Replication data for: Escape from the State of Nature: Authority and Hierarchy in World Politics

International relations theory has long assumed that the modern international system is a state of nature devoid of political authority. This assumption of international anarchy is a foundation of realist thought and is believed to lead to the security dilemma that pervades relations between all states. It is equally central to neoliberal institutionalism, which argues that institutions constrain state behavior and facilitate cooperation despite the absence of international political authority. Even constructivism, maintaining that “anarchy is what states make of it,” nonetheless accepts systemic anarchy as a basic condition of world politics.