Farewell to Anarchy

The Myth of International Anarchy and Birth of Anarcophilia in International Relations

Bibliographic Data

ID13079482
AuthorsPaul-Erik Korvela (corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume21
Issue1
Pages23-43
Publication date2018-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRedescriptions Political Thought Conceptual History and Feminist Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2308-0906 • E-ISSN: 2308-0914
PublisherHelsinki University Press (PUBLISHER • FI)
DOI10.7227/r.21.1.3
OpenAlexW2911694836
LanguageEN
References cited19

This article scrutinizes the conceptual history of international anarchy. The argument purported here is that even though the idea of international anarchy is often seen as very central for the academic discipline of international relations, the concept is in fact not found from the forerunners or classics of the discipline. The assumption of international anarchy is commonly seen as a defining feature of a Realist school of international relations. Yet, the concept and especially its “Realist” implications are not to be found in the classics of Realism, from Thucydides, Machiavelli or Hobbes. The idea of “international anarchy” emerges quite tentatively during the First World War, in the writings of theoreticians like Dickinson and Spiller. But even then it does not carry the neo-Realist overtones of international anarchy as permanent condition of international relations. It is only in the 1980’s that the discipline starts to huddle around this concept

Agency (philosophy · Conceptual framework · Conceptual history · Contingency · Epistemology · Linguistics · Mythology · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Social science · Sociology · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Philosophy

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Open DOIOpen Access