Anarchy is one of the most central and dominant concepts
of the Realist school of thought in International Relations. Political decision
making is assumed to revolve around states being anarchic, where the actions
and decisions of political actors project the self-interested and egoistic nature
of states. Are all political decisions really made on the basis of states being
anarchic in nature? Helen Milner would disagree. In her article, the esteemed
political scientist critiques anarchy as being too simplistic of a concept and
presents us with another fundamental concept of International Relations;
Interdependence.
For a favorable foreign policy and successful
decision making, states need to be anarchic, but inter-dependence between
states is equally important. Anarchy assumes that the international arena will constantly
be in a state of war as each individual sovereign nation-state will try to
better their own fortunes. What this concept dismisses is that there is some
sort of order in the international arena, where states need to keep the balance
of power in mind, and base their alliances on inter-dependence and mutual
respect. This dependency can be in the form of economic dependence, social
dependence or even political dependence.
Looking at the current international political
arena, alliance such as the one between USA and Israel work hand in hand with
Helen Milner’s argument. If states were only anarchic, there would be a
perpetual state of war. Instead, super powers such as USA use these alliances
to maintain the balance of power. States such as Israel use the influence of
their allies to better their own prospects, which gives rise to the notion of
absolute gains. Even though these alliances prove that anarchy exists as both
USA and Israel are getting involved for egocentric reasons, inter-dependence is
vital in maintaining peace between two states.
Even though USA has enough strategic and economic
power to become a hegemon to Israel and other countries alike, the advantage of
having an ally in Middle East is imperative to USA’s foreign policy. Decisions
are not based on the anarchic structure of states alone, but also on the
advantage one can gain from being inter-dependent on other equally self-interested
states.
Good Job! I liked the USA-Israel example that you have provided that unveils the arguments provided by Milner in her writing. Recently, Israel made sure that images of inhumanity and atrocity committed in Gaza were burnt into our memories.And instead of disapproving of these acts, the US supported it in accordance with its alliance with Israel.
ReplyDeleteExactly my point. Balance of power is what drives most of the actions that states take. Come to think of it. Even the so called centralized organizations just as the UN also have their structure shaped in such a way that it demonstrates balance of power by giving the right to veto to the five most powerful countries.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to push back on this point, "For a favorable foreign policy and successful decision making, states need to be anarchic, but inter-dependence between states is equally important." I don't understand why "states need to be anarchic" to achieve a favorable foreign policy? Wouldn't anarchy within a state screw up its foreign policy making ability? Or, if you meant the international system, how does anarchy there lead to better foreign policy outcomes? Please clarify this point, as you mention "states being anarchic" multiple times in your post.
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