Making Sense of Anarchy

What Governs the International System?

Today, the House of Representatives is debating a bill that would permanently normalize trade relations with China. At the same time, the State Department reports that terrorist activity has shifted to the Southeast Asian countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. In southern Lebanon, Israeli troops prepare to pull out of the buffer zone following two decades of occupation. In Iran, a Jewish Iranian admits he was paid five hundred dollars per month to spy for the Israeli intelligence service. He faces the death penalty if convicted. In the Philippines, twenty-one foreigners, held hostage by Islamic militants on Jolo Island, complain of hunger and sickness. How are these incidents explained? How does the political scientist make sense of the international system?