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The Principle of Equilibrium and the Present Period*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Extract

Politics require principles. When it is a question on the one hand of acquiring a position, and on the other hand of defending it, the opposed interests seek bases upon which they can rest. The sovereignties feel the necessity of invoking the authority of a principle which seems to draw its force from considerations superior to those that can inspire the political pretensions of a particular state. An appeal is made to a common interest the supposed existence of which is taken for granted—namely, that of maintaining the peace and good relations among the states—and it is presented in a definite formula, the principle of equilibrium.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1921

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Footnotes

*

The present article reproduces in substancea paper read before the diplomatic section of the Ecole des Sciences Politiques of Paris. It was written at the suggestion of M. Dupuis, to whom the writer owes the most valuable suggestions.—Author. Translated from the French by Dr. Edwin H. Zeydel, of Washington, D. C.

References

1 Livre jaune. Documents diplomatiques, 1867, VIII, p. 101.