Power and the Varieties of Order - Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order - page 33

ation of resources within a state, the building of alliance coalitions, or both. Through this on-
going poweraggregating and -balancing process, relations among states are rendered stable.
In effect, order is the result of an equipoise or equilibrium of power between competing
states.
Table 2-3
Logics of Order
This logic of international order is richly theorized within the realist tradition. States exist
in a world of anarchy. No authority or governance institutions operate above the state to en-
force agreements or maintain order. Sovereign states compete in a self-help system. In Ken-
neth Waltz's seminal statement of this view, the parts of the system are made up of states
that are alike (“like units”) in their fundamental character, undifferentiated by function. 15
When there is no guarantee that contracts will be enforced, prudent actors ensure that they
can provide for as many of their own needs as possible. States are under strong pressure to
fulfill the same functions. States are left to their own devices to secure themselves and protect
their interests. State power—defined as material capabilities—is the coin of the realm. States
can protect themselves and achieve their goals to the extent that they have the power to do
so. In a condition of anarchy, states do not stand in any fixed, formal, or hierarchical relation
with one another. The last word in political authority is state sovereignty, which constitutes
the formal rejection of hierarchy.
It is under these conditions that incentives exist for states to balance. States can never be
fully certain of the intentions of other states and so cannot rely on commitments and guaran-
tees to ensure their security. States rise and fall in material capabilities, triggering responses
by other states. When powerful states emerge, weaker states will seek protection in counter-
vailing coalitions. The alternative is to risk domination. “Secondary states, if they are free to
choose, flock to the weaker side; for it is the stronger side that threatens them,” Waltz argues.
“On the weaker side they are both more appreciated and safer, provided, of course, that the
coalition they join achieves enough defensive or deterrent strength to dissuade adversaries
from attacking.” 16 As the distribution of power shifts, coalitions will shift as well. Interna-
tional order, therefore, is the result of balancing by states seeking to ensure their survival in
an anarchical system.
This notion of order and the balance of power provides the basis for a sweeping narrative
of the rise and fall of international order. International relations are marked by a succession
of global struggles over power, with each cycle of history returning the system to a settled