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Explaining Third World Alignment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2011

Steven R. David
Steven R. David
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
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Abstract

Many argue that balance of power theory is as applicable to the Third World as it is to other states. Without substantial modification, however, balance of power theory cannot explain Third World alignments, because it ignores key characteristics of Third World states that determine alignment. The author develops a theory, “omnibalancing,” that is relevant to the Third World and that repairs these defects. Rather than balance of power's emphasis on states seeking to resist threats from other states, omnibalancing explains Third World alignments as a consequence of leaders seeking to counter internal and external threats to their rule. The superiority of omnibalancing over balance of power in making Third World alignments understandable is related to the Third World in general and to the alignment decisions of two key Third World states in particular. The author concludes by discussing why an understanding of the Third World, including Third World alignment, is central to the study of international relations.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , January 1991 , pp. 233 - 256
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1991

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References

1 For a comprehensive discussion of what connotes alignment, see Duncan, George T. and Siverson, Randolph M., “Flexibility of Alliance Partner Choice in a Multipolar System,” International Studies Quarterly 26 (December 1982), 511–38, at 518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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3 Kenneth Waltz and, to a lesser extent, Hans Morgenthau base their balance of power theory on the capabilities of states. Generally speaking, the greater the capability of a state, the greater the threat it poses to other states; see Waltz, , Theory of international Politics (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1979)Google Scholar, esp. chap. 6; and Morgenthau, Hans and Thompson, Kenneth, Politics among Nations, 6th ed. (New York: Knopf, 1985)Google Scholar, esp. chap. 11. George Liska also emphasizes the role of external threat, calling it the “primary source of alliances”; see Nations in Alliance: The Limits of Interdependence (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1962), 13.

4 Holsti, Ole R., Hopmann, P. Terrence, and Sullivan, John D., Unity and Disintegration in International Alliances: Comparative Studies (New York: John Wiley, 1973), 5.Google Scholar Based on an exhaustive survey of the literature, the authors concluded that most balance of power writings argue this.

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7 This is a major argument made by Stephen Walt, who asserts that his theory is supported by the experiences of states in the Middle East. He does, however, modify balance of power theory to focus on threats (instead of power) from other states. See Walt (fn. 2), 13–14.

8 Waltz (fn. 3), 121; and Morgenthau and Thompson (fn. 3), 228.

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10 See Morgenthau and Thompson (fn. 3), chaps. 1, 3, for a concise description of realism.

11 Ibid., 4.

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16 Morgenthau and Thompson (fn. 3), 14.

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30 According to Stephen Krasner, Third World states behave alike in global negotiations, not out of a common desire for economic development, but rather out of a common need for regime security. This view supports the contentions that one can generalize about the Third World and that concerns over survival assume central importance in Third World decision making. Krasner, See, “Third World Vulnerabilities and Global Negotiations,” Review of International Studies 9 (October 1983), 235–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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32 See ibid., 189–92, for a concise description on why internal balancing is supposedly fundamentally different from balancing between states.

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35 Waltz (fn. 3), 81.

36 Morgenthau and Thompson (fn. 3), 227–28.

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43 Many analysts make the point that Mengistu could not survive without a satisfactory settlement of the Eritrean conflict. See, for example, Legum and Lee (fn. 39), 39; Kasikas, Suzanne, The Arc of Socialist Revolutions (Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman, 1982), 142Google Scholar; and Selassie (fn. 40), 37, 71.

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45 Extensive accounts of the internal threats besetting Sadat can be found in Baker (fn. 44); Hinnebusch (fn. 44); and Cooper (fn. 44).

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51 Walt makes this point in connection with bandwagoning; see Walt (fn. 2), 179.

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56 For example, Richard Ned Lebow cites the political vulnerability of a leader as one of the key factors that can induce a policy of brinkmanship; Lebow, , Between Peace and War. The Nature of International Crisis (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981), 69–79.Google Scholar