Geopolitical Conditions of Internationalism, Human Rights, and World Law
First Statement of Responsibility
/ Randall Collins
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
International rule of law is not an alternative to geopolitics, but is successful only under specific geopolitical conditions. As historical sociologists in the tradition of Weber have documented, the state's existence has depended on its military power, which varies in degree of monopolization, of legitimacy, and of extent of territory controlled. Geopolitical principles (comparative resource advantage, positional or marchland advantage, logistical overextension) have determined both Chinese dynastic cycles, and the balances of power of Euro-pean history; they continue to apply to recent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. Guerrilla wars differ from conventional wars by relying especially on geopolitical principles of promoting enemy overextension. Geopolitics en-compasses both war and diplomacy, the means by which coalitions among states are organized. The rule of international law depends on a dominant coa-lition upheld by favorable geopolitical conditions; and on the extension of bu-reaucracy via state penetration, but now on a world-wide scale.