Escape from the State of Nature.

The article proposes that international relations are often determined by a hierarchical relationship between states rather than the traditional theory that states exist as equals and that anarchy is the systemic condition of world politics. The confusion in the debate over whether the U.S. has become a new world empire since the end of the Cold War is seen as an example of how scholars of international relations are reluctant to acknowledge hierarchy as a governing principle. Lesser powers can and do turn over aspects of their sovereignty to stronger powers for their own self-interests. The U.S. has been extremely successful at creating hierarchical relations with other states since World War II, but the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 without the backing of lesser states has weakened the network of implicit authority on which U.S. dominance rested.