The Price of Prestige

42 chapter two

bomb­ making mania. Similarly, international organizations such as the

United Nations and the International Monetary Fund determine mem­

bers’ obligations and privileges based on wealth, size, and rank. While in­

ternational regimes are clearly different from laws that deal with the fabric

and design of hosiery or ruffs, they still play an important role in securing

and defining social hierarchies and class structures.

Class and Classification in International Relations

The acquisition of status symbols often entails categorical significance in­

asmuch as these symbols help us to classify actors into different categories

and types. Thus, Brazil can see the acquisition of an aircraft carrier as a

means for reinserting the country “into the graces of the major powers,”

while China can rely on its ambitious space program as a means for claim­

ing a superpower status. Before developing the relationship between status

symbols and classification, it is important to discuss the meaning, origins,

and implications of class in international relations. As a category of social

hierarchy, class formation is tightly connected to the dynamics of prestige.

Prestige space refers to the group that serves as the reference audience,

the community, for a certain act and actor. In the international system, each

state is usually a member of more than one prestige space. Each act may

resonate differently in different circles of association and might have dif­

ferent effects (in direction as well as degree) on the actor’s prestige. For

example, O’Neill ( 2006 , 19 ) finds that when Canada agreed to deploy US

nuclear weapons on Canadian aircraft in the 1960 s, it improved its prestige

among NATO members but at the same time lowered it among members

of the nonaligned movement. Similarly, Saunders ( 2001 ) explores the role

played by prestige considerations in nuclear proliferation. He notes that

while nuclear weapons have long been considered a source of prestige, the

decision not to procure nuclear weapons can also generate prestige (as in

the cases of Brazil, Japan, Argentina, and South Africa). Saunders con­

cludes that prestige considerations rest on societal norms and are therefore

not deterministic but rather depend on the values of the relevant prestige

space (Saunders 2001 , 7 ). Hence, when claims are made regarding the ef­

fects of a certain act on an actor’s prestige, it is always important to specify

the prestige space (McGinn 1972 , 109 ).

The German and Italian obsession with colonial expansion in the lat­

ter decades of the nineteenth century was to a large extent a result of the