Abstract
It is something of a general assumption that in the diverse field that we call International Relations the terminology associated with power politics has been closely associated with the realist approach. This is an understanding that creates a need for further clarification. As pointed out by Barry Buzan and Ole Waever in 2007, the security theory field is differentiated as European scholars have tended to be interested in a reflexive approach to the security concept, while American scholarship has focused on empirically validated cause-effect relationships relevant to policy issues (Buzan and Waever 2007). Buzan and Waever describe the social backdrop for these differences and make a contrast between “critical theory” and “problem-solving theory”. Perhaps a premature conclusion would be that terms and concepts like military balance and power politics have disappeared from the discourse of both academia and politics in Europe. They sound like an anachronism from the Cold War that many are uncomfortable with.
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Notes
- 1.
However, the ontological status of this image should not be linked to perception only.
- 2.
This applies if governments are the actors.
- 3.
All figures are taken from IISS (2010). I would like to thank Carina Solmirano of SIPRI for valuable advice on defence statistics.
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Christiansson, M. (2012). The Military Balance in the Baltic Sea Region: Notes on a Defunct Concept. In: Fels, E., Kremer, JF., Kronenberg, K. (eds) Power in the 21st Century. Global Power Shift. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25082-8_7
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