Unlike at the national level of societies, the world lacks a sovereign supranational authority governing relations between humans across borders.

The world is considered inherently anarchic as there is no means to impose a common framework of rules on everyone.

Within societies, there are legal, judicial, and law enforcement capabilities within the hands of a sovereign government. The constitutional order establishes the rights of the people. Order remains as long as the system is working for enough people to be satisfied.

Between societies, the lack of a constitution-based supranational order turns the nature of human relations into a game of influence. Raw power becomes the main determinant of the outcome of disputes. This is why the world arena in international relations is often referred to as the “law of the jungle”, or rule of the strongest.

Hierarchies and alliances based on strength often emerge as a natural evolution of order in such a state of anarchy.

While the laws of nature are unchanging, humans have learned to build structures of world governance to minimize the use of force, promote diplomatic channels and construct a multilateral, more balanced world order.

This has particularly been the case since the 1600s, when the concept of the balance of power became central to many European thinkers, and since the mid 1940s, when the United Nations and other global institutions aimed at promoting multilateralism were established.