Publication

Abstract : We hope to show in this article that the balance of power model of the international system is semantically fuzzy, logically self-contradictory or otherwise fallacious, empirically invalid, and paradigmatically inadequate; and that it is in reality nothing more than a strategic doctrine of a small international oligarchy aimed at establishing and maintaining a hegemonic structure within the international system. We shall also argue that in an asymmetric international system, the contextual paradigm of anarchy can only lead to international hegemony; and that the resolution of international conflict, the stability and equilibrium of the international system, and world peace can be achieved in stages only through the evolutionary agency of a global regulatory authority. In other words, we shall make out a case for a paradigm shift from anarchy to world government in IR theory. But before doing so, we shall present below a mathematical model of balance of power, for the sake of precision and clarity, and expose its failure as the self-regulator of an anarchical international system.