Description
This paper examines the deployment of perhaps the primary concept of order in theories of international relations: system. Rather than specific characteristics of a given international system like anarchy, equality, or society, the paper focuses on the implications of the ontology of order implied by the system concept itself. I argue that the kind of system concept most frequently employed across a range of otherwise opposing theories of international relations is based on an organic model of order with roots in eighteenth century European debates in natural philosophy. This model, I show, is based on the idea of an irreducible relation between a system and its component parts. This runs counter to contemporary critiques of international relations that argue that theories of international relations are based primarily on a mechanistic conception of order and who identify a related lack of unity and attention to relation as the sources of contemporary political problems like inequality and environmental destruction. Rather than a solution to the problems of mechanistic order, I argue, a relational concept of system has been present in the discipline across a range of approaches and presents a political predicament for efforts to transform international order in response to climate change and inequality.
