balance of power
Distributed political strength
Balance of power describes a situation where competing forces—nations, political parties, factions—are roughly equal in strength, preventing any one from dominating.
In international relations, it's the principle that peace depends on no single state becoming too powerful: The treaty was designed to maintain a balance of power in Europe.
Someone who holds the balance of power can tip outcomes by choosing sides.
Negotiation between nations
- allianceFormal union of parties
- treatyBinding pact between nations
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- hegemonyDominant group's control
superpower · multipolarity · bipolarity · spheres of influence · great powers · bloc · coalition · non-alignment
Struggle for supremacy
- counterweightBalancing mass in machinery
- checkOrder to pay
- offsetCompensate by opposing force
- dominanceSuperior influence over others
ascendancy · supremacy · struggle · tension · jockeying · positioning · influence · leverage
Prevention via threatened consequences
- arms raceEscalating weapons accumulation between nations
- mutually assured destructionReciprocal nuclear annihilation threat
- armamentCollective military weapons
- disarmamentReducing or eliminating weapons
escalation · military buildup · defense pact · NATO · Warsaw Pact · first strike · second strike · conventional forces
Constitutional distribution of authority
- executiveSenior organizational leader
- legislativeConcerning the creation of laws
- judicialOf courts and judges
- federalismDivided governmental authority system
veto · oversight · accountability · bicameral · branches · divided government · Montesquieu · institutional
diplomacy
Negotiation between nations
- allianceFormal union of parties
- treatyBinding pact between nations
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
hegemony · superpower · multipolarity · bipolarity · spheres of influence · great powers · bloc · coalition · non-alignment · collective security
competition
Struggle for supremacy
- counterweightBalancing mass in machinery
- checkOrder to pay
- offsetCompensate by opposing force
dominance · ascendancy · supremacy · struggle · tension · jockeying · positioning · influence · leverage · zero-sum
deterrence
Prevention via threatened consequences
- arms raceEscalating weapons accumulation between nations
- mutually assured destructionReciprocal nuclear annihilation threat
- armamentCollective military weapons
disarmament · escalation · military buildup · defense pact · NATO · Warsaw Pact · first strike · second strike · conventional forces · military alliance
separation of powers
Constitutional distribution of authority
- executiveSenior organizational leader
- legislativeConcerning the creation of laws
- judicialOf courts and judges
federalism · veto · oversight · accountability · bicameral · branches · divided government · Montesquieu · institutional · devolution
- 19th Century Diplomacyambassador, ambassadors, envoy, envoys, Congress of Vienna
- governancegovernance, government, democracy, vote, parliament
- 1800sVictorian era, Napoleon, Gilded Age, Queen Victoria, Industrial Revolution
- Early ModernRenaissance, 1500s, 1600s, Reformation, sixteenth century
- foreign policydiplomacy, diplomatic negotiations, sanctions, containment, deterrence
- geopoliticsbipolarity, bloc, blocs, brinkmanship, buffer state
balance of powerhegemony
Dominant group's control
Pax Americana · world domination · Pax Romana · supremacy · dominance
balance of powerpower vacuum
Absence of governing authority
anarchy · chaos · instability · disequilibrium · power imbalance
balance of powerexpansionism
Policy of territorial growth
imperialism · unilateralism · conquest · bandwagoning · appeasement
power, balance, balanced, unbalanced, imbalance, balancing, balances, unbalance, counterbalance