Testing alternative responses to power preponderance : buffering, binding, bonding and beleaguering in the real world.

Abstract

In an earlier piece entitled, "Revisiting Responses to Power Preponderance: Beyond Balancing and Bandwagoning", the author developed four alternative resonses to power preponderance that fell outside the traditional international relations framework of balancing and bandwagoning. The four responses are namely binding, buffering, bonding and beleaguering. The previous work argued that states might broadly adopt these four responses to preponderant power depending on their relative power next to the leading state and the level of integration with the world system.