The Interregnum of Chaos: A Cyclical Theory of Hegemonic Decline and the Collapse of International Order

This article introduces the Theory of the Interregnum of Chaos, which challenges the foundational premise of anarchy in International Relations. It posits that the international system's primordial state is not a passive anarchy but a latent and perpetual chaos—a roiling potential for disorder stemming from incompatible drives for security, resources, and meaning. International order is therefore a temporary and artificial construct, achieved through the Hegemonic Suppression of this chaos by a dominant power. This period of stability, the Dormant Order, is maintained via a tripartite strategy of coercive force, narrative dominance, and systemic institutionalization. Power is thus reconceptualized as the capacity for Coercive Containment.The theory's central dynamic is a tragic paradox: the very mechanisms of suppression contain the seeds of their own destruction. To maintain its material dominance, the hegemon is compelled to undertake actions that systematically betray the universalist narrative legitimizing its rule. This fundamental contradiction precipitates Moral Fatigue—a progressive decay of will and self-belief within the hegemonic core—which in turn catalyzes a system-wide Epistemic Crisis, shattering the shared consensus on which the order depends. As the hegemon's capacity for Coercive Containment wanes, Revisionist Vanguards emerge, who instrumentalize the hegemon's normative contradictions to orchestrate the order's collapse.The resultant transitional phase of acute, multipolar conflict and institutional breakdown is the Interregnum of Chaos. This volatile period concludes only when a new hegemon emerges to re-impose order, resetting the cycle under the influence of what we term Cyclical Gravity: the system's inherent structural tendency to revert to chaos in the absence of overwhelming suppressive power. History, therefore, does not progress linearly towards perpetual peace but moves in a relentless cycle of suppressed chaos, normative decay, and violent reorganization.