Anarchy

Anarchy is a word of Greek origin denoting the absence of the rule of law or (more broadly) of settled government. The prevalence of anarchy is the first and primary assumption of realism, a term [Page 38]given by scholars to a family of theoretical models of interstate behavior that is central to contemporary international systems theory. Realism is founded on several pessimistic assertions about interstate life, among them anarchy.

The argument is that, historically, the interstate world has most often consisted of a multiplicity of sovereign entities; these sovereign entities recognize little by way of international law and have almost no way of enforcing it. There really are no enforceable rules of conduct—especially for strong states. The term scholars employ to describe this situation is anarchy. The harsh interstate environment is both literally an anarchy in the strict sense of the absence of enforceable international law and an anarchy in the broader sense, which denotes violent chaos. The prevalence of this environment, in turn, dictates that the primary goals of individual governments are, simply, survival and security.

There are two possible exits from anarchy. One is the emergence of a universal empire. That is, one state achieves universal and unchallenged dominance and imposes a rough law and order everywhere, to suit its own purposes and as it sees fit. This, famously, was the Roman solution. But the emergence of universal states is rare and difficult to achieve (as the United States has recently found out). The second exit is through widespread acceptance of international law, especially by the strong states, administered—and enforced—by a neutral international institution such as a United Nations. But because the interstate world has traditionally been so dangerous, the voluntary acceptance of restraints on state conduct is unlikely. This is especially true for the powerful states, whose governments do not wish to give up their hard-won advantages of power and status. Historically, then, multipolar anarchy—an interstate world of multiple large powers, each pursuing its own interests in a fierce competition with few or no rules—has been the prevalent form of interstate life.

Realists argue that the prevalence of anarchy, rather than any internal cultural traits of individual states, is the primary determinant of interstate behavior. The generally harsh and competitive international environment and the current distribution of power across the interstate system are the vital factors. The anarchy of the state system, rather than any unique cultural attribute of any one unit in the system, is thus the primary factor in another fundamental realist principle: the ruthless self-seeking that occurs on the part of all states. This ruthless self-seeking occurs primarily because with no international law, states must provide for their own security. Thus, a structural anarchy is also inevitably a self-help regime: Governments are unable to depend on the help of others or on the rule of law, so every government reserves the right to be sole arbiter of what constitutes justice for itself and the right to take up arms to enforce it. Because the best way to provide security under anarchy is to be powerful, self-help leads naturally to power-maximizing behavior. In an anarchic state-system, power-maximizing behavior is, therefore, the normal behavior of all states.

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