As the balance of economic power in the world changes, mustn't the balance of political power change too?

ECONOMIST: The balance of economic power in the world is changing. Good

Certainly since the end of World War II, the balance of power has been tipped against the individual in favor of the state, and liberty has yielded to grasping government.

FORBES: Restoring a Balance of Power Between Individuals and the State

Shorn of empire and in straitened circumstances, Russia still tends to view the world through balance-of-power lenses: another country's gain is Russia's loss, and vice versa, especially when that other country is America.

ECONOMIST: Russia��s world

"The balance of power is evening out in world cricket, and I think it's going to be evened out a little bit more now, " Smith said.

BBC: Smith savours 'greatest moment'

These efforts have been quietly afoot for some time, but they took Beijing and the world by surprise, and may have reshaped the balance of power in Asia more than any similar rat-a-tat-tat in a generation.

FORBES: That Was the Week That Was in Asia

Many of these original workshops have been turned into apartments now, but small open-door shops still populate those same streets, where third- and fourth-generation craftspeople continue to make the mainsprings, bridges and balance cocks that power some of the world's most exquisite and pricey timepieces.

BBC: Where the world��s most expensive watches are made

The bipolar international structure of the Cold War is often warmly remembered as a time when the balance of power - aided by the commonly understood inevitability of mutual assured destruction - ensured a relatively peaceful world where a war between the superpowers was largely unfeasible.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The case for hegemony

Iran's domestic troubles and the Arab world's genuine fear of a nuclear armed Iran provide Israel with a rare opportunity to radically shift the balance of power in the region for the better.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: A war on whose terms?