The Greek City-States in the Fifth Century BCE: Persia and the Balance of Power

Abstract

The Greek city-state system is often treated as an ‘analogue’ of the contemporary international system (Reus-Smit, 1999: 40). Among English School scholars, Wight (1977: 73) describes it as the ‘most complex and highly organised’ states-system prior to the contemporary one, and Watson (1992: 47) suggests that for several centuries, ‘aspects of Greek practice served as models for the European society of states’. Neorealists also refer back to the Greek city-states. During the Cold War, for example, Waltz (1979: 66) acknowledged the continuing relevance of Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, even in an era of nuclear weapons and super powers; and Gilpin (1981: 227) doubted whether contemporary students of international relations understand anything about international relations that was not already known to ‘Thucydides and his 5th century compatriots’.KeywordsInternational SystemWorld HistoryBalance StrategyInternal BalanceEnglish SchoolThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.