ABSTRACT
Among the prominent features of the political process are the rise and fall of political movements, and the occurrence and resolution of revolutionary and war crises. Crisis is taken to impose restrictions on the process of decision making which necessitate more and more participation in the process by fewer and fewer power holders. The crisis may be exploited by rival groups within the elite in the process of internal power striving. The balancing of power is a component of every social process, not merely a characteristic of certain special conditions like those existing, say, in Europe during the last two centuries. The power-balancing process must be sharply distinguished from particular "balance of power" doctrines. For the balancing process to prevent violence, it is necessary, moreover, that variations in power lend themselves to equalization by redistribution among the participants in the process.
