Anarchy (international relations)
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In international relations theory, anarchy is the idea that the world lacks any supreme authority or sovereign. In an anarchic state, there is no hierarchically superior, coercive power that can resolve disputes, enforce law, or order the system of international politics. In international relations, anarchy is widely accepted as the starting point for international relations theory.
While some political scientists use the term "anarchy" to signify a world in chaos, in disorder, or in conflict, others view it simply as a reflection of the order of the international system: independent states with no central authority above them. Anarchy provides foundations for realist, liberal, neorealist, and neoliberal paradigms of international relations. Constructivist theory disputes that anarchy is a fundamental condition of the international system.
The constructivist Alexander Wendt argued, "anarchy is what states make of it". In Wendt's opinion, while the international system is anarchical, anarchy does not determine state behaviour in the way in which other schools of international relations theory envision it, but rather it is a construct of the states in the sy
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