Meaning of the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must | Babel Free

Definitions

The weak cannot resist the decisions of the strong; power, not morality, decides the outcome of any dispute.

Examples

“Bitter is the necessity of it. It knows no law. In the world the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.”

“But the present organisation of society, national and international, works on the principle that the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”

“I felt then, as I do now, that the growth of the United Nations into a truly effective world organization was our best, perhaps our last, hope of bringing about enduring and creative peace if mankind was to end a savage tradition that the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”

“But for the weak, power – the power of others – is largely a source of inequality and subordination. The strong do what they can. The weak suffer what they must, including hierarchic subordination.”

“The unilateral actions on the part of the United States, as in Iraq, threaten not so much the integrity of the Concert as the foundational norms of international society, such as sovereignty and non-intervention, which had provided the basis for that society in the first place. If this trend continues, we may end up with a hyper-realist world in which “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”.”

“The overall argument is that powerful states and wealthy capitalists use what power they have to gain even more power. They save the lucrative parts of the production process for themselves, and force weaker actors into the parts that yield relatively little reward. ¶ In this respect, economic structuralism fully agrees with the realist statement that “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”.”

CEFR level