INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY Also by Evan Luard and published by Palgrave Macmillan INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES: The Emerging Framework of Interdependence (1976) SOCIALISM WITHOUT THE STATE (1979) THE UNITED NATIONS: How It Works and What it Does (1978) A HISTORY OF THE UNITED NATIONS Volume 1: The Years of Western Domination, 1945-1955 (1982) Volume 2: The Age of Decolonization, 1955-1965 (1989) THE MANAGEMENT OF THE WORLD ECONOMY (1983) ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIPS AMONG STATES (1984) CONFLICT AND PEACE IN THE MODERN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM (revised edition 1988) Other books by Evan Luard TYPES OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY (1977) WAR IN INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY (1986) THE BLUNTED SWORD: The Erosion of Military Power III Modern World Politics (1988) BASIC TEXTS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (forthcoming) International Society Evan Luard M MACMILLAN © Evan Luard 1990 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1990 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended), or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33--4 Alfred Place, London WClE 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1990 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Wessex Typesetters (Division of The Eastern Press Ltd) Frome, Somerset British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Luard, Evan, 1926- International society 1. Society I. Title 301 ISBN 978-0-333-48728-0 ISBN 978-1-349-20636-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-20636-0 Contents Preface Vll Introduction: The Study of International Society 1 1 Social Theory and International Society 11 2 Action 39 3 Society 55 4 Structure 69 5 Ideology 88 6 Motives 116 7 Roles 136 8 Status 165 9 Conflict 183 10 Norms 201 11 Authority 227 12 Conclusions 246 Index 270 v Preface Over the last few years I have published a trilogy of books, each subtitled "a study in international sociology". The books were based on the belief that the study of international society, including relations between states, is best seen as an aspect of the study of society generally: in other words of sociology. For many centuries nations have established among themselves societies of states, having many of the characteristics of smaller societies. These, I believed, could be studied by the use of methods and concepts comparable to those employed by social scientists in studying other types of society. Each of the three books adopted a predominantly historical approach: that is, they compared a number of "international societies" which have existed at different periods in history. The first, Types of International Society, described the different characteristics of a succession of historical societies of states, including the various social structures, institutions, prescribed norms of conduct, roles, systems of stratification, motives and means employed within each, and sought to identify the typical "ideology" of each society. The second, Economic Relationships among States, examined the different types of economic relationships established between the different members of a number of such societies. The third, War in International Society, described the changing character of war over recent centuries, showing how its forms and purposes, the issues over which it has been fought, the assets which it has been used to procure and the beliefs about its legitimacy, have varied from one international society to another according to the interests, goals and "ideology" of the governing elites in each age. It has been suggested that it might be useful to try to summarise, in a single and briefer volume, the main features of this approach. The purpose is to bring together some of the main findings of the earlier books and to set out the presuppositions which underlay those findings. It is hoped that this may be of some interest to general readers, as well as to specialists in sociology and international relations. vii Introduction: The Study of International Society IS THERE AN INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY? The first question to be asked in studying international society is: does such a society exist? At first sight the world as a whole is an entity so vast and amorphous, the links between its parts so tenuous, that it is meaningless to conceive of it as a "society" which can be subjected to systematic scrutiny. Its five billion people, scattered as they are among 160 or so different states, each having its own culture, traditions, economic system and political organisation, appear to possess so little in common, to enjoy so little systematic contact, to have so little knowledge of, let alone any sense of kinship with, fellow members of the society, that the conditions necessary for "social" existence, it may be held, are entirely lacking. The common traditions and institutions, the social cohesion, above all the common system of values, which are sometimes seen as the essence of social existence, do not here exist. On the contrary, the degree of hostility and conflict among the members, the frequency of all-out warfare between them, might seem to make the concept of a single world "society" a nonsensical one. If we define society in a sufficiently narrow way - to mean a compact, closely integrated community, comparable to the primitive societies mainly studied by social anthropologists, or even the social structure of a village or small town in industrial countries today - then international society clearly could not qualify. Many of the features we associate with social existence of that kind are here lacking: the bonds of mutual dependence, the sense