Anarchy can be defined on several levels: 1) the absence of government or any organizational structures; 2) the lack of laws; and 3) the outbreak of chaos and violence.
Using this framework, the concept of anarchy, as described by Waltz, provides a viable description of the workings of the international system. Within a state, organizations with specialized functions are formed to achieve shared objectives under a government. In the international system, nation-states cannot unite for a common goal under the supervision of an "international government" because of competing self-interests (Waltz 61). In an international system, the states are competing entities interested only in attaining their objectives, even at the expense of the interest of the world community. For example, as Waltz cited, the threat of nuclear war has not precipitated the world disarmament process (63). In fact, Third World countries had already begun to accumulate their own arsenal. Even though many situations, such as the depletion of the ozone layer, demand global situations, no global agency has had the power to muster the full support of all the states to deal adequately with the situation (Waltz 64).
In the international system, there are no laws governing the behavior of the states. States are not held accountable for their criminal actions in a court of law that can enforce its rulings. India and Pakistan have been fighting over Kashmir for the last 50 years. Whenever there is a violation of an accord, the violating party is only admonished verbally by the world community; no concrete action is taken against it. In fact, in the international system, so many crimes are committed by the various nation-states that actions taken against particular nation-states are haphazard because there are no recognized laws. The recent campaign in the former Yugoslavia was not supported by many countries. Because there was no international court of law that enforced...