An Analysis Of International Anarchy In The Perspectives Of Constructivism

Anarchy is an objective existence in international politics today. Despite the fact that it may denote disorderliness, it's not disorderliness in itself.The assumption of the anarchic situation of international politics is the major argument of realistic theorists and has been the premise for the analysis of neo-liberalism over the past 20 years as well. Both schools define anarchy of international politics as the fact or situation void of centralized political organizations in the countries to make or enforce laws. Kenneth Waltz, a representative figure of Realism, argued that "If there is one essential and long-lasting feature of the international society, that must be anarchy."All the major contemporary theories on international relationships tend to accept this hypothesis and thus regard it as the starting point for the analysis of all international issues. This feature has resulted in two basic inferences concerning international relationships: firstly, the anarchy of the international system will sure make itself a self-supporting one; secondly, the anarchy of the international system will stimulate the world nations to seek and promote power politics.The so-called self-supporting system, an inevitable result of anarchy, will leave security of the world a question-begging issue. When facing these difficulties, the sole solution the countries may think of is power politics, which will in turn trigger an endless competition for power and struggle for interests. Based on this insight, Joseph M. Grieco pointed out, "The anarchy of the international community will result in conflict and competition between and among countries."Alexander Wendt, however, has cast the issue in a somewhat opposite light. Wendt believes that anarchy is the result of interaction between countries. Through the mechanism of interaction, different initial behaviors will produce anarchic situations with different features. Hence, conflict is not necessarily the singular logical result. In terms of systems, the interactions between countries may produce different results, with anarchy just being one of them.Wendt stressed that self-supporting system and power politics are both possible scenarios. They're not the inevitable results of anarchy and the situation can just be the opposite "anarchy comes from countries". With this view, Wendt formats and elaborates three kinds of anarchic cultural situations: Hobbesian culture situation; Lockian culture situation and Kantian culture situation.By employing Wendt's theories , the paper analyzes, evaluates the argument "anarchy comes from countries" and studies the anarchic essence of international politics ,so as to arouse people to pay attention to and study the role of anarchy in international politics .Chiefly, the paper seeks to address to what extent this theory can be put into practical use.