The "Self-Help System" in International Relations, and Self-Help Culture

Those who study International Relations theory are certain to learn of "realist" theory, and to encounter characterization of the international system in that theory as "a self-help system."

By this they do not mean that the international system is about the kind of "self-realization" that Oprah Winfrey used to promote, but that in the absence of any authority over the international system really capable of making its writ good the states comprising the system have no one to rely on but themselves in providing for their own security, sovereignty, survival--the system a "self-help system" in the sense that in the end only your "self" will help you.

It is a bleak, brutal vision of the world that may seem at odds with the "optimistic" tenor of much self-help culture, but I would argue that they are not really so far apart as they may seem. After all, what do those who look to self-help want? They want to make their lives better, or at least less bad, in some way--and, while setting aside the extreme limitations of the essentially individualistic approach (there is such a thing as society, and most of what will improve or worsen individual lives is far beyond individual control), what they would ideally want is a sympathetic ear, a good listener, a wise friend who will let them express a concern, and then if there is hope that anything that might be doable, help by talking the issue through so that they can make up their own mind about what to do in their own particular situation.

Alas, sympathetic ears, good listeners, wise friends seem to me rare treasures in this world, unavailable to many. And so they pay their $29.99 for what is almost always the platitudinous one-size-fits-all claptrap of a self-satisfied huckster--with, making matters worse, said huckster's guise a Strict Father figure who thinks the obvious and conventional thing beloved of the "apologists and admirers of injustice, misery and brutality" is always the one and only right thing to do and that people only need a Red Forman threatening them with "foots in asses" to make them shut up and get down to doing it.