怎样认识国际体系?

How to Understand International Systems

国际体系是单元经由互动而形成的整体。体系构成的标准是单元的互动要达到影响彼此间政策的程度。作为社会系统,国际体系与自然系统的最大不同是具有社会意义。每一个国际体系都存在特定的"问题领域"和属性。由于每个行为体都会参与多个"问题"的互动,而问题之间又有密切联系,因此体系之间会呈现复杂的联系。在叠加的体系结构之下,单元行为会受到不同的影响与塑造。对于单元与体系之间的双向关系,人们不但应了解各主流体系理论所阐释的单一机理和确定性,而且要思考复杂的因果链条和相关关系所导致的系统效应以及这种效应所导致的不确定性。

An international system is a unified whole formed by a set of interacting units. A system will emerge when the units can impact each other's policies during their interaction. The ultimate difference between an international system,being a social system,and a natural system is that the former has social implications. Each international system has its own special 'issue areas' and properties. The connections among the systems are complicated because each unit is involved in the interactions on multiple issues; furthermore,all international issues are connected with one another. Thus,in such an overlapping structure,the system will influence and affect the behavior of the various units in different ways. To understand the bilateral relationship between units and systems,one should not only understand the mechanisms and certainties articulated by the mainstream theories,but also consider the effects of the system brought on by the complicated chain of causality and the correlations of the system that lead to uncertainties.