The management of power in a warring state system: An evaluation of balancing, collective security and laissez-faire policies

Realist and Idealist prescriptions for the management of power in a multistate system are described and their implications for system preservation and state survival are examined. The examination of these competing or alternative foreign policy styles is carried out through an experimental study using a large-scale computer simulation model. The results of the analysis tend to highlight the greater relative efficacy of the Idealist position in terms of both state and system level objectives.