Does the Balance of Power Provide International Order - Essay Example

Does the Balance of Power provide international order You can say yes for some extinct that the balance of power play important role in making the international order. But after the incident of 9/11 things has changed the concept and implication of power of balance. Now the time of essence demands that international order is created by force, and backed by the threat of force. Force possibly legal or illegal; you can take the example of gulf war in which Iraq has started to redefine the balance of power in Arab states. It perhaps clever or silly; it may be in the interests of the Iraq or not; but questions about whether it is legal or not seem. To maintain the framework of power of balance from time to time force can be used in the areas support of the law. That may mean that it is used in maintain of the civil power or it may mean that it is used to set up an environment in which the rule of law becomes promising .The use of force is not good except it is in support of some concept of order. To give justification for hostility we be grateful to pray to the strength of the international system," the sacred soil of the homeland, the significant fortune of the country, the rule of international law, the magnetism of making the world safe for democracy, civilization, socialism or something similar" (A. Wendt, Summer 1995, pp. 77-81). International law is the exacting shape of order we have adopted to enable us to run a global economy; however Force is what recognized that order. Force perhaps lawful or illegal; it possibly intelligent or stupid; it may be in the benefit of the international community or not; however questions in relation to whether it is legal or not seem - at this phase of world olden times at least - simply dull. During domestic interaction individual does not inquire if an establishment is officially permitted or not. Balance of power can be defined as a structure to keep up a position quo wherever no alter in the presented supremacy system is made-up to occur. The perception of balance of power does not rule out the make use of menace or confrontation. It is primarily a system of manage and preventing transform to occur through maintenance aggressors in check. 'Power is the ability to exercise influence and the ability to prevent influence from being exercised over oneself.' (Singer, 1972:54) We be alive in a world which is even more defenseless. Primary, it is weak for the reason that it is unlock along with since cross-border deal, journey as well as communication has not at all been easier. Subsequent, it is helpless as, in the midst of the international partition of labor in an always additional aggressive global economy, we function on progressively more very well limits of fault. It requires a great deal fewer responsibility sober financial harm to today's world than was the case thirty years before. "11 September together made understandable how a good deal injure a small faction might do to our humanity, and at the identical point in time provided a influential illustration with the intention of control the thoughts of the disaffected on behalf of decades toward approach. Nowadays, still, the potential of assault on an highly developed civilization all the way through substance, organic otherwise electronic resources are more and more accessible to persons or small groups. In a neither unlock civilization, neither the acquaintance nor the materiel compulsory to be able to reserved barely in the hands of Local administration. 11 September has revealed us what theses small groups are capable of be done lacking with a few of the function-built technologies of mass demolition; in the coming days demolition might be even further demoralizing. We are blessed to facilitate the instances of the two imminent together are so far relatively limited. " (J. Gilson, 'New interregionalism The EU and East Asia', European Integration, vol. 27, no. 3, September 2005, pp. 307-26) Factor affecting Balance of power From the time when unlike financial expansion charge apparently influence the balance of power, economics be required to not be ignored in an study of balance of power politics. The procedure of globalization had previously begun in the late 19th century. Before World War I, trade and foreign savings were reasonably globalized. Because of low political obstacles to international relocation, labor markets in reality were extra globalized at the commencement of the 20 th century than at its end. The two World Wars, the Great Depression in amid, in addition to the temptations of communism, setting up, and autarchy sporadic the development of global market incorporation in favor of on half a century. Rise above the Cold War rubric "superpower," "hyperpower" has entered our political glossary to communicate the extent of the United States' paramount international status. (N. W. Rostow, The US and the regional organization of Asia and the Pacific, 1965-1985, Austin, University of Texas, 1985) THE PROBLEM OF ORDER An international order of authority can neither be steady nor just lacking of usual norms of conduct. It is a storage area of knowledge and optimism with the intention of international law together give resources and furthermore represent the ends. The factual test is to illustrate from the balance of power, a further affirmative aptitude to enhanced individual circumstances, true solidity addicted to inspiration, to change comforting of tensions addicted to escalation of freedoms, to go round man's obsession from self defense towards human improvement. Nations be obliged to not try to find to compel a close-minded and convenient observation of the regulation on others. On a globe obvious by interdependence, one-sided action and unreserved detection of one's be in control of slight wellbeing without doubt aggravate argue against the achievement and as a result enchantment ineffectiveness and chaos. In this era of splendid weaponry of combat, there ought to be even governance and housing on there will be shocking blow. In world of about 200 nations and challenging principles, it cannot be afforded to be careless; civilization is at a key flash in the past, the world is within a unrest. States have the ability and that's why the commitment in the direction of help out transform, outline and improved it. A further methodical and legally recognized world is desired, it is an