Balance of Power in International Relations - Chain Ganging

Chain Ganging

Chain-ganging is when a state sees its own security tied to the security of its alliance partner. It chains itself by deeming any attack on its ally the equivalent of an attack on itself. This is another aspect of the balance of power theory, whereby the smaller states could drag their chained states into wars that they have no desire to fight. A key example of this was the chain-ganging between states prior to WWI, dragging the entire European continent to war over a dispute between the relatively minor powers of Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Thus states “may chain themselves unconditionally to reckless allies whose survival is seen to be indispensable to the maintenance of the balance.”