Yielding Sovereignty to AIIs
17
System Structure
Our analysis of structural problems begins with Waltz’s definition of political structures
(1979, ch. 5), although it will become clear that we diverge from Waltz’s analysis in important
ways.
7
According to Waltz, there are three components of system structure: the ordering
principle, the functions of units, and the distribution of capabilities among units. In the modern
state system, the ordering principle is anarchy. The second component, unit functions, is not
relevant in an anarchic system because every state performs the same functions. The distribution
of capabilities varies over time (bipolarity, multiplarity, etc.) Although there is much to critique
in Waltz, he provides a useful conceptualization of an international structure that differs from
state motives by focusing on anarchy and the distribution of capabilities among states.
Anarchy. For Waltz, the absence of an international government leads directly to the
implication that states must constantly fear for their survival and trust no one; hence, the world
consists of a self-help system in which international cooperation is scarce. Wendt (1992) and
other constructivists critiqued Waltz by arguing that anarchy does not necessarily lead to a self-
help system. Rather, a self-help system driven by fear is simply one possible understanding of
what anarchy requires. States might reach other understandings of anarchy in which cooperation
is valued or even in which states are replaced by other governance systems. Even for Wendt
(2003), however, the world remains fundamentally a self-help system—even if more
institutionalized and less fear-ridden than Waltz’s version—because states have constructed it
that way. Thus, anarchy, whether driven by nature or by social construction, is a structural
feature that makes cooperation difficult.
Distribution of Capabilities and Attributes. The second systemic constraint on states results
from global balances of power capabilities and systematically held beliefs about the attributes
Convention