There are plenty of concrete examples over the past 80 years since the end of World War II. Compare the outcome of two major stock market crashes: one that occurred before the creation of this postwar international system, in 1929, and one that occurred after, in 2008. With no institutions in place for international cooperation, world trade fell by about two-thirds between 1929 and 1934. It is why other countries that have been cut off from this international system, such as Iran and North Korea, are so poor and desperate. But it is real, even if it must mainly be defined in a more or less negative way—by the relative absence of anarchy in the international system.

Source: International New York Times January 28, 2026 16:08 UTC