The purpose of this book is to analyse the nature of the hierarchical state system, both in terms of theoretical accounts of its workings and a historical examination of its operational principles since 1815. Its principal focus will be upon the nature of international order and its potential for reform. It seeks to shed some light on the questions raised by Meinecke: ‘is this no more than a continual movement to and fro? Or do any organic developments take place here? How far is statecraft timeless, in general, and how far is it changeable and capable of development?’ What have been peoples' expectations of the international order and to what extent have they been realised?

These issues will be approached by examining two inter-related dialectics. The first is an intellectual or ‘ideological’ one between the Utopian proponents of reform and the realist advocates of continuing power-political practices. The second is a historical one, involving attempts to implement international order in practice, and is a dialectic between the pursuit of reform and the inherent propensities towards hierarchy and dominance within the system. In terms of this latter, the major issue to emerge is whether it is the hierarchy of states which must be restructured for reform to take place or, alternatively, whether hierarchy is not itself a necessary constituent of international order and a clear demarcation of hierarchical roles evidence of the attainment of reform.