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Xiao Alvin Yang, A Theory of Balance of Relationships: Improvised Relationality, Imagined Resemblance, and Bilateral Stability, International Studies Review, Volume 23, Issue 3, September 2021, Pages 1012–1014, https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viab013
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China and International Theory innovatively, transdisciplinarily, and thought-provokingly aims to develop a balance of relationship (BoR) theory that both universally applies to bilateral relationships and complements the existing balance of power theory. It addresses one central question: why and how do states practice self-restraint to establish and maintain stable and long-term relationships in international relations (IR)? The authors argue that cultivating relationality—that is, a stable, bilateral relationship based on imagined and improvised resemblance or likeness—is the key to establishing and maintaining stable and long-term relationships. Conversely, the loss of relationality, or failing relationships, can lead to ontological insecurity. BoR assumes that relationality is a more common condition than anarchy in IR. It also assumes that actors with different identities and interests strive for long-term stability by practicing self-restraint and improvising in order to create a resemblance or shared identity in a bilateral relationship.
BoR theory or “the process of establishing and maintaining mutual obligations between state actors” (p. 2) develops in four parts. In Part I, the authors expound on the three principles of BoR, or how to transition unstable relationships to stable ones when two actors experience disputes: (1) repairing the relationship if it is potentially threatened, (2) breaking the relationship and starting anew if it is directly threatened, and (3) using a mixture of punishment and repair to correct the relationship if it is indirectly threatened (Chapter 1). Relations between Singapore and Taiwan then show how small states apply BoR (Chapter 2), while those between China and the United States illustrate major power practices (Chapter 3).
