Sovereign Inequalities and Hierarchy in Anarchy
American Power and International Society
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6060482 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jack Donnelly (0000-0001-6260-9514, University of Denver, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 139-170 |
| Publication date | 2006-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of International Relations (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1354-0661 • E-ISSN: 1460-3713 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1354066106064505 |
| OpenAlex | W2137388546 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 110 |
| References cited | 79 |
How is unrivalled American power reshaping 21st-century international society? Is the United States an empire, in fact or in the making? This article attempts to elaborate the conceptual resources required to answer such questions. I focus on multiple forms of hierarchy in anarchy and diverse practices of sovereign inequality—concepts that most mainstream perspectives ignore, find paradoxical, or even dismiss as self-contradictory. After defining empire and hierarchy in anarchy, I present a typology of international orders tuned to thinking about empire and its alternatives. The central section of the article explores three classes of formal inequalities common during the Westphalian era—special rights of Great Powers, restricted rights for outlaws, and a wide range of particular practices of ‘semi-sovereignty’. I then sketch ten historically grounded models of hierarchical international relations. Two brief applications to contemporary American power seek to illustrate the value of this conceptual apparatus. Throughout, my focus is on appreciating the precise nature and considerable variety of international inequalities. I argue that the concepts of hierarchy in anarchy and sovereign inequality, but not empire, are essential for understanding the shape and development of contemporary international order
Empire · Hierarchy · International relations · International relations theory · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereign state · Sovereignty · Westphalian sovereignty · Anarchism and Radical Politics · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics
International Pecking Orders
Cuba y la OEA
Contesting Sovereignty
The Territorial Contours of Terrorism
A Small State's Guide to Influence in World Politics
Intervention and Regime Change
Seeing China's Belt and Road
Barbarism and Civilization
Global International Society
International Hierarchy and Functional Differentiation of States
Opposition und Dissidenz in der Weltgesellschaft – Zur Rekonstruktion globaler Herrschaft aus dem Widerstand
Social Practices of Rule-Making in World Politics
Status, Authority, and the End of the American Century
Republicanism, Liberalism, and Exceptionalism
The Quest for Order in Anarchical Societies
Contestation in a World of Liberal Orders
Domination for the Rest? Creating and Contesting Secondary State-Led International Hierarchies
The Island of Thieves”
The Way of Progress and Civilization”
Hierarchy and the role of the United States in the East Asian security order
Rethinking the IR theory of empire in late imperial China
Hierarchy and the Revolutionary Crisis in a Subordinate Polity
Preserving the ‘pecking order’ in Europe’s diplomatic hierarchies
GCC-US Alliance-Making Reconsidered
Russia and the prestige of multipolarity
Managing risk within international society
The dimensions of the divide
Legitimacy Deficits of International Organizations
The natural/neglected relationship
International relations in China and Europe
Islamic Politics, Muslim States, and Counterterrorism Tensions
Is global democracy possible
Hobbesian Hierarchy
Institutional entrepreneurship under hierarchy
Status preservation vis-à-vis hegemonic misrecognition
Imperial Power, Provincial Government, and the Emergence of Roman Asia, 133 BCE-14 CE
Southeast Asia-US Relations
Obama’s legacy and the way forward
America and Europe
Navigating the Sino-Indian power struggle in the Indian Ocean
Realism under Hegemony
The balance of power and the power struggles of the polis
Why anarchy still matters for International Relations
Opposition and dissidence
Rule and resistance in global governance
The discourse of anarchy in IR
Rethinking political structures
Property and international relations
International Relations Theory and East Asian History
Just between Friends
What’s This, Then? “Romanes Eunt Domus”? 1
Autonomía y valor estratégico de los países periféricos
Leash-slipping, not leash-cutting
Reconstructing hierarchy as the key international relations concept and its implications for the study of Japanese national identity
The Middle East in the world hierarchy
It’s not the size, it’s the relationship
Anarchy in the East
The wars on terror, duelling internationalisms and the clash of purposes in a post-unipolar world
Beyond hierarchy
Waltz, Mearsheimer and the post-Cold War world
Constructing great powers
How hierarchic was the historical East Asian system
Beyond hypocrisy? Debating the ‘fact’ and ‘value’ of sovereignty in contemporary world politics
The domestic politics of international hierarchy
Citizenship Capital
The Client’s Principles
Insider and Outsider Strategies of Influence
When Does Security Cooperation Increase Foreign Aid Allocation
A Reflexive Critique of Inter-paradigm Divisions in International Relations Theory
Revisiting the Bandwagoning Hypothesis
A non-sovereign modernity
The variety of institutionalised inequalities
Embedded authority
Semi-cores in imperial relations
Unequal power and the institutional design of global governance
What does it take to be a great power? The story of France joining the Big Five
Rome et la troisième guerre punique
A Flawed Framework
Legitimating Power
Barbarising’ China in American trade war discourse
Hierarchy, hypocrisy and accountability in the Inter-American Development Bank
Informal imposed hierarchies in world politics and internal instabilities in subordinate states
Cooperación dependiente asociada. Relaciones estratégicas asimétricas entre Colombia y Estados Unidos
Complementarity in alliances
Towards customised sovereignty
Bootstrapping sovereignty
Europe and the Rest’ in Official EU Discourse
The eastern dimension of the European neighbourhood policy
Sovereignty at the Extremes
A Realistic Utopia? Nancy Fraser, Cosmopolitanism and the Making of a Just World Order
International Legitimacy Lost? Rule and Resistance When America Is First
White Man’s IR
Recognizing International Status
On Transgression
Anarchy and Hierarchy in International Relations
The Elements of the Structures of International Systems
Hierarchies in World Politics
A Case Study of the Construction of International Hierarchy
Inquiring into Others’ Conceptions of the International and Security
Republican continuities in the Vienna Order and the German Confederation (1815–66)
Principles of public international law
International encyclopedia of the social sciences.
Great Powers and Outlaw States
The Evolution of International Society
The Gentle Civilizer of Nations
Colossus
Power and International Relations
Lords of all the world
The Expansion of international society
Democratic Governance and International Law
Negotiating with Imperialism
A Guide to Diplomatic Practice, by Ernest Satow
Insecurity, security, and asecurity in the West European non-war community
Beyond the Anarchical Society
The Anarchical Society
Gramsci, Historical Materialism and International Relations
Sovereignty
The New Sovereignty in International Relations1
Sovereignty and Inequality
Liberalism and empire
Beyond Anarchy
Neotrusteeship and the Problem of Weak States
Concerts, Collective Security, and the Future of Europe
Sharing Sovereignty
Savagery in democracy's empire
Discourses of empire
The Johnson and Brezhnev Doctrines
Community Under Anarchy
Weapons of Mass Distraction
Power Politics
International Law in an Expanded World
A Treatise on International Law
The Law of Nations
Community under Anarchy
Imperial Ends
The Doctrine of Servitudes in International Law
American Empire
Empires
Imperium Romanum
The Concert of Europe
The Practice and Procedure of International Conferences
Japan’s Socialization into Janus-Faced European International Society
The paradox of American power
Theory of international politics
From Balance to Concert
Anarchy, Authority, Rule
Global prohibition regimes
Hierarchy under anarchy
The Idea and the Reality of Collective Security
The Enduring Place of Hierarchy in World Politics
The Anarchical Society
British Informal Empire in Uruguay in the Nineteenth Century
Power Politics
The Imperialism of Free Trade
Human Rights
Informal Empire? An Exploration in the History of Anglo-Argentine Relations, 1810-1914
A History of the Monroe Doctrine
| Unique citing works | 110 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,79 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2026 (20) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 106 |