In order to understand the international system we live in today it is fundamental to under stand the Balance of Power. The concept for the balance of power supposes constant change. What may have worked for one nation in history to gain that balance of power does not particularly mean that a perusing power will gain the upper hand the same way. There are many factors that influence the balance of power and I will be discussing them throughout this paper.
Power is an immediate aim within politics. It comes in forms of Society requiring freedom, security, and prosperity or simply power it’s self. These requirements can come about due to economics or religious purposes – in hopes that they will materialise through ‘divine intervention or through the natural development of human affairs’ 1 They may also try to further its realisation through ‘Napoleon means’ such as technological co-operations with other nation or international organisations. However, international politics is used to achieve goals through mean of power. The use if power has been used by philosophers such as Adolf Hitler and Woodrow Wilson. As it was power that they enforced upon the world to achieve their goals, they were actors of international politics.
Power in terms of politics comes in the form of mans control over the minds and actions of another man. It is between the ‘mutual relations of control among the holders of public authority and between the latter and the people at large’ 2. Political power is psychological, it is power exercised over another, through fear. It can be disciplined through order, threat or authority. There are four influences of which power can be defined. They are between power and influence, power and force, between usable and unusable power, between legitimate and illegitimate power, for example; The Secretary of State, who is to advise the American President may have influence on what the President decides, however, it is ultimately the Presidents who makes...