
intended buck-catcher

15. Blood-letting
If a state is an enemy with both the aggressor and
the intended buck-catcher, a buck-passer can
implement a bait and bleed strategy whereby the
state causes two rivals to engage in a protracted war
while the baiter remains on the sideline.
Bloodletting, a further variant whereby a state does
what it can to increase the cost duration of the
conflict can further increase the buck-passer’s
relative power
Question: Why might states prefer bloodletting and
buck passing to balancing?