Robert Gilpin - War and change in world politics (1981)

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

Robert Gilpin
It would be premature to suggest that the nation-state is dead or dying.

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
Both the control of territory and the political domination of one state over another have profound consequences for international economic relations. However... market power or economic power has itself become a principal means by which states seek to organize and manipulate the international division of labor to their own advantage.

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
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
How can the human race, whether for selfish or more cosmopolitan ends, understand and control the seemingly blind forces of history?

Robert Gilpin
Powerful groups set constraints on and may even determine the actions of state authority. They constitute the society that is protected by the state; their particular concept of justice reigns. The definition and functioning of property rights tend to advance their interest and welfare.... the basic domestic function of the state is to define and protect property rights of individuals and groups.... The primary external function of the state is to protect the property rights and personal security of its members vis-à-vis the citizens and actions of other states.

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