The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths and Models

327 Pages·2007·2.84 MB·English

by  Richard Little

Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-69760-6 - The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths and Models
Richard Little
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The Balance of Power in
International Relations
Thebalanceofpowerhasbeenacentralconceptinthetheoryandprac-
tice of international relations for the past five hundred years. It has also
played a key role in some of the most important attempts to develop
a theory of international politics in the contemporary study of interna-
tionalrelations.Inthisbook,RichardLittleestablishesaframeworkthat
treatsthebalanceofpowerasametaphor,amythandamodel.Hethen
uses this framework to reassess four major texts that use the balance of
power to promote a theoretical understanding of international relations:
HansJ.Morgenthau’sPoliticsAmongNations(1948),HedleyBull’sThe
Anarchical Society (1977), Kenneth N. Waltz’s Theory of International
Politics (1979) and John J. Mearsheimer’s The Tragedy of Great Power
Politics (2001). These reassessments allow the author to develop a more
comprehensivemodelofthebalanceofpower.
Richard Little is Professor of International Politics at the University of
Bristol. He is a former Chair and President of the British International
Studies Association and the author of International Systems in World
History(withBarryBuzan,2000).
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-69760-6 - The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths and Models
Richard Little
Frontmatter
More information
The Balance of
Power in
International
Relations:
Metaphors, Myths
and Models
richard little
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-69760-6 - The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths and Models
Richard Little
Frontmatter
More information
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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-69760-6 - The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths and Models
Richard Little
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For Christine
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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-69760-6 - The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths and Models
Richard Little
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Contents
Listoffigures page viii
x
Acknowledgements
PartI Introduction 1
1 Reassessingthebalanceofpower 3
PartII Metaphors,mythsandmodels 17
2 Metaphorsandthebalanceofpower 19
3 Thebalanceofpower:frommetaphorstomythsand
models 50
PartIII Balanceofpowermodels 89
4 HansJ.Morgenthau’sPoliticsAmongNations 91
5 HedleyBull’sTheAnarchicalSociety 128
6 KennethN.Waltz’sTheoryofInternationalPolitics 167
7 JohnJ.Mearsheimer’sTheTragedyofGreatPower
Politics 213
PartIV Conclusion 249
8 Acompositeviewofthebalanceofpowerforthe
twenty-firstcentury 251
Bibliography 288
Index 312
vii
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-69760-6 - The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths and Models
Richard Little
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List of figures
2.1 Thesubstitutionviewofthebalanceofpower
metaphor page28
2.2 Theinteractionviewofmetaphors 34
2.3 TheEuropeanBalanceofPower:
L’E´quilibreEurope´enbyHonore´ Daumierfrom
LeCharivari,1December1866
DR3540(cid:1)c www.daumier-register.org 41
2.4 TheEuropeanBalanceofPower:
E´quilibreEurope´enbyHonore´ Daumierfrom
LeCharivari,3April1867
DR3566(cid:1)c www.daumier-register.org 42
2.5 Asetofscalesasagenericmetaphoricalsourceforthe
balanceofpower 46
2.6 Asee-sawasanequivalentconceptualdomainforthe
genericbalanceofpower 47
3.1 Apositivistviewofrelationsbetweenmetaphors,
mythsandmodels 51
3.2 Apostpositivistviewofrelationsbetweenmetaphors,
mythsandmodels 54
3.3 Theroleofmetaphorsandmodelsinthelogicof
discovery 57
3.4 AdiagrammaticillustrationofJastrow’sDuck/Rabbit 59
3.5a Politicalequilibriumandthebalanceofpower 62
3.5b Politicalequilibriumandthebalanceofpower 62
3.6 Abalanceofpowerframeworkbasedonmetaphors,
mythsandmodels 86
5.1 Thebalanceofpowerwhenaninternationalsystem
operatesintheabsenceofaninternationalsociety 133
5.2 Thebalanceofpowerwhenaninternationalsystem
operatesinconjunctionwithaninternationalsociety 133
5.3 Buzan’sspectrumofinternationalsocieties 145
viii
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
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978-0-521-69760-6 - The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths and Models
Richard Little
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Listoffigures ix
5.4 Bull’sviewofinstitutionalrelationshipsininternational
society 149
6.1 Theimpactofpowerdifferentials 183
6.2 Powerdistributioninabipolarsystem 185
6.3 Powerdistributioninatripolarsystem 185
6.4 Powerdistributioninafivepolesystem 185
6.5 Waltz’sstructuralconceptionofthebalanceofpower 194
6.6 Thepotentialforallianceformationinatripolarsystem 200
6.7 Thepotentialforallianceformationinafourpole
system 201
6.8 Thepotentialforallianceformationinafivepole
system 201
6.9 Matrixfortheprisoners’dilemmagame 205
6.10 Thebalanceofpowerinabipolarsystem 207
7.1 Mearsheimer’sviewofthemid-nineteenth-century
internationalsystem 229
7.2 Greek–PersianrelationsinthefifthcenturyBCE 239
8.1 Howfourtheoristsassesstheimportanceofdivergent
dimensionsofthebalanceofpower 257
8.2 Theemergenceofbalanceofpowerdebatesafterthe
SecondWorldWar 261
8.3 Internationalsystemswithonestrongstate 264
8.4 Thenineteenthcenturyglobalinternationalsociety 273
8.5 Thecoldwarfromasystem/societyperspective 277
8.6 Thepost-coldwarerafromasystem/societyperspective 278
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
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978-0-521-69760-6 - The Balance of Power in International Relations: Metaphors, Myths and Models
Richard Little
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Acknowledgements
ThisbookwaswrittenwhileIwasholdingaMajorResearchFellow-
shipfromtheLeverhulmeTrust.Itwasahugeprivilegetobeawarded
one of these fellowships and I am extremely grateful to the Trust for
providingmewiththeopportunitytoreadandwritewithoutthenor-
mal daily pressures associated with academic life in the twenty-first
century.Bythesametoken,Iamalsoverygratefultoallmycolleagues
intheDepartmentofPoliticsattheUniversityofBristolformakingit
possibleformetotakeupthefellowship.
My main debt of gratitude, however, is to my wife Christine who
has lived with this book as long as I have. She was always my first
portofcallwhenIgotstuckandalthoughIdidnotalwaysappreciate
her insistence that I try to articulate clearly why I was running into
a problem, the book would never have been completed without her
steadying influence and her unwavering conviction that I could finish
themanuscript.Idedicatethebooktoher.
x
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