international face up to. Established laws and standards are swift turning outmoded, by means of the ascend of current technology. Safety measures as well as independence are at risk. Social and international control, international economics, worldwide activity, happens to carry out their actions ahead of the frontiers of usual supporting and legal policy. Sooner or later the realities of human inter-dependence would compel the fulfillment of the honest essential of human objectives. This prospect has to not be wasted as a result as to get better the surroundings of mankind. It must be, reacted through apparition and consistent. The world has to create an alternative, there are no solutions and easy solutions accessible, inflexible proposals and confronts look intently human race in the appearance. The world has to acquire realistic steps to take action efficiently and carefully to make available a further allowable standard of life in favor of the world crowded four billion plus people. The world society must mount, and be supposed to have the political will to outline their expectations. It is not reputation on a stand of practical capability, excluding stands on a point of honest preference. It is our deep pleas with the purpose of the people build the correct alternative used for a superior governed world. The selection is to be made, either by good governance, vision and common sense and try to improve the conditions of mankind, or let this exceptional occasion slip away. The task can not be neglected with the aim of relax on humanity, and must cooperatively help out to stand firm against hostility, extend a energetic world economy, support freedom and honesty, and contribute to human values. The world is drastically different from the past era where one can respect the limitations of power of balance. In today's world, one country possibly will struggle but however it cannot place above and dictate the world. To build, to form ties, to look after and on the road to lookout, all the nations must work collectively at the same time as colleagues to do the efforts to ease anxiety, and on the way to correspond with a familiar draw near meant for a healthier tomorrow. Emergent nations must not prefer expression in excess of authenticity. Military power does not propose the ultimate react to international troubles. Good power has set a new aspect toward the spectrum of international issues. The infinite and increasing troubles of force, food, raw material, water and economic progress be currently being faced by humanity in all their complexities as the fundamental issues of today. They go to the heart of the existing world order. The world must try to accommodate the needs of all nations, and it largely depends whether countries will regulate their affairs through co-operation or by confrontation Whether international relations between states will reflect the search for mutual benefits and common progress or turn into test of strength The world must not suffer because of a wrong choice. AT exceptional chronological junctures, states struggle with the essential problem of international relations: how to form and keep order in a world of sovereign states. These points in time come at striking moments of disorder and vary within the international system, when the old order has been destroyed by war and newly powerful states try to bring back basic organizing regulations and measures. The great moments of international order building have be inclined to come after major wars, as winning states have undertaken to recreate the post-war world. "Certain years stand out as critical turning points: 1648, 1713, 1815, 1919, and 1945. At these junctures, newly powerful states have been given surprising opportunities to shape world politics. In the confused consequences of war, leaders of these states have found themselves in bizarrely helpful positions to position forward new rules and principles of international relations and by so doing remake international order. The great postwar junctures share a set of personality that make them unusually important in providing opportunities for leading states to shape international order. The most important characteristic of interstate relations after a major war is that a new distribution of power suddenly emerges, creating new asymmetries between powerful and weak states. These innovative power disparities are clear in particular at the same time as the old order has been destroyed, and there are opportunities and motivation for states to deal with each other over the establishment of new principles and rules of order. Major postwar junctures are rare strategic moments when leading or hegemonic states face choices about how to use their newly acquired power--choices that ultimately shape the character of postwar international order".( P. J. Katzenstein, 'Regionalism and Asia', New Political Economy, Vol. 5, Issue 3, November 2000) "Balance-of-power theory explains order--and the rules and institutions that emerge--as the product of an ongoing process of balancing and adjustment of opposing power concentrations or threats among states under conditions of anarchy. Balancing can be pursued both internally and externally: through domestic mobilization and through the formation of temporary alliances among states to resist and counterbalance a threatening concentration of power. Under conditions of anarchy, alliances will come and go as temporary expedients, states will guard their autonomy, and entangling institutions will be resisted. Balance-of-power realists differ greatly over how explicit and self-conscious the rules of balance tend to be. The order that emerges is thus either the unintended outcome of balancing pressures or a reflection of learned and formalized rules of equilibrium and balance"( He, Baogang, 'East Asian ideas of regionalism: a normative critique', Australian Journal of International Affairs, vol. 58, no. 1, March 2004, pp. 105-25). " The United States has entered the new century as the world's lone superpower. Whether that extraordinary power can be put to good use in creating a lasting and legitimate international order will in no small measure be determined by how American officials use and operate within international institutions. It might appear that there are few constraints or penalties for the United States to exercise its power unilaterally and at its own discretion. But the theory and historical experiences