PEACEFUL ANARCHY
Before I foray into the discussions properly,I will like to take a quick drift to Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes (Classical Realists) whose ideas reflect the world we live in and the antagonist,Kenneth Waltz(Neoclassical realist). Mind you, their differences on the issue on what is realism and what is not won't be examined rather, to deconstruct the contemporary events and reconnect it to happenings. Without further ado, Niccolo Machiavelli opines that,..."the state is above morality,....the state has no higher duty than of maintaining itself....
Thomas Hobbes asserts that ,Human beings are extremely individualistic rather moral or social ,are subject to "a perpetual and restless desire of power after power ,that ceases only in death"...(Levianthian XI2)........."such a war as is of every man against man"(Levianthian XII8).
One can deduce that,(a) man is selfish (B) state_centric without or little morality. Kenneth Waltz believes that ,"power acquisitiveness is the central theme in international relations"..which in return makes international system or structure to be anarchical. In addition,we can start to talk about,"polarity" or world polarization of the power in the states. Succinctly,Balance of Power. Balance of Power is a state of stability between composing forces. In international relations,it refers to equilibrium among countries or alliances to prevent any one entity from becoming too strong and, thus, gaining the ability to enforce its will upon the rest or simply put this way, suggests that national security is enhanced when military capability is distributed so that no one state is strong enough to dominate all others. The balance of power has subdivision namely: Unipolarity,Biopolarity, and Multipolarity. Unipolarity ,this is the situation whereby a single state exercises most of the cultural, military, economic influence. Hence,in Bipolarity,the two states influence the international systems. For Multipolarity,there are a number of influential actors in the international system, emphatically,a balance -of - power or multipolar system is formed.
In a balance of power system,the essential norms of the system are clear to each of the state actors. In Classical balance of power,the actors are exclusively states and there should be at least five of them .
If an actor doesn't follow these norms,the balance of power system may become unstable. When alliances are formed , they are formed for a specific purpose,have a short duration,and shift according to advantage rather than ideology. The idea of world is peacefully anarchy is formed from :
Power acquisitiveness.
Defensiveness.
These aforementioned make states to be " beast like". This discourse will be based on;territorial sovereignty, state security and state economy.Territorial Sovereignty means "a state being free from both external and internal threat". On part of the state-centric or defensiveness,the state could become immoral to keep its territory, tangibles and intangibles. For instance, President Tayyip Erdogan initiated a defense strategic known as "Operation Olive Branch" to wield off all external aggressions from P.K.K. The influx of emigrants from Guatemala led to the death of a seven (7) years old girl in US Border Petrol Custody show the level of "immorality" a state can go to prevent her territory from being jam-packed with unwanted population. Also,one can look it from the angle of Saudi-USA arms deal worth of ten billion dollars. My intent question is that ,why most developed and developing countries are increasing their nuclear weapons. Iran, US, China few to be mentioned. When a state fails to define her territory from threat ,it becomes too weak to protect lives and property. One of the reasons European Union has not accepted Turkey full membership bid is the fear of territorial Sovereignty. Some EU member states believe Turkey is a gateway to European Union countries and as a matter of fact, Turkey is close to "black spot" countries which can increase number of terrorists. In order to keep these countries clean, technically, Turkey has to tighten her borderline from illegal immigrants. Weak territorial sovereignty is like, building without solid foundation.
Another tools of Power Acquisitiveness is State Economy. Economic sanctions are commerical and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group or individual. Economic sanctions may include various forms of trade Barrie's, tarrifs , and restrictions on financial transactions. For a state to be powerful other than military power, economy power is means of influencing other states in international systems. The diplomatic brawl between USA and Turkey is typical in this discussion. Turkey not long ago, accused a pastor, Andrew Brunson from US for spying on Turkish Government. Turkish Government arrested him and charged him. In retaliation, the USA placed economic situation on Turkey, which till now affect Turkey's economy. US and China are at it. Fighting for supremacy in some parts in Africa. State Economy is as important as life itself. State Security in this discourse will be accorded to "maintaining the status quo" and "preserving the state ". State Security in this discourse will be accorded to "sustaining and retaining the status quo". I will like to draw my case study from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia political system is monarchical system, although, according to the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia adopted by royal decree in 1992, the king must comply with Sharia (that is, Islamic law) and the Quran. The Quran and the Sunnah are declared to be the country's constitution. For several years, Saudi Arabia has been under monarchical rule. In other to conserve and sustain the royal family, the kingdom adopts new policies. For instance, for the first time, the women have the right to drive car, go to the cinema and engage in unusual activities. The death of Jamal khashoggi , journalist was as results of many factors. Opinions have it that Jamal had been in good relationship with Royal families before a wedge drove in to put them apart. Jamal was killed in Istanbul on his visit to his fiancé to stop him to reveal more about the Saudi Royal ruling house. The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was said to be behind his death. He has been alleged to kill him through 15 men who work for royal house. In a nutshell, deterministic drive behind human behavior is what makes state to act the way they do. The state can act above the law to attain her foreign interests without limit. The world politics is like a game of chess. Each player calculates the next move of his or her opponent increasing level of security dilemma.
WRITTEN BY; EJIMADU CHRISTIAN ( POSTGRADUATE STUDENT ; ISTANBUL AYDIN UNIVERSITY,Turkey)