of community, the common loyalties - all important features of social existence in these smaller societies - are almost completely absent. But if the comparison is made with the kind of societies found in modern industrial states, the difference is far less. For there too there are among the members large differences in culture, religion, political 1 2 International Society belief, race, language (in many cases), speech and way of life that are not much less than those which exist in the wider international society. There too there are major conflicts of interest and purpose: among occupations, classes and regions. There too there exists (and increasingly exists) no commonly accepted system of beliefs and values. Even in terms of size and numbers such states as the US, China and India today, bringing together hundreds of millions of peoples, of many creeds, races, colours, political ideas and ethical beliefs, are far closer in character to the world as a whole than to the small-scale communities traditionally studied by anthropologists (the population of the entire international society is, after all, only five times that of China). For all its diffuseness, its geographical dispersion, its lack of integration, its disharmony of value systems, therefore, world society is not altogether different from the national social systems that have been widely studied. The differences between the two are anyway rapidly declining. While national societies have grown larger and more diffuse, inter national society has become less so. Only a century ago or less, sociologists such as Comte and Durkheim could conceive of national societies almost as if they were (or should be) closely integrated communities; and assumed they had, or might regain, a common pattern of beliefs and values - "consensus" or "solidarity" - which, though quite different from those in primitive societies, might unite their people in a similar way; though now societies (Gesellschaften), they could none the less retain, it was suggested, some of the character of communities (Gemeinschaften). Today 'this seems an increasingly unreal assumption. The lack of any genuinely shared religious beliefs, the alienation of large minorities, the existence of a substantial under class, the wide differences in interests and conditions, way of life, and above all ways of thought, have caused modern national states not only to cease to be "communities", but to be scarcely even "societies" in the sense traditionally understood. Conversely, the world as a whole, growing smaller, begins to take on some of the features of such a society: if not integrated, at least interdependent and interrelated. Only a century or so ago contacts between states remained relatively marginal. Only a tiny proportion of mankind ever stepped outside the borders of their own countries. Most had little knowledge, and even less consciousness, of those living elsewhere. Most of the people of China in 1850 not only knew nothing of the people of the US or of Europe; in many cases they did not know of the latter's existence. Only a little more than a Introduction 3 century ago there were no diplomatic links, hardly any trading links, virtually no contacts of any kind between those countries. Where there was no mutual consciousness among peoples there could not be in any meaningful way a society among them. There existed, possibly, some kind of European society, or an inter-American society, even an Asian society of sorts. There was no world society. Today the situation is altogether different. Almost every inhabitant of every country now has some awareness of the world outside their borders. They are likely to buy (or to wish to buy) at least some foreign goods. They will probably see films, newspaper accounts, television programmes, that provide some information about other lands. Postal and telecommunication services link every country in the world. Diplomatic and commercial contacts join almost all of them. More important, the ideas that become widespread in one part of the world become known, often widely known, in others. Political creeds spread rapidly across the world; science and technology crosses frontiers quickly and easily; the current fashions - in pop music, clothes, in sport and entertainment - move in a very short time from one country to another. Finally, and perhaps most important for our purpose, the actions taken in one country have a rapid effect elsewhere. The price set for oil by one group of countries, that demanded for capital goods by another, the rate of interest set in New York, the emergence of recession in Western Europe, all of these have a huge and immediate impact, direct or indirect, on millions of people scattered throughout the world. The defence policies adopted by the Soviet Union, the foreign policy adopted by the US, the racial policies adopted by South Africa, the revolutionary policies adopted by Iran or Libya, all of these have repercussions that are quickly felt elsewhere. The result is that the interrelationships - social, cultural, economic, and political - between different parts of the globe are today as close as were those between different parts of Britain only a century or so ago. And they can reasonably be described as establishing a network of mutual influence, a set of complex but defined and understood interrelationships, which in themselves create a "society" of a sort. The consciousness of interrelatedness is reinforced in many ways. Individuals, in travelling in increasing number to the remotest parts of the world, in absorbing foreign cultures, in undertaking trade with distant territories, or investment in far economies, are made aware of a common world system. Governments, equally, become almost as concerned to influence what happens in other parts of the world