For
Ernst B. Haas, the use of the concept, ‘balance of power’ to
understand international relations would not be problematic had the term not
been associated with a wide array of meanings. Thus, in his article he attempts
to deconstruct the concept and its application in the international arena.
He provides us with eight (!) different meanings of the term and then goes on to elaborate on the several applications of the term in international politics. One of its uses which was particularly intriguing was the use of balance of power as propaganda. In such a case, ‘balance of power’ is used as a slogan to cloak policies and actions which do not aim to stabilize anything. The reason why this notion is so deceitfully employed is because of its widespread popularity. In order to substantiate his article, the author backs up his opinion by the work of Johann H. G. von Justi who postulates that balance of power is utilized by those in power to hide much more sinister purposes, generally those involving ‘aggression.’
An example of such a propagandist manipulation of the term which immediately springs to my mind is the use of the term by the Pakistani military to achieve its motives. These include allocating a greater proportion of the national budget to army expenditure, at the expense of other pressing development goals; under the guise of ‘national security’ and the need to maintain balance between the might of India and Pakistan.
The author has done an exhaustive analysis of balance of power; however, a critique- which has already been mentioned in Sahar’s blog- is that the authors own input regarding the work seemed minimal as it got muddled amongst the extensive literature review used by him.
The allocation of a larger proportion of budget to Pakistan Army is not a propaganda rather it is the need of this country to have strong army because it needs to be in balance with our hostile neighbor in terms of military power so that we can avoid their hegemony over us.
ReplyDeleteHamza, I agree that we do indeed not have the friendliest of neighbors (aka India) However, I also believe that the threat of India has been greatly exaggerated. People responsible for defense of this nation have overemphasized the perceived danger from across the border and they play on the paranoia that they have managed to instill in people to direct a huge chunk of resources to themselves.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I feel like I should state that I am not saying that the threat in its entirety is imagined; however, I am only of the opinion that it has been blown out of proportion. And while the army does indeed need certain amount of funds to stay on top of the security situation,however, other development goals such as gender equality, basic sanitation, education etc; should not be ignored in this pursuit.
Very good piece and I like how you tied balance of power as an analytical construct that can be used for propaganda purposes to how the Pakistani military justifies its large budget to counter the supposed Indian threat. I agree that the Pakistani military inflates the threat from India - just as it inflates the threat of terrorism - and I concur with your assessment.
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