The use of power has been at the core of international politics for several millennia. Stronger states invaded the weaker states without hesitation or any legal restrictions. Throughout the pre-modern era, many weaker states were subordinated to the stronger ones. Hierarchy was one of the fundamental norms of international politics.
However, with the beginning of the modern era, sovereignty emerged as one of the basic institutions determining the main characteristics of states. It has been the essential feature of the anarchical structure of the modern world system, namely, the nation-state system.
It is overall claimed that the declining world system was established by the two important developments in the Western world, namely the Westphalian Peace Treaty signed in 1648 and the French Revolution of 1789. For centuries, the Westphalian Temple, which had been representing the spirit of international anarchy, established an inviolable and unbreakable rule. This principle was later consolidated and formalized by the United Nations.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the declining American hegemony forced the great powers to initiate a new global rivalry, which brought back the use of fo
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