Hierarchy amidst Anarchy

Download or read book Hierarchy amidst Anarchy written by Katja Weber and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2000-08-10 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hierarchy amidst Anarchy is a study of state security provisions, explaining not only why states cooperate, and with whom, but also why they choose the specific types of cooperation they do. In contrast to competing theories that explain international cooperation in terms of the desire to be "bigger" or "stronger", Weber insists that the key to understanding countries' international institutional choices can be found by focusing on economic theories of organization and, more specifically, transaction costs. Cross-sectional studies of two historical periods, the final years of the Napoleonic Wars (1812-15) and the post-1945 period – such contrasting security structures as NATO and the European Defense Community - are used to illustrate the argument.