While the realist research program has devoted considerable efforts to analyze strategies adopted by great powers, it has shown relatively little interest in defining what strategies other actors are likely to implement. Drawing on realist axioms, this work puts in light that there is a particularly efficient strategy that might be considered by “non-power” states. This strategy aims at preserving a balance of power inside the system, which implies that non-power states are likely to prefer “multidirectional engagement” to other types of strategy. Focusing on two major regions of the contemporary global system, this work shows that non-power states in the Gulf and in Southeast Asia have implemented such strategies in the post-Cold War.