Domestic Order vs International Order
●Domestically, we have an understanding that we can rely on the police to impose order
and in exchange we pay taxes
○Use of force belongs to state
●In international politics, there is no all-powerful force
●*Real World Example→ Russian invasion of Crimea
○Clear violation of state sovereignty, but no mechanisms in place to prevent Putin’s
actions
●Domestic order→ hierarchy
○Rankings of status and authority→ chain of command
●International order→ anarchy
○Absence of central authority above states
○Does not imply chaos
○All states are equal regardless of power (in principle)
●Realists argue that anarchy is a world of self-help
The Origin of the Current International System
●The end of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
○Began as religious war
○Led to a number of violent conflicts between states within the Holy Roman
Empire
●Peace of Westphalia
○Sovereignty→ States have legal and political supremacy within their territorial
boundaries
○The principle of noninterference
■One exception→ responsibility to protect
●The principle of the Responsibility to Protect is based upon the
underlying premise that sovereignty entails a responsibility to
protect all populations from mass atrocity crimes and human rights
violations. The principle is based on a respect for the norms and
principles of international law, especially the underlying principles
of law relating to sovereignty, peace and security, human rights,
and armed conflict
●International of society first used this term during the invasion of
Libya in 2006
Realism: State, Survival, Self-help
●Henry Kissinger
●George F. Kennan
●State-centric view
