Lesoson 4 Global Interstate System

The Global Interstate System

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Identify the elements of contemporary interstate

system;
• Discuss competing views on interstate system;
• Elaborate the changes in the construct of the
state, sovereignty and territoriality;
• Explain the emergence and impact of non-state
actors; and
• Evaluate the impact of globalization on the
global interstate system.
AN INVITATION
For a very long time, states have been a
dominant actors in international affairs.
The interstate system have been organized
around the principles of state
sovereignty, territoriality, and
interference.
But the idea of state has been transformed over
time. The state in the contemporary world is in
many ways different from the kind of state there
was centuries ago. Not only that, non-state
actors, such as international organizations
and global corporations, continue to grow in
number and take on roles that either
supplement, overlap, or even replace that of the
state.
THE INTERSTATE SYSTEM
The idea of a ‘system’ requires the

existence of units, among which
interactions take place. In the interstate
system, the units are the states, and the
interactions include war, diplomacy, and
cooperation.
PRINCIPLES OF THE CONTEMPORARY
INTERSTATE SYSTEM
TERRITORIALITY
NON-
INTERFERENCE
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
State-centered international States were not the main
system is relatively new actors before the Westphalian
Treaty in 1648
At the micro level, authority Europe before the Westphalian

centered on political units Treaty consisted of feudal
smaller than the states entities
At the macro level, authority

existed in the form of Roman State was not the locus of
Catholic Church power
Peace of Westphalia
Westphalian Treaty
of 1648 recognized
the sovereign rights
of the state
-became the basis
Place Your Picture Here
for the Westphalian
international system
(i.e. modern
interstate system)
*It has been said that the current interstate
system is the result of a convergence of many
factors
-political as well as economic factors
*What are these factors?

These factors primarily were: capital and
coercion, that is: wealth (resources), and
means to launch wars
*They enabled the monarchs to wield powers

against Church and feudal lords
Peace of Westphalia
Money
Money in Capitalist Tax

2016
Class Monarchs
2017 Bureaucracy collection;
Economy
Money Army
Security
Peace of Westphalia
“The state makes

wars, and war
makes the state.”
-Charles Tilly
Peace of Westphalia
*With the money and armies, monarchs gained exclusive control over means to wage wars
*Monarchs conquered feudal entities and even challenged the Church
TREATY OF
WESTPHALIA
was a series of peace treaties

signed between May and
October 1648
in Osnabrück and Münster.
ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–
1648) in the Holy Roman Empire, and
the Eighty Years' War(1568–1648)
RESULTS between Spain and the Dutch Republic,
with Spain formally recognizing the
independence of the Dutch Republic.
under the terms of the peace

settlement, a number of countries received
territories or were confirmed in
their sovereignty over territories.
Evolution of State, Sovereignty and
Territory
The constructs of state,
sovereignty, and territory are
now central
Each state was assigned the

attribute of sovereign power
over its territory. Each would
acknowledge the domestic
structures and religious
vocations of its fellow states.
The Peace of Westphalia is

said to have ended attempts
to impose supranational
authority on European
states.
Absolutism, the political
doctrine and practice of
unlimited centralized
authority and
absolute sovereignty, as
vested especially in
Absolutist
States in
a monarch or dictator.
King Louis XIV (1643–1715)
of France furnished the
most familiar assertion of
17 C
th
absolutism
Liberalism, political doctrine
that takes protecting
and enhancing the freedom
Liberal
of the individual to be the
central problem of politics.
In France the Revolutionary

and Napoleonic governments
States in
pursued liberal goals in their
abolition of feudal privileges
and their modernization of
the decrepit institutions
19 – 20 C
th th
inherited from the ancient
regime
The French Revolution was
a period of time in France
when the people overthrew
the monarchy and took
control of the government. French
lasted 10 years from 1789 to
1799.
Revolution
Sovereignty : Pre and Post French Revolution
Before the French
Revolution, the people of
France were divided into
social groups called
"Estates”.
Under absolute Monarchy

Pre-French
Conflict between the
Revolution
Monarchy and the nobility
over the “reform” of the tax
system led to paralysis and
bankruptcy.
Sovereignty : Pre and Post French Revolution
Stronger, further centralized

state with a larger, more
effective and more intrusive
administration. Post-French
Ideas of equality and
nationalism
Revolution
The history of the 20th
century was shaped by the
changing relations of the
world’s great powers. The
first half of the century, the
age of the World Wars and
the start of the Cold War, Armed Territories in
was dominated by the
rivalries of those powers. 1 half of 20 C and
st th
The second half saw the

Soft Boundaries in
replacement, largely through
the agency of those wars, of
latter half on
the European state system
by a world system with many
centers of both power
and discord.
Historicizing Conceptual Change
Early 20th Century Mid-20th Century Early 21st Century
State forms Imperial state Nation-state Conditioned state

(great powers with (welfare state, (neoliberal state,
colonies) national security 'failed' state,
state, postmodern state)
developmental
state)
States of Territorial Statist sovereignty Highly contingent
Sovereignty sovereignty sovereignty
Territory Physical control Hard boundaries Soft boundaries,

and occupation are with nuclear control networks,
paramount vulnerability the region-state
Contextualizing Conceptual Change in Contemporary Era
Advanced, post-industrial Developing states
states
State forms Conditioned, neo-liberal Neo-liberal, authoritarian,

state, authoritarian and failed state
capitalist state
States of Sovereignty Intervention is legitimate Intervention in domestic

to secure peace affairs is exceptional
Territory Control networks (soft Control physical territory

borders) (hard borders)
Evolution of Interstate System
COLD WAR (1947-1991)
COLD WAR
War between
Soviet Union
and United
States of
America
The
relationship
between the
US and the
Soviet Union
during the
Cold War
Advancements
of Nuclear
Weapons/
Technologies
The Spread
of
Communists
around the
nations
 Eastern Europe Soviet Union
 China enlarge its
 North Korea communist
 Vietnam sphere of
 Latin America influence:
End

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The Global Interstate System

• Identify the elements of contemporary interstate

The idea of a ‘system’ requires the

At the micro level, authority Europe before the Westphalian

At the macro level, authority

*What are these factors?

*They enabled the monarchs to wield powers

Money in Capitalist Tax

“The state makes

was a series of peace treaties

under the terms of the peace

Each state was assigned the

The Peace of Westphalia is

In France the Revolutionary

Under absolute Monarchy

Stronger, further centralized

The second half saw the

State forms Imperial state Nation-state Conditioned state

Territory Physical control Hard boundaries Soft boundaries,

State forms Conditioned, neo-liberal Neo-liberal, authoritarian,

States of Sovereignty Intervention is legitimate Intervention in domestic

Territory Control networks (soft Control physical territory

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