Abstract
In this chapter I propose to deal with the following questions:
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(i)
What is the balance of power?
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(ii)
How does the balance of power contribute to international order?
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(iii)
What is the relevance of the balance of power to the maintenance of international order at present?
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Notes and References
‘Une disposition des choses au moyen de laquelle aucune puissance ne se trouve en état de prédominer absolument et de faire la loi aux autres’: de Vattel, Droit des Gens, bk III, ch. ii, section 47, text in J. B. Scott, The Classics of International Law, Le Droit des Gens (Washington: Carnegie Institute, 1916) p. 40.
See, for example, Quincy Wright, A Study of War (University of Chicago Press, 1964) abridged, p. 122.
Ibid.; Friedrich von Gentz, Fragments on the Balance of Power in Europe (London, 1806); and Heeren, A Manual of the History of the Political System of Europe and its Colonies.
See J.-J. Rousseau, A Project of Perpetual Peace (London: Danderson, 1927); and
Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History (Oxford University Press, 1935–59) vol. III, pp. 301–2.
See David Hume, ‘Of the Balance of Power’, in Essays Moral, Political and Literary, vol. I (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1898).
L. Oppenheim, International Law, 1st edn (London: Longmans, 1905) vol. I, p. 73.
For valuable discussions of the multiple meanings of the term, see Wight, ‘The Balance of Power’ in Diplomatic Investigations; and Inis L. Claude, Power and International Relations (New York: Random House, 1962).
See J. H.von Justi, Die Chimare des Gleichgewichts in Europa (Altona, 1758); and
Richard Cobden, ‘Russia’, in Political Writings (London: Ridgeway, 1867 and London: Cassell, 1886).
See I. Kant, Perpetual Peace, trans. H. O’Brien (Liberal Arts Press, 1957).
See Lord Acton, Lectures on Modern History, ed. J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (London: Macmillan, 1910).
Oeuvres choisies de Fénelon, tome IV; quoted in Charles Dupuis, Le principe d’équilibre et le concert européen (Paris: Perrin & Cie, 1909) pp. 26–7.
For a survey of some of these concepts, see Morton H. Halperin, Limited War in the Nuclear Age (New York: Wiley, 1963).
André Beaufre, Dissuasion et stratégie (Paris: Armand Colin, 1964).
See Robert S. McNamara, The Essence of Security (New York: Harper & Row, 1968).
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© 1977 Hedley Bull
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Bull, H. (1977). The Balance of Power and International Order. In: The Anarchical Society. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24028-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24028-9_5
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