Session 9: Structures and Systems

In chapter five of ‘Theory of International Politics’, Kenneth Waltz’s discusses social structures in both a domestic and international context.

While domestic politics can appear to be somewhat structured at least in a sense where there are political parties operating and seeking power through elections, international politics are largely devoid of structure. Rather the latter is rooted in anarchy, a product of the basic instincts of states to compete for survival for example through economic competition. According to Waltz the international system acts to reduce cooperation between states so as to prevent the likelihood of overdependence on other states, an event which could threaten the sovereignty of the dependent state and at best lead to it becoming a puppet of the benefactor state and at worse losing its independence outright. Interestingly with the advent of neoliberalism and the global integration of markets, the international system has served to increase interstate cooperation rather than reduce it as Waltz envisioned.

Presently the concepts of downright conquering and colonization have become outdated and out of fashion. The more appropriate strategy seems to be of creating dependence between a powerful state and a less powerful one. In this game, national sovereignty remains unharmed to the naked eye and a state is seem to be making its own decisions and running its own affairs. Behind the scenes however, the hegemon that the weaker state relies on for important resources, trade or the increasingly popular ‘aid programs’, remains firmly in power. Proxy wars need no longer be confined to within states rather entire states can be used as pawns by the hegemons in a global game of chess, as contested between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War era.