The balance of power in international relations is the distribution of world influence between individual centers of power - the poles. It can take various configurations: bipolar, bipolar, multipolar (or multipolar), etc. [1] The main goal of the balance of forces is to prevent the domination of one state or group of countries in the international system, to ensure the maintenance of international order [2] .
Otto von Bismarck : “All politics can be reduced to the formula: try to be among the three in a world where the fragile balance of the five powers rules. This is the only genuine defense against the formation of hostile coalitions. ”
The balance of power is one of the key concepts in the theory of political realism and neorealism . Representatives of these paradigms consider it the main way to stabilize the system of international relations , the basis of international order and security [3] . Theorist of international relations M. Kaplan based on political realism built a typology of international systems, including six types of systems. One of them is the so-called “power balance system”, characterized by multipolarity [4] .
The balance of power often plays a decisive role in diplomacy: for example, since the sixteenth century, in European affairs, the maintenance of “equilibrium” has been regarded as the cornerstone of its policy.
Unipolarity
Unipolarity is a type of world order in which power is concentrated to one degree or another in one center - hegemon. This alignment of forces is called hegemony . This kind of unipolarity is also possible in which the world government , not being a hegemon, monitors the observance of the rights of all members of the global society, within the framework of certain laws that would be recognized by all its members.
Historical Hegemons
- Persian Empire ( 550 - 330 BC )
- Roman Empire ( I century BC. - V century AD. )
- Mongol Empire ( XIII - XIV centuries )
- Spanish Empire (XV century - mid XVIII century)
- France (mid XVII - early XIX century)
- The British Empire (XIX - early XX centuries) - Britain was not an absolute hegemon, since its influence was repeatedly disputed by the German , French and Russian empires.
- During both world wars, a bipolar system was formed, where Germany and the coalition led by it were the one pole, and the union of the old great powers (the Entente and the Anti-Hitler coalition ) was the second.
- Bipolar World - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America (March 5, 1946–1989)
- The United States of America (since 1989) - like Britain, is not an absolute hegemon in view of preserving the veto power of the permanent members of the UN Security Council and maintaining strategic (nuclear-missile) parity with Russia.
Bipolarity
Bipolarity (bipolarity) is the distribution of forces between two states. Global bipolarity implies the division of the world into spheres of influence between the two poles of power, the creation of military-political blocs, sometimes the construction of ideological, religious, cultural barriers.
The most famous historical example of a bipolar world structure is the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States ( 1946 - 1991 ). The second half of the 20th century was the only period in the history of mankind when absolutely the whole world was divided into two camps. Exceptions from the spheres of influence were only individual, most often small and insignificant from a strategic point of view, states that declared their neutrality.
In addition, bipolarity in some cases may mean the unification of two opposing camps on equal terms, for example, the confrontation between the Anti-Hitler coalition ( United States of America - USSR - Great Britain ) and Axis ( Germany - Italy - Japan ) in World War II .
Division of the World in the Second Half of the 20th Century
In the second half of the 20th century, the world was ideologically divided into two worlds - the capitalist and socialist systems.
Capitalist Countries
Hegemon Super Power - United States of America
US Allies
North America
- Canada - Member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- Mexico
Central America and the Caribbean
- Belize
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Costa Rica
- Panama
- Salvador
- Jamaica
- Dominican Republic
South America
- Ecuador
- Colombia
- Guyana
- Suriname
- Chile
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Uruguay
- Paraguay
- Peru
Europe
North Atlantic Treaty Organization :
- Belgium
- Great Britain
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- France
- Greece
- Federal Republic of Germany
- Spain
Asia
- Turkey - Member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- The Republic of Korea
- Pakistan
- Japan
- Philippines
- Thailand
- Singapore
- United Arab Emirates
- Oman
- Saudi Arabia
- Israel
- Palestine
- Jordan
- Malaysia
- Cyprus
Africa
- Morocco
- West Sahara
- Gambia
- Liberia
- Kenya
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Uganda
- Rwanda
- Burundi
- Zambia
- Malawi
- Zimbabwe
- Botswana
- Namibia
- Republic of South Africa
- Swaziland
- Lesotho
Australia and Oceania
- Australia
- Papua New Guinea
- New Zealand
Countries of the socialist system and the state of the non-capitalist development path
Superpower, hegemon - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Allies of the USSR
Central America
- Republic of Cuba
- Nicaragua
Europe
Organization of the Warsaw Pact :
- People's Republic of Poland
- People's Republic of Bulgaria
- Hungarian People's Republic
- Socialist Republic of Romania
- Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
- People's Republic of Albania
- German Democratic Republic
Not a member of the Warsaw Pact Organization:
- Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Asia
- People's Republic of China
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea
- Mongolian People's Republic
- Socialist Republic of Vietnam
- Lao People's Democratic Republic
- People's Republic of Kampuchea
- Republic of the Union of Myanmar
- Bangladesh
- India
- Indonesia
- Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
- Iraq
- United arab republic
- People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
- Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Africa
- Algeria People's Democratic Republic
- Tunisia
- Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
- Guinea
- Sierra leone
- Ghana
- Benin
- Sudan (Includes Sudan and South Sudan )
- People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
- People's Republic of the Congo
- Somalia
- People's Republic of Angola
- Tanzania
- People's Republic of Mozambique
- Democratic Republic of Madagascar
Multipolarity
Multipolarity is a system of world order in which many (at least at least three) states have approximately equal economic and military potential. In theory, it is considered the least stable of all. Throughout history, multipolarity has meant war rather than peaceful coexistence of states of equal power. However, on the other hand, a multipolar system is the most stable of all existing and there can be an unlimited period of time. At the same time, sooner or later there will be a winner in the bipolar system, and a unipolar system will inevitably come to degradation and collapse over time. However, this can happen only for specific reasons, each of which can be studied and appropriate opposition found. Europe of the 19th — 20th centuries was multipolar, and global multipolarity became at the beginning of the 21st century.
See also
- Satellite
- Superpower
- Multipolar Political System
Notes
- ↑ Tsygankov P.A. Chapter 3. The problem of the laws of international relations // Theory of international relations. - M .: Gardariki, 2003 .-- S. 84. - 590 p.
- ↑ “Trofimov V.N. Military and environmental safety. International law and power. M., 1991 "
- ↑ Tsygankov P.A. Chapter 5. Modern schools and directions in the theory of international relations. The dispute of neorealism and neoliberalism // Theory of International Relations. - M .: Gardariki, 2003 .-- S. 131. - 590 p.
- ↑ Tsygankov P.A. Chapter 6. The international system. Types and structures of international systems // Theory of International Relations. - M .: Gardariki, 2003 .-- S. 183. - 590 p.
Literature
- Layne, Christopher. The unipolar illusion: Why new great powers will rise . // international security 17.4 (1993): 5-51. (eng.)
- Layne, Christopher. The unipolar illusion revisited: The coming end of the United States' unipolar moment . // International security 31.2 (2006): 7-41. (eng.)