ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the very assumption of anarchy as a permanent systemic characteristic of a contemporary international system is inaccurate and that the anomaly is of a sufficient weight to be simply disregarded by the scientific community. This task is surely formidable. The diverse meanings and understandings of international anarchy are also rooted in the originally realist idea that there is: '.. a fundamental difference between domestic politics and international relations, and that this difference should be the foundation for all international relations theory. Realists and others point out that anarchy was institutionalized by the general acceptance of the norm of sovereignty. The statement to the effect that sovereignty is institutionalized maybe true but explains nothing for on the one hand, it merely tells what is presumed to be an accompanying characteristic of anarchy rather than its defining feature.
