Anarchy

Consequences of Anarchy

For most scholars of international relations, anarchy requires that all states must rely only on their own resources and abilities—a practice described as the principle of self-help. Lacking any authority that states can appeal to for protection, aid, or binding adjudication, each state must ultimately depend on its own efforts and wisdom. This further implies that any agreement made between states must be self-enforcing or in the interests of the parties to carry out if and when actually called on to do so.

Although the assumption that the international system is anarchic is widely shared, the meaning and consequences of this assumption are still vigorously debated. For realists, anarchy produces a zero-sum, competitive struggle between states. For political realists, anarchy did not feature prominently and was more a passive background condition; Hans Morgenthau—for instance, rooted the drive for power in the innate character of political man, not in the nature of the international system. For Neorealists (sometimes called structural realists), however, anarchy is one of the defining features of international structure with significant causal effects.

Even within neorealism, there are two prominent schools. For defensive realists, anarchy requires only that states seek security, although they may also pursue expansion, glory, or power for other reasons. Given that some states may possess aggressive tendencies, however, all states must be ever vigilant and prepared to defend themselves. Uncertainty over the motives of other states and problems of credible commitment, in turn, sometimes leads to bargaining failures and war. Offensive realists believe anarchy is such a challenging condition that states must pursue power at all times. Since states are always insecure, the fear that others will exploit them forces states to pursue all means necessary to impose their will on others. Also, as power is always zero sum, anything that gives an advantage to one state must create a disadvantage for at least one other. In this view, anarchy implies that international politics are a perpetual and intense struggle for domination.

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