This paper is concerned with the in-plane elastic stability of arches subjected to a radial concentrated load. The equilibrium equation for pin-ended circular arches is established by using energy method, and it is proved that the axial force is nearly a constant along the circumference of the circular arches. Based on force method, the equation for the primary eigen function is derived and solved, and the approximate analytical solution of critical instability load is obtained. Numerical examples are given and discussed.