ABSTRACT
The term balance of power was sometimes used to mean equilibrium as for instance in the sense used by A. J.P. Taylor in his book The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848-1918.2 At other times, it was used to mean a general system viewed as essential for the preservation of a certain political system. This view was most clearly asserted by Fenelon, a one time spiritual advisor to Louis XIV, in his exposition of the duties of royalty.3 Once a Power was allowed to rise to a position of predominance, Fenelon believed, you could not count on its good behaviour. Where a powerful state arose, Fenelon argued, neighbouring states had an obligation to form a kind of commonwealth; otherwise the most powerful country will eventually dominate the rest of them.
