Abstract
This chapter examines great power settlements over hierarchical institutions throughout history. In the early modern period, imperial territory was flexibly defined, and dominant states were able to cheaply construct direct control over subordinate states. In the following centuries, imperial territory was progressively institutionalized, raising the costs of formal hierarchy. The second world war was a breaking point; in the early postwar period hierarchical institutions underwent a dramatic punctuation. I show that the legal independence of subordinate states institutionalized within the context of the United Nations was intended to decrease the chances of direct conflict between the great powers, while shifting hierarchical competition down from the interstate system into the domestic political institutions of smaller states.
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