ABSTRACT
S t u d e n t s and practitioners of international politics have traditionally concentrated their attention on relationships between states. The state, regarded as an actor with purposes and power, is the basic unit of action; its main agents are the diplomat and soldier. The interplay of govern mental policies yields the pattern of behavior that students of international politics attempt to understand and that practitioners attempt to adjust to or control. Since force, violence, and threats thereof are at the core of this inter play, the struggle for power, whether as end or necessary means, is the dis tinguishing mark of politics among nations.1 Most political scientists and many diplomats seem to accept this view of reality, and a state-centric view of world affairs prevails.2
