Methods for Maintaining Order in International Society

Methods for Maintaining Order in International Society

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

The Declaration of Independence of the United States at its outset declares the collective goals that we Americans share as a society and the means by which these goals shall be defended. In the United States, we are interested in the well-being of individual Americans, and believe that everyone is equal and should have the right to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Moreover, governments are instituted at the federal1, state, and local level to defend these rights. Like American society, the international society of sovereign states has goals that it seeks to accentuate. According to Hedley Bull, author of The Anarchical Society, there are four such primary goals. The first, Bull states, is to preserve “the system and society” of sovereign states itself (Bull 16). Secondary to this is preservation of the sovereignty of individual states, followed in importance by maintenance of peace as a normal state of affairs (17-18). Lastly, the society seeks goals that Bull claims are “common goals of all social life: limitation of violence resulting in death or bodily harm, the keeping of promises, and the stabilization of possession by rules of property” (18-19).

Like American society, the international society has common goals that its members seek to attain. But unlike the United States, the Westphalian system does not have...

... middle of paper ...

...7.

Claude, Inis L., Jr. “Collective Security as an Approach to Peace.” Classical Readings of International Relations. Ed. Phil Williams, Donald M. Goldstein, and Jay M. Shafritz. Belmont [CA]: Wadsworth, 1994. 210-220.

The Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia: 1776.

Kegley, Charles W., Jr. and Eugene R. Wittkopf. World Politics: Trend and Transformation. 6th ed. New York: St. Martin’s, 1996.

Organski, A.F.K. “Criticism of Balance of Power Theory.” Classical Readings of International Relations. Ed. Phil Williams, Donald M. Goldstein, and Jay M. Shafritz. Belmont [CA]: Wadsworth, 1994. 206-209.

Pentland, Charles. “International Organizations and Their Roles.” Coursepack article. Fall Semester 1996: MC 220. Ed. Mohammed Ayoob. East Lansing: Budget Printing, 1996. 96-99.

Stern, Geoffrey. The Structure of International Relations. New York: Pinter, 1995.