This paper surveys the two images of the global order, which are described as the images of power and culture. The article describes the power and cultural images of the global order and then tests the applicability of the two images by comparing their plausibility. The image of power is held by the realists who describe the international system as power determined or power laden, although individual scholars disagree on several dimensions of the international system. The debate between the defensive and aggressive realists is symptomatic of such disagreement and becomes the basis of the analysis here of the realism-inspired power image of the system.
