32 International Relations Theory of War
ante bellum of hyperpowers in unipolar systems at the end of the wars they
have fought may also infringe upon the homeostasis. An absence of an
increase in land power of the hyperpower that does not expand territori-
ally effectively undermines the homeostasis principle, which dictates to
the sole hyperpowers in unipolar systems to act according to their stand-
ing as the leading powers in the system and eliminate players that chal-
lenge them.
Territorial Outcomes under Bipolar SystemsBipolar systems will dictate a territorial status quo of two superpowers.
In bipolar systems, major wars will always be identical to central wars
because each war involving more than one polar power will effectively
involve the two superpowers; in bipolar systems, instigating a central or
major war will result in the collapse of the system and the formation of
another type of system in its place. In the period assessed in the study,
1816–2016, there have been three bipolar systems, 1816–1848, 1871–1909,
and 1946–1991, and there was no central or major war in which both super-
powers constituting the system fought. However, minor wars may occur
in bipolar systems.
Bipolar systems will dictate to the two superpowers to act to preserve
the territorial status quo at the end of all minor wars in which they will be
involved because any other outcome will raise the expanding power to the
status of a potential hegemon in the system and might lead to the collapse
of the system—a result that the homeostasis principle dictates to the play-
ers to act to prevent.
Under all three bipolar systems that existed in the subject period of the
study, 1816–2016, all minor wars involving superpowers ended with a ter-
ritorial result corresponding with the study hypothesis. In other words,
the bipolar systems dictated to the two superpowers to maintain the terri-
torial status quo preceding the war: in both bipolar systems that occurred
in Eurasia in the 19th century, 1816–1848 and 1871–1909, Great Britain had
to preserve the territorial status quo ante bellum that preceded its two
wars against Afghanistan. In the bipolar system that occurred in the sec-
ond half of the 20th century, 1946–1991, both superpowers constituting
the system, the United States and the Soviet Union, had to preserve the
territorial status quo ante bellum preceding all wars in which they were
involved—the wars of the United States against Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq
(1991), and the Soviet invasion of Hungary and war against Afghanistan.
A constant territorial status quo of superpowers in bipolar systems stems
from the way in which bipolar systems influence the values of the two
transhistorical order principles that constantly act on the international sys-
tem. The principle of anarchy will spur the two superpowers to tend always
to expand territorially through their tremendous capabilities, whereas any