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power & balance of power in international relations
- 1. Introduction to IR Power& Balance of power
- 2. Power: National/state power •The word ‘Power’ is generally used in terms of strength or potential to do certain tasks etc. • As far as state power or concept of power in IR is concerned, it refers to all the resources available for a certain state/nation in the pursuit of or to gain its national objectives. • Power or more precisely state power can be of two major types: hard and soft power. • Hard power mostly consists of military strength, weapons/arms/arsenals etc while soft power include ideological basis, I.T.
- 3. Major components of(state)power • There are various ingredients or components that constitute, form or enhance state power. These include: Geographical location. (Where a state is located on world map is very important. If a state is located at some strategically or economically important location, it provides a better chance to develop, interact with other states and play its role at the regional and international level, that of course provides it more strength and power. For example Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey etc are located at strategically important positions on world map.)
- 4. Cont… Size. (Size ofa state is also important, larger the size, the more will be resources available for the state, e.g. Russia, Australia, Canada or U.S.A., although states cannot be considered as powerful merely on the basis of size, other components and factors are important as well. Natural resources. (including mineral resources like oil, gas, coal etc as well as agriculture, forests, climate etc. States that have used their natural resources to enhance their power include Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other states in middle east.
- 5. Cont.. Military strength; includingboth conventional (old, traditional) weapons as well as non-conventional (nuclear, chemical and biological weapons which are called as WMDs or weapons of mass destruction), quality and number of armed forces etc. Economic system. (Stable and strong economic system, strong economy etc provide or increase power of a state, Japan is an example since it is smaller in size and doesn’t have a very strong military strength but it is the economic strength that provided Japan power to emerge as an economic giant)
- 6. Cont… Population/manpower. (skilled manpoweralso helps state to develop and enhance its power, e.g. China, Japan etc are the states having a very good percentage of skilled manpower that is helping these states to be more developed and powerful.) Quality of leadership/good governance. (both of these add to state power, examples of the first include Zhou Enlai of China, Dr. Mahateer Muhammad of Malaysia, Muhammad Ali Jinnah of Pakistan, while examples of states having good governance as a reason of their development and power include U.S.A., U.K., Germany, France etc.
- 7. Cont.. Educational system. (Strongeducational system provides a base for development and power, e.g. U.S.A., U.K., Germany, France, Turkey etc) Infrastructure/means of communication and transportation. (e.g. in most of European states) Ideology and nationalism.(very important components of state power, e.g. Pakistan, Israel came into existence on the basis of certain ideologies and nationalism, and these factors have played an important role in their growth and power. Germanys re-emergence after being defeated in WWI was also due to strong nationalism.)
- 8. Factors Restricting (state)Power • There are certain factors that restrict or confine the state power within certain limits, these include: International Law/morality. (confining state’s authority, e.g. bindings and rules of various treaties/agreements and conventions, such as Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations of 1961 binds states to provide certain immunity to diplomates.) IOs. (International Organizations, especially International governmental organizations also restrict the state power in certain cases, e.g., U.N.O., I.M.F., etc
- 9. Cont.. Arms control &disarmament. Various treaties, agencies, regimes etc binds states to control the arms development and in certain cases to eliminate the already developed lethal weapons and arms, International Atomic Energy Agency which is called as I.A.E.A. through a certain mechanism of arms control & disarmament tries to put a barrier to state’s efforts to develop more and more arms, treaties like Nuclear non- Proliferation Treaty (N.P.T.), Partial Test Ban Treaty (P.T.B.T.) and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (C.T.B.T.) are important in this regard.
- 10. Cont… Balance of power.(through arms/military buildup and through alliances etc also help weaker states to restrict the power and authority of some powerful states, e.g., nuclearization of South Asia.
- 11. Balance of power •BoP is one of the oldest and most fundamental concepts in the study of I.R. • Apart from being one of the most prominent ideas in theory and practice of I.R., it is also considered as one of the most ambiguous and complicated concepts. • Some theorists say that BoP helps to maintain peace, others considers it as the onset of war.
- 12. Defining BoP • Astate/condition of balance, stability or equilibrium b/w competing forces. • A distribution of power where no single nation or a group of nations is considered to dominate others. • A balanced distribution of power, intended to prevent any one nation from becoming sufficiently strong so as to enable it to enforce its will upon others. • A balanced distribution of power not allowing a single state or a group of states to become so powerful to pose a threat to the existence and sovereignty of other states .
- 13. Types/Forms of BoP •It may be simple, two states may balance each other, e.g., Pak-India, U.S.-U.S.S.R. during cold war, Iran-Iraq, North Korea-South Korea, China- India, Iran-Israel, etc • It may be multiple and complex, multiple states can form BoP through alliances and counter alliances, e.g., NATO (1949) and Warsaw Pact (1955) or American/Western and Soviet/Eastern block during cold war.
- 14. Devices & Methodsfor BoP Armament & Disarmament. • States may balance powerful states either by armament or developing more weapons and arms (e.g. arms race between U.S. & U.S.S.R., India & Pakistan, Iran & Iraq, Iran & Israel etc,) or it may include a reduction or disarmament of a more power state e.g., disarmament of Germany immediately after WWI, arms control and disarmament treaties like Strategic Arms limitation Treaty, SALT, between U.S. and U.S.S.R. during cold war Alliances & counter-alliances • States may form groups or alliances to balance each other and may form a counter-alliance to balance another alliance (NATO 1949 by Capitalist states & Warsaw Pact 1955 by Communist States during cold war)
- 15. Cont.. Compensation & partition •Territorial compensations have been a practice for centuries. Some part of territory of one state are handed over to it’s opponents or rivals, mostly after a conflict or war, in order to compensate their loses. (e.g. Some parts of territories of Germany and Ottoman Empire were given to Allies (U.K., France etc, after WWI) • Similarly, the power of a large state may be balanced by partition or division , e.g., Ottoman Empire was split after WWI into different parts and Germany was divided into Eastern and Western Germany after WWII
- 16. Cont.. Intervention andnon-intervention • In case of a conflict or war between two states, a third state may intervene to support one of the conflicting states to help her balance her rival. • (For example, U.S. intervention in First Gulf War, 1990-91, in response to Iraq’s attack over Kuwait, Intervention of NATO to help Kosovo against Serbia) Divide & rule • If the power of a stronger state is divided at various fronts/segments, it is easy to handle or balance that state Buffer state, • Presence of a neutral state between two competing or rival states may help in balancing by keeping them from direct confrontation or war, e.g. Afghanistan has been a buffer or neutral state between British and Russian empires during 18th and 19th centuries.)