Abstract
Systemic transitions refer to a specific kind of potentially conflictual situation. The importance of transition conflicts stems from the location of the main contestants at the apex of the global power hierarchy and their strong implications for global order. Ascending states seek their place in the sun and may be willing to resort to force to attain it. Descending states hope to maintain their privileged status despite positional decline, and likewise may be willing to employ violent means to hold on to it. Historically, such systemic transitions have seldom been negotiated peacefully. One simple way to categorize factors thought to be associated with conflict is to dichotomize them into two clusters, those that encourage conf lict escalation and those that discourage it.1 Examples of the former include processes such as rivalry, arms races, resource competition, serial crises, and misperception. Among the latter, the most prominent include the Kantian trinity of conflict—suppressing factors—joint democracy (the democratic peace), economic interdependence, and international governmental organizations (IGOs). This chapter focuses on what has to date been the empirically weakest link among the Kantian processes—the hypothesized pacifying effects of IGOs.2
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Rapkin, D.P., Thompson, W.R. (2009). Kantian Dynamics and Systemic Transitions: Can International Organizations Influence U.S.-China Conflict?. In: Thompson, W.R. (eds) Systemic Transitions. The Evolutionary Processes in World Politics series. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230618381_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230618381_9
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