Robert Gilpin - System Quotes

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The core of the Marxist critique of capitalism is that although the individual capitalist is rational (as liberals assume), the capitalist system itself is irrational.

Robert Gilpin
Every dominant state, and particularly an empire, promotes a religion or ideology that justifies its domination over other states in the system.

Robert Gilpin
One of the principal functions of war, and particularly... hegemonic war, is to determine the international hierarchy of prestige and thereby determine which states will in effect govern the international system.

Robert Gilpin
The competitive nation-state system, with all its capacity for good and evil, is spreading in the Third World and is transforming that world.

Robert Gilpin
Ultimately... the hierarchy of prestige in an international system rests on economic and military power.

Robert Gilpin
[In] the definition of international system... There is some "form of control" that regulates behavior and may range from informal rules of the system to formal institutions.... A view prevalent among many scholars of political science is that the essence of international relations is precisely the absence of control... a condition of anarchy...

Robert Gilpin
The dreams of "leaving it up to the market" or of returning to a politically neutral gold standard cannot succeed because the nature of the monetary system has a profound impact on the interests of powerful groups and states. Affected groups and states will always try to intervene in the operation of the system to make it serve their interests.

Robert Gilpin
A precondition for political change lies in the disjuncture between the existing social system and the redistribution of power toward those actors who would benefit most from a change in the system.

Robert Gilpin
The relative stability of the system is... largely determined by its capacity to adjust to the demands of the actors affected by changing political and environmental conditions.

Robert Gilpin
Until the modern era there was no single international system, but rather several international systems, with little or no contact with another.

Robert Gilpin