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This article reviews four recent books on balancing and the balance of power. Both in isolation and when taken together, they provide strong analytical and empirical warrants against the proposition that balance of power equilibria represent the "normal condition" or "natural tendency" of international relations. They also reflect the growing dissensus among realists concerning how to conceptualize and operationalize the key concept of "balancing."The author argues that their analysis implies a tripartite distinction between balance of power theory, theories of power balances, and theories of balancing. Recognizing this distinction undermines many objections to expanding the concept of balancing to include "nontraditional" variants, but it also helps elucidate why we should eschew describing nontraditional balancing through the language of hard and soft balancing.Even a more expansive conception of balancing, however, fails to insulate balance of power theory against mounting disconfirming evidence. While one might be able to salvage a "weak" variant of balance of power theory, realists are probably better off adopting a more nuanced and comprehensive approach to power-political competition. The entire field would benefit from treating "balancing" and the "balance of power" as objects of inquiry in their own right, rather than as the province of realist theory.

THE END OF THE COLD WAR AND THE RESULTS OF THE GULF WAR HAVE NOT ONLY ANOINTED THE U.S. AS THE SOLE SUPERPOWER, BUT HAVE ALSO LEFT IT THE DOMINANT POWER IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE CUSTODIAN OF THAT REGION'S BALANCE OF POWER. THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE COMPLEX AMALGAM OF FOUR SEPARATE BUT INTERLOCKING BALANCES; THE LAST DECADE WHICH WAS A PERIOD OF RELATIVE STABILITY COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS DECADE; THE IRAQI CHALLENGE; THE EMERGING POST-WAR BALANCE; AND AMERICA'S CHOICE. IT DEFINES THE CHOICE AS ONE OF PRESERVING ITS STRATEGIC INTERESTS BY ATTEMPTING TO QUARANTINE THE REGION, OR BY UNDERTAKING A MORE ARDUOUS EFFORT TO BEGIN THE TRANSFORMATIOAN OF THE MIDDLE EAST FROM A BALANCE OF POWER SYSTEM TO ONE BASED MORE ON NATIONS OF COLLECTIVE SECURITY.

The primary proponents & theorists of balance of power contend that balancing is important in international politics because it can deter conflict. As Jack Levy's contribution notes, "potential hegemons anticipate that expansionist behavior would lead to the formation of a military coalition against them & refrain from aggression for that reason." Others believe that a preponderance of power deters war; ie, a relatively weak state would be deterred from engaging in conflict with a strong state, while the latter could obtain what it wants without war because of its opponents' fear. However, if the strong state is already engaged with another country or countries, the weaker state might perceive an opportunity to strike. What really needs to be weighed is the relative strategic balance. Kenneth Waltz's Theory of International Politics (1979) is drawn on to explain how this paradox in the balance of power can lead to inaccurate predictions of the behavior of weak & strong states in a bipolar system, as it did in the Vietnam War. The implications of this paradox for US hegemony in the 21st century are great. J. Stanton

The underrepresentation of women in positions of power is proof not so much that men still dominate the top of the pyramid as it is of a system of the most egregious, widespread, pernicious, destructive pattern of human rights abuses in the history of civilization. The systematic, persistent acceptance of women's second-class status is history's greatest shame. And for all our self-congratulations about how far we have come, we live in a world where even in the most advanced countries, deep injustices against women remain. Adapted from the source document.