Every time we come across this word "anarchy", wrong connotations and ideas about anarchy spring up in our minds. If there is no presence of central government then there is chaos everywhere, everyone is doomed and there would be a danger of basic human rights being violated and so on. And it is obvious that the state of anarchy will exist in the international arena due to absence of any centralized authority or governance which can make laws or design a framework within which the international actors or states are required to play. But Helen Milner assures us that even if there is no centralized authority or governance, there wont be any disorders or chaos. Unfortunately the previous misleading conceptions have been embedded in the minds of political science students by scholars and political scientists who have misunderstood the concept of anarchy.
I liked the approach that she has adopted for elucidating and shedding light on the anarchy topic. She initially presents the ideas and concepts of anarchy that the renowned scholars believed in such as Waltz. For instance some believe that the government's monopoly on legitimate use of force is absent in the international arena, others believe that there are hardly any governmental institutions or laws that could maintain order in the international arena and then there are some who believe that the means for hierarchical rule enforcement are not present at the international stage. Milner carefully negates all these connotations one by one and then attempts to modify the current understanding of the anarchy concept. She believes that the international order will proceed with order and force in the absence of centralized authority. While reading her article, every Political Science student will ask the same question: can order exist without government especially in the international arena and world politics? Milner will reply in affirmative. Yes, order will exist in world politics in the absence of centralized authority only if certain conditions are taken into account. For instance, the international law not only needs to demand obedience but also be legitimate enough to not to provide any excuse of not following it. Milner further asserts that the international relations then will be characterized by a decentralized competition among the states, which would be equal not in power but in features.
I liked the approach that she has adopted for elucidating and shedding light on the anarchy topic. She initially presents the ideas and concepts of anarchy that the renowned scholars believed in such as Waltz. For instance some believe that the government's monopoly on legitimate use of force is absent in the international arena, others believe that there are hardly any governmental institutions or laws that could maintain order in the international arena and then there are some who believe that the means for hierarchical rule enforcement are not present at the international stage. Milner carefully negates all these connotations one by one and then attempts to modify the current understanding of the anarchy concept. She believes that the international order will proceed with order and force in the absence of centralized authority. While reading her article, every Political Science student will ask the same question: can order exist without government especially in the international arena and world politics? Milner will reply in affirmative. Yes, order will exist in world politics in the absence of centralized authority only if certain conditions are taken into account. For instance, the international law not only needs to demand obedience but also be legitimate enough to not to provide any excuse of not following it. Milner further asserts that the international relations then will be characterized by a decentralized competition among the states, which would be equal not in power but in features.
I agree with Milner and you that there is indeed some degree of order in the international system. With an unequal distribution of resources, states will compete against each other, though not in an entirely anarchic system.
ReplyDelete