ABSTRACT

If the myth 'anarchy is the permissive cause of war' suggests that conflict is an inevitable aspect of international affairs so long as anarchy prevails, then the myth 'there is an international society' offers some hope that the conflictual aspects of international anarchy - and possibly international anarchy itself - can be overcome. According to this myth, transforming international politics so that it becomes cooperative rather than conflictual does not necessitate moving from anarchy to hierarchy - from an international system without an orderer to an international system with an orderer. Instead, all it requires is mediating or replacing anarchy with community. In other words, world government may not be the only way out of anarchy. International community - a formal or informal collective and cooperative set of social relationships among sovereign nation-states - may be an alternative to world government and an alternative to international anarchy.