ABSTRACT
Scholars of international politics often stress the importance of the international system, a term that refers to the overall patterns of behavior among sovereign states. Just as the planets in our solar system rotate on their axes in predictable rhythms and orbit in predictable patterns, so states can display predictable patterns of behavior vis-à-vis each other that are characteristic of a system. Systems transcend their individual parts and produce outcomes that reflect the contribution of their individual units. Take the human digestive system, for example. In different ways, the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, liver, and so on, each contributes to the body’s ability to utilize the energy contained in food. But no single organ of the digestive system can accomplish this alone; it is the system itself that ultimately produces this health-benefiting outcome.
