Balance of Power in World History

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Introduction: Balance and Hierarchy in International Systems

   • William C. Wohlforth, Stuart J. Kaufman, Richard Little

   Pages 1-21

3. Balancing and Balancing Failure in Biblical Times: Assyria and the Ancient Middle Eastern System, 900–600 BCE

   • Stuart J. Kaufman, William C. Wohlforth

   Pages 22-46

4. The Greek City-States in the Fifth Century BCE: Persia and the Balance of Power

   • Richard Little

   Pages 47-70

5. Intra-Greek Balancing, the Mediterranean Crisis of c. 201-200 BCE, and the Rise of Rome

   • Arthur M. Eckstein

   Pages 71-98

6. The Forest and the King of Beasts: Hierarchy and Opposition in Ancient India (c. 600–232 BCE)

   • William J. Brenner

   Pages 99-121

7. The Triumph of Domination in the Ancient Chinese System

   • Victoria Tin-bor Hui

   Pages 122-147

8. ‘A Republic for Expansion’: The Roman Constitution and Empire and Balance-of-Power Theory

   • Daniel Deudney

   Pages 148-175

9. Hierarchy and Resistance in American State-Systems 1400–1800 CE

   • Charles A. Jones

   Pages 176-198

10. Stability and Hierarchy in East Asian International Relations, 1300–1900 CE

    • David C. Kang

    Pages 199-227

11. Conclusion: Theoretical Insights from the Study of World History

    • Stuart J. Kaufman, Richard Little, William C. Wohlforth

    Pages 228-246

12. Back Matter

    Pages 247-279

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The balance of power is one of the most influential ideas in international relations, yet it has never been comprehensively examined in pre-modern or non-European contexts. This book redresses this imbalance. The authors present eight new case studies of balancing and balancing failure in pre-modern and non-European international systems.

• Case Studies
• constitution
• Europe
• history
• international relations
• Nation
• resistance
• world history

'[...] the authors have addressed a crucially and lamentably under-researched area, and done a very good job in bringing material into the light that will generate a great deal of positive debate both within realism and outside it.' - Professor Michael Sheehan, University of Wales Swansea, UK

'...a welcome addition to the growing body of interdisciplinary research in the history of world politics.' Lucas Freire, Political Studies Review

• Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware, USA

  Stuart J. Kaufman

• Department of Politics, University of Bristol, UK

  Richard Little

• Department of Government, Dartmouth College, USA

  William C. Wohlforth

WILLIAM J. BRENNER Doctoral Candidate, Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University, USA DANIEL DEUDNEY Associate Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University, USA ARTHUR M. ECKSTEIN Professor of History, University of Maryland at College Park, USA VICTORIA TIN-BOR HUI Assistant Professor in Political Science, University of Notre Dame, USA CHARLES JONES Reader in the History of International Studies, University of Cambridge, UK DAVID KANG Associate Professor of Government, and Adjunct Associate Professor and Research Director, Center for International Business, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth, USA

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