5 Concept and Technique of Balance of Power

5.1 ConceptThe balance of power is both a policy and a system: the notion that national security is preserved when power among states is so distributed that no single state (or coalition) can dominate the rest — each state's pursuit of safety produces a counter-balancing equilibrium. Morgenthau: the balance is "a universal principle of operation" of state systems; Kenneth Waltz: balances form whether states intend them or not (the structural logic of anarchy).Two orientations: the balance proper (equal or appropriately proportioned distribution) and the counterweight/compensation logic (if A grows, others align against A — "the main purpose of the balance is not to preserve peace but to preserve the system itself," in Morgenthau's sober line).5.2 Techniques of balancing (the list the examiner wants)1. Armament and rearmament — internal balancing (build your own capability);2. Alliances — external balancing (nato, Warsaw Pact; and counterweight alliances such as the US-Japan and AUKUS arrangements today); the flip side: balancing vs. bandwagoning (join the stronger vs. oppose the stronger — small states' classic dilemma);3. Compensation/repartition — compensating a rival's gain elsewhere (19th-century Congress diplomacy's territorial trades);4. Divide and rule — weakening rivals by fomenting their internal divisions (the dark art);5. Buffer states — maintaining weak states between rivals (Nepal's classical function between India and China — the very reason its independence survived; Belgium in Europe…