The next two chapters establish a multifaceted framework that treats the balance of power in terms of metaphors, myths and models. The primary aim of these chapters is to account for the very distinctive role that the balance of power plays in the field of international relations. Although references to the balance of power occur habitually in every conceivable social setting, the concept has never been regarded as particularly significant or controversial in the social sciences. By contrast, the balance of power has been treated as a central but highly contentious concept in the theory and practice of international relations for several centuries and it still continues to generate substantial controversy. By making provision for metaphors, myths and models, the framework established in Chapters 2 and 3 reveals that the balance of power is a more interesting concept than is generally recognized in social science and a more complex concept than is often acknowledged in International Relations.

This chapter argues that the concept becomes more interesting when it is accepted that the balance of power is a metaphor and that important implications then follow if it is also accepted that metaphors have the capacity to transform the established meaning of a concept. It surveys the debate that has taken place about the significance that can be attached to metaphors and in doing so it demonstrates that very little importance has been ascribed to the metaphorical status of the balance of power in either the social sciences in general or International Relations in particular.