The Structural Balance of Foreign Policy
World Peace is constantly under threat, balancing itself between chaos and order. From a Networks perspective, foreign policy requires attention towards preserving structural balance for networks. The Structural Balance Property states that for every set of three nodes, if we consider the three edges connecting them, either all three of these edges are labeled friends, or else exactly one of them is labeled friends. A persistent example of tension in the world is the SouthChina Sea conflict. China claims ownership of the some 2 million square miles of sea, stating that the sea had been its territory as far back as the Han dynasty. However, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines all dispute China’s claims, each declaring its own territories. The most significant cause of dispute is the creation of artificial islands by each country, essentially creating “false sovereignty”.
Washington D.C. has tried its best to stay removed from the situation, but global ties has made that difficult. With a third party entering the picture, the importance of structural balance is clear. The two existing nodes have an enemy relationship. The United States is diplomatically friendly with Taiwan and the Philippines. Therefore, the third tie between the US and China must be an enemy relationship to preserve the Structural Balance Property. As the article states, the United States has inSay that the US enters the picture as a friend of China. This creates an extremely unstable state where the United States has interests in both sides which will inevitably deteriorate both of its relations. Another way of looking at these situations is by the balance theorem which states that the set of countries can be divided into groups of friends that are then connected by an enemy relation. This can be applied to the collection of Asian countries which through diplomatic pressures all have become friends united against China.
Source: http://time.com/4034455/south-china-sea-admiral-yuan-yubai-maritime-dispute/