“...history teaches this iron law of revolutions: the more extensive the eradication of existing authority, the more its successors must rely on naked power to establish themselves. For, in the end, legitimacy involves an acceptance of authority without compulsion; its absence turns every contest into a test of strength.” In describing world order as a concept Henry Kissinger, as the prior passage is taken from his book World Order, is responsible for the original duality between two pillars: that of power and that of legitimacy. As this rendition of world order is more of the broad definition of how the world hasn’t devolved into a world of constant conflict, it can also be useful in observing the radical shifts of world order throughout history.
