Unbridled competition among states

Name(s):

National rivalry

Rivalry between nations

International rivalry

Nature

The forces of competition between states, backed by military power, achieve unequal allocations of territory, influence, raw materials, or prestige goods. The fulfilment of national destiny is therefore dependent on the frustration of the goals of rival governments.

Claim

1. Overemphasis on competition between states inevitably leads to a rat race and to global economic wars. It exacerbates the inability of national authorities to address the right priorities at national and global level. Market competition alone is self-defeating in a context of competing nations or competing blocs, leading as it does to a counter-intuitive evolution against market mechanisms through: new forms of protectionism and defensive national policies; techno-nationalism through restriction of the movement of knowledge; and bilateralism as a means to exclude competitors from a market.

2. The chauvinism of countries frequently exhibits the 'chosen people' syndrome backed up by an ideology, religious or otherwise, peculiar to each country. India, Sri Lanka, Israel, and the Arab States have their favoured religions as do a number of officially or historically Christian ones. Some countries claim unique cultures or histories which, as in China, Ethiopia, Iran and Japan, are partly based on racist notions. The USSR originally claimed Soviet Union itself to be the fountainhead of the true Marxist-Leninist heritage, and the USA claims ownership of the 'Protestant ethic' (whereby the poor and miserable have only themselves to blame). France is unique, so is Italy, so is the UK and so is every other country, for to a unique ideology one can add the divisive value of linguistic chauvinism, and of paramount significance to ongoing rivalry, the historicity and 'hard-won' nature of national sovereignty.

Broader

Unbridled competition

Narrower

Nuclear arms race

Superpower rivalry

Second class states

Intranational competition

Restricted growth in export markets

Unjustified military defence policies

Declining international competitiveness

Proliferation of strategic nuclear weapons

Rivalry and disunity within developing regions