Symposium: Balancing in the Balance

[This is a post-publication review symposium] The balance of power has been a concern long before the field of academic international studies ever existed. Rulers, historians, politicians, and philosophers have all been concerned with the notion: what does it mean to have a balance of power? Are such balances stable? Can they only exist between independent polities, or within polities as well? Are balances the product of deliberate policies or institutional design, or are they the unintended consequences of other actions? Is a balance even desirable? Centuries of pondering such questions preceded the inauguration of international studies as a distinct academic realm in the early 20th century, making this a central concern not only for those in the modern academy, but for much of the entire rich history of reflections on politics.[...]