ABSTRACT
Balance-of-power theory explains order-and the rules and institutions that emergeas the result of balancing to counter external or hegemonic power. Order is the product of the unending process of balancing and adjustment among states under conditions of anarchy. Balancing can be pursued both internally and externally-through domestic mobilization and through the formation of temporary alliances among threatened states to resist and counterbalance a looming or threatening concentration of power. Under conditions of anarchy, alliances will come and go as temporary expedients, states will guard their autonomy, and entangling institutions will be resisted.
