Kenneth Waltz - States Quotes

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Is it capitalism or states that must be destroyed in order to get peace, or must both be abolished?

Kenneth Waltz
It is not true that were the Soviet Union to disappear the remaining states could easily live in peace.

Kenneth Waltz
Each state pursues its own interest's, however defined, in ways it judges best. Force is a means of achieving the external ends of states because there exists no consistent, reliable process of reconciling the conflicts of interest that inevitably arise among similar units in a condition of anarchy.

Kenneth Waltz
Once socialism replaces capitalism, reason will determine the policies of states.

Kenneth Waltz
The implication of game theory, which is also the implication of the third image, is, however, that the freedom of choice of any one state is limited by the actions of the others.

Kenneth Waltz
States in the world are like individuals in the state of nature. They are neither perfectly good nor are they controlled by law.

Kenneth Waltz
War most often promotes the internal unity of each state involved. The state plagued by internal strife may then, instead of waiting for the accidental attack, seek the war that will bring internal peace.

Kenneth Waltz
The best critical consideration of the inherent weakness of a federation of states in which the law of the federation has to be enforced on the states who are its members is contained in the Federalist Papers.

Kenneth Waltz
With many sovereign states, with no system of law enforceable among them, with each state judging its grievances and ambitions according to the dictates of its own reason or desire - conflict, sometimes leading to war, is bound to occur.

Kenneth Waltz
Then what explains war among states? Rousseau's answer is really that war occurs because there is nothing to prevent it.

Kenneth Waltz