explored in these chapters suggest otherwise. The most enduringly powerful states are those that work with and through institutions. In international relations, a balance of power exists when there is parity or stability between competing forces. As a term in international law for a 'just equilibrium' between the members of the family of nations, it expresses the doctrine intended to prevent any one nation from becoming sufficiently strong so as to enable it to enforce its will upon the rest. Within a balance of power system, a state may choose to engage in either balancing or band wagering behavior. In a time of war, the decision to balance or to bandwagon may well determine the survival of the state. (E. Manfield and H. Milner, 'The new wave of regionalism', International Organization, vol.;53, no.3, 1999) It is also linked to the thought that states have consistently attempted to maintain their security and promote their interests by joining forces with other states. If one group of states ally in an attempt to promote their common interests, then the balance of power thesis take as fact that other states, observing this development, and fearing that they might be the potential victims of this alliance, will combine and form a counter-alliance. In this case, instead of an overwhelming alliance forming against an aspiring hegemon, there will be two sets of competing alliances that establish a balance of power. "The sheer longevity of the balance of power idea is unchallengeable. If the essence of the balance of power theory is encapsulated by the idea of counterbalancing hegemony, then it is possible to trace the theory back to the work of contemporary historians and political theorists who described and analyzed the relations that existed among the Italian city states in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries"( A. Moravcsik, 'Preferences and Power in the European Community: A Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach', Journal of Common Market Studies vol. 31, no. 4, December 1993, pp. 473-524). Ever since that time it has remained a widely held guess that when a great power shows signs of attempting to dominate the international system, then other great powers will ally in order to defend their own security by establishing an unequivocal counterweight to the would-be control. Since all great powers are seen to be attentive that this is the apparent reaction to whichever hegemonic project, there is little motivation to make an effort to create hegemony within the system. "Balance of power theory can be viewed as a self-fulfilling forecast. But it is clearly a prophecy that has sometimes been disconfirmed by events. Over the last two hundred years, there have obviously been leaders like Napoleon and Hitler who have attempted to establish a Eurasian hegemony, although in line with the balance of power theory, they were eventually confronted and defeated by an overwhelming anti-hegemonic coalition."( . E. Manfield and H. Milner, 'The new wave of regionalism', International Organization, vol. 53, no. 3, 1999) In terms of US power, the Middle East and particularly Iraq remains the dominant theatre for the testing of US hegemony and power. Supporters of the new US security plan or 'surge' in Iraq believe it is working and will have had a real impact if troops stay through most of 2008. But the problem remains that the political solution that was supposed to be facilitated by better security still has not materialised and there is a feeling that many groups are simply biding their time and wait- ing for the US to downscale its presence. The growing understand international relations in terms of the balance of power can be traced back for more than five hundred years and no other theoretical concept can boast this length of provenance. But not only is the balance of power one of the most enduring concepts in the field, it also persists, by some considerable distance, as the most widely cited theory in contemporary literature. (Kennedy, P: The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers) This is because, according to its advocates, the balance of power provides the ingredients needed to explain the resilience of the modern international system of states. It is no surprise, therefore, that ever since the end of the Second World War a succession of key theorists in iconic texts have attempted to demonstrate that the balance of power provides the foundations on which any overall understanding of international relations must start to build. "In the eighteenth century, North America was still very much influenced by European ideas and there was an extensive debate before the United States gained independence about how this development would affect the European balance of power, and there was a concern that the Europeans might attempt to partition the new state as they had done with Poland. Nevertheless, the idea of a balance of power continued to influence thinking in the post-revolutionary era, but during the course of the nineteenth century the Americans began to insist that thinking about the balance of power must not be allowed to affect the consolidation of the United States" (Butterfield, Herbert. "The Balance of Power." In Herbert Butterfield and Martin Wight, eds. Diplomatic Investigations. London, 1966.) . Endnotes Wendt, 'Constructing international politics', International Security, vol. 20, no. 1, Summer 1995, pp. 77-81. Kennedy, P: The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers J. Gilson, 'New interregionalism The EU and East Asia', European Integration, vol. 27, no. 3, September 2005, pp. 307-26. N. W. Rostow, The US and the regional organization ofAsia and the Pacific, 1965-1985, Austin, University of Texas, 1985, p. 87. Butterfield, Herbert. "The Balance of Power." In Herbert Butterfield and Martin Wight, eds. Diplomatic Investigations. London, 1966. . P. J. Katzenstein, 'Regionalism and Asia', New Political Economy, Vol. 5, Issue 3, November 2000 He, Baogang, 'East Asian ideas of regionalism: a normative critique', Australian Journal of International Affairs, vol. 58, no. 1, March 2004, pp. 105-25 E. Manfield and H. Milner, 'The new wave of regionalism', International Organization, vol.;53, no.3, 1999 A. Moravcsik, 'Preferences and Power in the European Community: A Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach', Journal of Common Market Studies vol. 31, no. 4, December 1993, pp. 473-524 Read More