Untying the Sovereign State: A Double Reading of the Anarchy Problematique

As a signifying gesture, it is perhaps useful to cite the names of Keohane, Krasner, Jervis, Lake, Ruggic, Oye, Lipson, Axelrod, Waltz, and so on; but it must be understood that what is signified is the disciplined conversation - the discourse - among these authors and writings and not their individual contributions. Relevant texts would include the Special Issue of World Politics (Vol, 38, No. 1, October 1985) edited by Kenneth Oye; Robert Jervis , 'Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma', World Politics (Vol. 30. No.2, January 1978); Oran Young , 'Anarchy and Social Choice: Reflections on the International Polity', World Politics (Vol. 30, No. 2, January 1978); Robert Axelrod , The Evolution of Cooperation (New York: Basic Books, 1984); Robert O. Keohane , After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984); and most, though not all, contributions to Stephen Krasner (ed.), International Regimes (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983).

On this aspect of the anarchy problematique, see Raymond Duvall and Alexander Wendt , 'The International Capital Regime and the Internationalization of the State', paper prepared for the German-American conference on international relalions theory. Bad Homburg, Federal Republic of Germany, May 31-June 4, 1987.

It should be clear that theoretical discourse of the anarchy problematique is very much beholden to a neorealist interpretation of the modern state system. For my analysis of this interpretation and its limits, see Richard K. Ashley , 'The Poverty of Neorealism', International Organization (Vol. 38, No. 2, Spring 1984 ).

See Richard K. Ashley , 'The Powers of Anarchy' in Hayward R. Alker, Jr. and Richard K. Ashley , After Neorealism: Anarchy, Power, and Community in International Collaboration, in preparation.

On the monological versus dialogical (or heterological) 'approaches' to the interpretation of texts, see especially Mikhail Bakhtin , Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics, trans. R. W. Rotsel (Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1973) and The Dialogic Imagination, trans. Michael Holquist and Caryl Emerson (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1975). See also, Julia Kristeva , 'Word, Dialogue, and Novel' in Toril Moi (ed.), The Kristeva Reader (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986), pp. 31-61.

For a useful introduction to literatures drawing upon the intertextual construct of intertextuality, see Thais Morgan , 'Is There an Intertext in this Text: Literary and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Intertextuality ', American Journal of Semiotics (Vol. 3, No. 4, 1985), pp. 1-40. For works illustrating the pertinence of the construct to the study of global politics, see James Der Derian and Michael Shapiro (eds.), International/Intertextual Relations: The Boundaries of Knowledge and Practice in World Politics ( Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, forthcoming).

This terminology — frequently put to use in discourse of the anarchy problematique — is of course due to Imre Lakatos, 'Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes' in Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave (eds.) Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1970 ).

For a further discussion bearing upon other turns in this discourse, see Richard K. Ashley , 'The Powers of Anarchy' op. cit.

The notion of deconstruction is due to Jacques Derrida. See his discussions in Jacques Derrida , The Margins of Philosophy (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1983) and Positions (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1981). A valuable introduction is Jonathan Culler, On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism After Structuralism (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982).

The classic rendition is found in Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1979).

Robert Axelrod and Robert O. Keohane , 'Achieving Cooperation Under Anarchy ', World Politics (Vol. 38, No. 1, October 1985), p. 226.

Undoubtedly the best statement of this theme is to be found in R.O. Keohane, After Hegemony, op. cit.

Sec Jeremy Bentham , Collected Works, Volume 4, ed. John Bowring (New York. NY: Russell and Russell, 1971). See also Michel Foucault , 'The Eye of Power' in Foucault, Power/Knowledge, ed. Colin Gordon (New York: Pantheon, 1980); and Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan (New York : Pantheon, 1977). For a treatment of the Panopticon image bearing upon international politics, see Richard K. Ashley 'The Eye of Power: The Politics of World Modeling,' International Organization (Vol. 37, No. 3, Summer 1983).

Kenneth Oye's opening words to the World Politics Special Issuc arc representative: 'Nations dwell in perpetual anarchy, for no central authority imposes limits on the pursuit of sovereign interests ...'. See also Kenneth Oye , 'Explaining Cooperation Under Anarchy: Hypotheses and Strategies', World Politics (Vol. 38, No. 1, October 1985), p. 1.

Duncan Snidat , 'The Game Theory of International Politics', World Politics (Vol. 38, No. 1, October 1985), pp. 45-57.

Duncan Snidal, op. cit.

I am playing on a metaphor from Michel Foucault's notion of 'blackmail of the Enlightenment'. See Foucault , 'What Is Enlightenment'?' in Paul Rabinow (ed.). The Foucault Reader (New York : Pantheon, 1984), pp. 42-3.

See Michel Foucault , 'The Subject and Power', an Afterword to Hubert Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow , Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics ( Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1983). See also Michel Foucault , The History of Sexuality. Volume I: An Introduction, trans. Robert Hurley (New York: Random House, 1978).

For a further discussion, see my 'The Powers of Anarchy', op. cit,

See Imre Lakatos, op. cit.

See Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye , Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977).

Implicit here is a notion of methodological individualism, albeit one imperfectly observed since 'individuals' at the centre of action are not necessarily 'human individuals'.

For an example of this argument see Robert O. Keohane. 'The Study of International Regimes and the Classical Tradition in International Relations ' unpublished manuscript, Harvard University, June 1986, pp. 24-6.

It should be observed that the recurring fear evoked in this discourse is precisely that either image, pursued to the extreme and without attention to the other, produces the same outcome: 'closure' or the fractionation of the world economy.

Waltz's position on this issue is perhaps representative. In general, Waltz holds that 'theoretical statements [including assumptions are nonfactual elements of a theory .... The worth of a theoretical notion is judged by the [explanatory and predictive] usefulness of the theory of which it is a part'. Later he adds, that 'we know that assumptions are neither true nor false and thay they are essential for the construction of theory. We can freely admit that states are in fact not unitary, purposive actors.... But all of this has always been known, and it tells us nothing about the merits of balance-of-power theory'. Kenneth Waltz , Theory of International Politics, op. cit., pp. 10, 119. Compare with Milton Friedman , 'The Methodology of Positive Economics' in Milton Friedman. Essays in Positive Economics (Chicago, IL; University of Chicago Press, 1953).

For another example, see Richard K. Ashley , 'Living On Border Lines: Man, Poststructuralism, and War' in James Der Derian and Michael Shapiro (eds.). op. cir.

Jonathan Culler, op. cit., p. 86.

Kenneth Waltz, op. cit., p. 89.

Martin Wight , 'Why Is There No International Theory?' in Herbert Butterfield and Martin Wight (eds.), Diplomatic Investigations (London: Allen and Unwin, 1966).

For a fuller development of this interpretation of the modern state, see Richard K. Ashley , 'Living On Border Lines: Man, Poststructuralism, and War', op. cit., and 'The Powers of Anarchy' op. cit.

The notion of 'conductoriess orchestration of collective improvisations' is due to Pierre Bourdieu , Outline of a Theory of Practice, trans. Richard Nice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), p. 73.