Balance of power In Bop, every state tries to maintain or overthrow the status quo.

Status quo is the condition of power aligned to each state. It aims to preserve the power at international level. If the status quo is disturbed or disfigured, the system of politics tries to move towards a new BOP. System of Bop is related to the concept of equilibrium. Bhutto's concept of bilateralism Concept of BOP exists in social sciences too Assumptions of equilibrium: The elements to be balanced should be beneficial to the society. If the factors are not balanced and one gains power or preference over the other, it will enroach the rights of the others and eventually destroy them. The whole concept revolves around stability in a system and preventing hegemony from seeping in. Balance of power in domestic politics: The concept of Bop can be found in domestic politics too. Power in the gov, factors outside the gov maintaining power. Opposition maintaining balance over gov. Executive, judiciary and legislature maintaining balance. Pattern of direct opposition: A tries to dominate B, B tries to dominate back. Pattern of competition: Two nations try to dominate a third state. The state will always be inclined towards one of these. Methods of Bop: Compensation Divide and rule Armament Alliances: Types of alliances Icsmotlo Lomostic Limited Operative Mutual interest One sided Temporary Same theological interest Complimentary Identical interest How alliances are formed: Alliances vs world domination: Structure of bop: The system in BOP is not restricted to a single system but it is composed of a number of subsystems that are all a part of the whole process. The general pattern is that one dominant system is overly powerful so it maintains a dominance over the others. The more dominant the powerful system is, the more influence it will create over the other subsystems and this will lead

to the detorition of these subsystems to the point that they're independent autonomy will be lessened and they will merely be a manifestation of the dominant system. In recent times, the bop has worked over the subsystems that they hve lost their autonomy. Kerry luger bill Operation in swat Evaluation and criticism of Bop: Uncertainty of bop: It's a mechanical concept. It needs to be measured in specific scales as in degrees. It is hard to measure factors such as military might, territory and such. Elusive concept: National character and national morality are crucial factors but concepts such as military might and other powers are concealed facts which are rarely measureable. These characteristics change but this change is never obvious and becomes noticeable only in times of crisis and war. Alliances: Alliances are uncertain. Unreality: As the factors are rarely measureable, all nations tend to just struggle for more power as they tend to make mistakes measuring a nation's power and they keep a safety margin which leads to complications. Concept of permanent superiority: All nations try to attain superiority and the one which is superior tries to maintain that superiority. But it must be noted that the dominant power can never be removed because it will always be replaced by another. Preventive war: War is a natural outcome of BOP Disturbance in bop: Any external factor that changes the BOP Bop as an ideology: Everyone justifies it's own cause. If a nation is craving for power and tries to achieve it, he will claim that he did it achieve bop. If a nation is genuinely aiming for bop in a system dominated by a single superpower, his efforts will be seen as a violation. Any effort to disturb the bop will be fiercely opposed. Inadequacy of bop: It is not only bop that defines the international system. National character and national morality also a huge part in determining decisions. All nations have some common interests and moralistic values which prevents them actively seking power and also prevents war and conflicts. When these values cease to exist or become weak, the bop can not maintain stability or prevent conflicts. Unipolarity: This refers to the period from 1945 to 49. ww2 had left nations devastated. Only th us had power in both economic and military sense. The combined gnp of the us was that of half the world. This gave it a chance of pursuing it's objectives as a sole hegemon.

Bipolarity: After 49, russia emerged. Now there were two superpowers. And this created a competing of power bw the two nations. Us created nato, ussr created warsaw pact. Alliances were formed. There were two reasons, first, the superpowers wanted nations on their side, second, the weaker nations looked for protection towards these superpowers. The whole world split into two sides, capitalist and communist. This paved the way for numerous proxy wars. There was an advent of icbm, intercontinental ballistic missiles. Which removed the need for frontal bases. Thre was a zero-sum conflict. Which meant that what the one lost, the other gained. The acceptance of capitalism by previously communist states squashed the purpose for which NATO was created. Unipolarity redux: Return of us Schools of thought: First: One hegemon Second: Bipolarity Third: Multipolarity