What is Anarchy Problematique, and Why is It Considered the Fundamental Problem in the Traditional Study of International Relations?

By Anarchy, we mean the absence of government or rule. The problem is that there is no authority or government above states. The existence of groups, collectives, and nation-states establishes this Problematique in the first place. Certain groups identify themselves as different from others, and these groups have to deal with the fact that there is no authority over them. As a result, these groups have to face the condition of Anarchy as there is no government to sort out disputes or regulate behavior among them. This, in turn, establishes a problem of conflict as groups have specific desires such as physical survival, access to material goods, and identity to preserve their culture.

These three fundamental problems that groups face pave the way to Violence. The problem of Violence is the fundamental problem in the traditional study of International Relations. Violence characterizes relations among groups because of the Anarchy Problematique. In the condition of Hierarchy, there is a government that exerts power over individuals beneath it. For this reason, within a Hierarchy, the Anarchy Problematique does not pertain. It pertains only when there is no authority.

The Anarchy Problematique focuses upon the problems that groups face when there is no authority above them to guarantee access to security, economy, and identity. Thus, the Anarchy Problematique creates a different kind of political order. War is the term often used to characterize what happens when groups engage in violence against one another. One of the ways to deal with the Anarchy Problematique is to get rid of it. Over history, the traditional way of doing that was to establish Empire as empires created authority over groups. Within empires, the Anarchy Problematique was to a large extent solved. The second way which has never been achieved was the establishment of a global state which would provide all of the nation-states with guarantees for their security, economy, and identity. However, Global State will never be established, and this is why we are condemned to an eternity of Anarchy, in which nation-states worry about their security, wealth, and identity.

References:

Powell, Robert. "Anarchy in international relations theory: the neorealist-neoliberal debate." International Organization 48.2 (1994): 313-344

Prichard, A., 2013. Justice, order and anarchy: The international political theory of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Routledge