Power vacuum

A power vacuum is an expression for a political situation that can occur when a government has no identifiable central authority. The metaphor implies that, like a physical vacuum, other forces will tend to "rush in" to fill the vacuum as soon as it is created, perhaps in the form of an armed militia or insurgents, military coup, warlord or dictator.

Historian Fernand Braudel compared the situation of Italy during the Renaissance as a "cyclonic zone, an enormous vacuum", which would sweep in foreign armies:

"The strength of the barriers in eastern and south-western Europe varied from century to century. The nomads' worlds rotated between these areas of negligence, weakness and sometimes ineffectual vigilance. A physical law drew them now westwards, now eastwards, according to whether their explosive life would ignite more easily in Europe, Islam, India or China. Eduard Fueter's classic work drew attention to a cyclonic zone, an enormous vacuum in 1494 over the fragmented Italy of princes and urban republics. All Europe was attracted towards this storm-creating area of low pressure. In the same way hurricanes persistently blew the people of the steppes eastwards or westwards according to the lines of least resistance." [Fernand Braudel, "Capitalism and Material Life", New York, Harper & Row, 1967, vol. I, p.57 ]

During or following a civil war there is often a power vacuum of some sort. For example, the war-torn nation of Somalia is currently mired in a power vacuum, with no central government or president exercising control over the supposed "Republic of Somalia".

A power vacuum can also occur following a constitutional crisis in which large portions of the government resign or are removed, creating unclear issues regarding succession to positions of power.

After the Second World War, there was a power vacuum. Along with the division of East and West Germany, Stalin's diplomacy and governance, the development of the atomic bomb, policies of containment of communism, the expansionism of the USSR and a growing lack of trust (fear of a hegemony) were seen to be factors in the emergence of the Cold War.

More recently, the tight control which Saddam Hussein's Baath party exerted on Iraq could have been exploited during a transitional hand-over period following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Instead, the US Government's policy of purging Baath party members from the Iraqi government after the invasion created a power vacuum which was quickly filled by insurgents, who then began to attack American service personnel using improvised explosive devices and snipers such as Juba. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2252730,00.html]

The general concept of a "power vacuum" is relevant to many personal and organizational situations. In the criminal world many druglords are able to become untouchable because of fear of any backlash occurring in a power vacuum situation.

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