Robert Gilpin: System

Robert Gilpin was Political scientist. Explore interesting quotes on system.

Robert Gilpin: 82 quotes1 like

“A precondition for political change lies in the disjuncture between the existing social system and the redistribution of power toward those actors who would benefit most from a change in the system.”

p, 125
War and Change in World Politics (1981)

“Until the modern era there was no single international system, but rather several international systems, with little or no contact with another.”

p, 125
War and Change in World Politics (1981)

“[In] the definition of international system… There is some "form of control" that regulates behavior and may range from informal rules of the system to formal institutions. …A view prevalent among many scholars of political science is that the essence of international relations is precisely the absence of control… a condition of anarchy…”

War and Change in World Politics (1981)

“The dreams of "leaving it up to the market" or of returning to a politically neutral gold standard cannot succeed because the nature of the monetary system has a profound impact on the interests of powerful groups and states. Affected groups and states will always try to intervene in the operation of the system to make it serve their interests.”

Source: The Political Economy of International Relations (1987), Chapter Four, International Money matters, p. 170

“The competitive nation-state system, with all its capacity for good and evil, is spreading in the Third World and is transforming that world.”

Source: The Political Economy of International Relations (1987), Chapter Seven, Dependence And Economic Development, p. 304

“Every dominant state, and particularly an empire, promotes a religion or ideology that justifies its domination over other states in the system.”

p, 125
War and Change in World Politics (1981)

“One of the principal functions of war, and particularly… hegemonic war, is to determine the international hierarchy of prestige and thereby determine which states will in effect govern the international system.”

p, 125
War and Change in World Politics (1981)

“The relative stability of the system is… largely determined by its capacity to adjust to the demands of the actors affected by changing political and environmental conditions.”

p, 125
War and Change in World Politics (1981)

“Ultimately…the hierarchy of prestige in an international system rests on economic and military power.”

War and Change in World Politics (1981)

“The core of the Marxist critique of capitalism is that although the individual capitalist is rational (as liberals assume), the capitalist system itself is irrational.”

Source: The Political Economy of International Relations (1987), Chapter Two, Three Ideologies Of Political Economy, p. 37