46 International Relations Theory of War
According to the first principle, international systems will encourage,
and in certain cases, also dictate to the key players operating in them to
take negative feedback actions in response to positive feedback actions
that other players may take and may violate the equilibrium of the sys-
tem when the homeostasis, or equilibrium, is at risk. The purpose of these
actions is to strengthen the homeostasis and maintain the equilibrium of
the system. According to the second principle, international systems will
prevent the key players operating in them from taking positive feedback
actions that may lead to disruption of the homeostasis and violate the
equilibrium of the system. The aim is to prevent the collapse of the sys-
tem. According to the third principle, international systems will allow the
key players operating in the system to use either of the two main feedback
models, negative or positive, when these do not pose a significant threat to
the homeostasis and do not disrupt the equilibrium of the system because
in such a state the system will not be at risk.
The following cases may be enumerated among prominent examples of
the three principles shown above. The multipolar system that existed in
Europe in the 19th century, 1849–1870, allowed the players to take moderate
positive feedback actions that did not lead to disruption of the homeosta-
sis and that could not lead to violation of the system’s equilibrium. Here
one may state the wars for the unification of Italy and of Germany. These
wars were positive feedback actions, but their intensity was low and they
did not threaten the homeostasis of the system and did not lead the system
to dictate to the other players to take negative feedback actions for restor-
ing the former situation. In the multipolar system of 1910–1945, there were
extreme positive feedback actions, such as the First and the Second World
Wars, in which Germany tried to rise to hegemon status in the system and
led the system to dictate to the other key players in the system to respond
by taking strong negative feedback actions. The aim of these actions was
to preserve the homeostasis of the system and prevent the violation of
the equilibrium. In both these cases, the positive feedback actions that
were applied were very extreme and led in response to extreme negative
feedback actions. Following this, the homeostasis was not achieved, but
instead the equilibrium that occurred in them was violated and both sys-
tems collapsed, to be replaced by other systems. The result of the First
World War was the formation of a new multipolar system on the ruins of
its predecessor; the result of the Second World War was the formation of
the bipolar system of 1946–1991.
Under the bipolar system of 1946–1991, the United States and the Soviet
Union were the two polar powers of the system. As such, positive feedback
actions on the system that could have harmed their leaders, such as the
awakening to democracy in communist countries in Eastern Europe from
the 1950s to the 1980s (in East Germany in July 1953; in Poland in October
1956; in Hungary in October 1956; in Czechoslovakia in October 1968 [the