The changing world scene is marked by innumerable developments for which extant paradigms have, at best, strained and insufficient explanations. Here the analysis undertakes a fresh approach to the emergent patterns of global life by tracing a bifurcation in which the state-centric world coexists and interacts with a diffuse multi-centric world consisting of diverse "sovereignty-free" actors who endlessly confront an "autonomy" dilemma that differs significantly from the "security" dilemma of states. An outline of the basic structures and processes of this two-world universe of world politics suggests that its equilibrium may derive from cyclical patterns in which orientations at the micro-level toward authority and legitimacy vary systematically to redress the balance of systems and subsystems at the macro level.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ashley, R.K. (1987). "Marginalia: poststructuralism/international theory."Paper presented at the Workshop on International Theory, Bad Homburg, West Germany (1 June)
2.
Bellah, R.N., R. Madsen, W.M. Sullivan, A. Swidler and S.M. Tipton (1985). Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American LifeBerkeley: University of California Press.
3.
Bull, H. (1977). The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World PoliticsNew York: Columbia University Press.
4.
Burns, T.R. and H. Flam (1986). "Political transactions and regime structuring: the perspective of actor-systems dynamics."Manuscript prepared for the Workshop on Political Exchange: Between Governance and Ideology, European University Institute, Florence (15-18 December).
5.
Crosette, B. (1986). "For Hanoi chiefs, a list of problems."New York Times (23 December).
6.
Dallin, A. (1981). "The domestic sources of Soviet foreign policy." In The Domestic Context of Soviet Foreign Policy (S. Bialer, ed.), pp. 335-408. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
7.
Drucker, P. (1986). "The changed world economy."Foreign Affairs64: 768-91.
8.
Duchacek, I.D. (1986). The Territorial Dimension of Politics: Within, Among and Across NationsBoulder, CO: Westview Press.
9.
Ekeh, P. (1975). "Colonialism and the two publics in Africa: a theoretical statement."Comparative Studies in Society and History17: 91-112.
10.
Emery, F.E. and E.L. Trist (1975). Towards a Social EcologyNew York: Plenum.
11.
Farnsworth, C.H. (1987). "'The company' as big business."New York Times (4 January): Part IV.
12.
Howard, M. (1979). "War and the nation-state."Daedalus108(Fall): pp. 101-10.
13.
Inkeles, A. and D.H. Smith (1974). Becoming Modern: Individual Change in Six Developing CountriesCambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14.
Jackson, R.H. (1986). "African states and international theory."Paper presented at the British International Studies Association , University of Reading (15-17 December).
15.
Kaplan, M.A. (1957). System and Process in International PoliticsNew York: Wiley.
16.
Katzenstein, P. (1987). "Summary remarks."Paper presented at the Workshop on International Theory, Bad Homburg, West Germany (2 June).
17.
Keohane, R.O. (1986). "Realism, neorealism and the study of world politics." In Neorealism and Its Critics (R. O. Keohane, ed.), pp. 1-27. New York: Columbia University Press.
18.
Krasner, S. D., ed. (1983). International RegimesIthaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
19.
Lewis, F. (1986). "'As if we were free.'"New York Times, 2 December.
20.
Modelski, G. (1987). Long Cycles in World PoliticsSeattle: University of Washington Press.
21.
Oye, K. A., ed. (1986). Cooperation under Anarchy.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
22.
Przeworski, A. (1983). Methods of Cross-National Research 1970-1983: An OverviewWest Berlin: Wissenschaftzentrum.
23.
Richelson, J.T. and D. Ball (1985). The Ties That Bind: Intelligence Cooperation between the UKUSA Countries—the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New ZealandLondon: Allen & Unwin.
24.
Rosecrance, R. (1986). The Rise of the Trading State: Commerce and Conquest in the Modern WorldNew York: Basic Books.
25.
Rosenau, J.N. (1981). The Study of Political AdaptationLondon: Frances Pinter Publishers.
26.
Rosenau, J.N. (1982). "National (and factional) adaptation in Central America." In Central America: International Dimensions of the Crisis (R. E. Feinberg, ed.), pp. 239-69. New York: Holms and Meier.
27.
Rosenau, J.N. (1983). "The adaptation of small states." In Issues in Caribbean International Relations (B. A. Ince, A. T. Bryan, H Addo and R. Ramsaran, eds), pp. 3-28. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
28.
Rosenau, J.N. (1984). "A pre-theory revisited: world politics in an era of cascading interdependence."International Studies Quarterly28: 245-305.
29.
Rosenau, J.N. (1985a). "Authority structures in North-South relations."Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, New Orleans.
30.
Rosenau, J.N. (1985b). "Beyond imagery: the long-run adaptation of two Chinas."Institute for Transnational Studies, University of Southern California.
31.
Rosenau, J.N. (1986). "Before cooperation: hegemons, regimes and habit-driven actors in world politics."International Organization40: 849-94.
32.
Rosenau, J.N. (1987). "Proof in world politics."Occasional Papers Series C, Center for Economic and Political Studies, University of Amsterdam.
33.
Rosenau, J.N. (1988a). "The state in an era of cascading politics: wavering concept, widening competence, withering colossus, or weathering change."Comparative Political Studies21 (April), pp. 13-44.
34.
Rosenau, J.N. (1988b). "Post-international politics: the micro dimension."Institute for Transnational Studies, University of Southern California.
35.
Rosenau, J.N.(forthcoming a). "Subtle sources of global interdependence: changing criteria of evidence, legitimacy, and patriotism." In Interdependence and Conflict in World Politics (J. N. Rosenau and H. Tromp, eds) pp. 31-47. Aldershot, UK: Gower Publications.
36.
Rosenau, J.N.(forthcoming b). "Toward a single-country theory: the USSR as an adaptive system." In Rethinking Soviet Foreign Policy (R. Kolkowitz, ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
37.
38.
Schmeck, H.M.,Jr (1984). "Cancer gene linked to flaws in growth of an ordinary cell."New York Times, 10 February.
39.
Smelser, N.J. (1986). "External and internal factors in theories of social change."Paper presented at the German-American Conference on Social Change and Modernization, Berkeley, California.
40.
Stonier, T. (1983). "The microelectronic revolution, Soviet political structure, and the future of East-West relations."Political Quarterly54: 137-51.
41.
Strange, S. (1986). "The Legend of Lost Hegemony."Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association for International Relations, October.
42.
New York Times (1986). 26 December.
43.
Tiryakian, E. A. and R. Rogowski, eds (1985). New Nationalisms of the Developed West.Boston: Allen & Unwin.
44.
Treverton, G.F. (1987). "Covert action: from 'covert' to overt."Daedalus116: 95-124.
45.
Wallerstein, I. (1974). The Modern World SystemNew York: Academic Press.
46.
Waltz, K.N. (1979). Theory of International PoliticsReading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
