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
NON-
INTERFERENCE
TERRITORIALITY
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
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
a monarch or dictator.
States in
King Louis XIV (1643–1715)
of France furnished the
th
17 C
most familiar assertion of
absolutism
Liberalism, political doctrine
that takes protecting
and enhancing the freedom
of the individual to be the
central problem of politics. Liberal
In France the Revolutionary
and Napoleonic governments
States in
19 – 20 C
pursued liberal goals in their
abolition of feudal privileges th th
and their modernization of
the decrepit institutions
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. 1st half of 20th C and
Soft Boundaries in
The second half saw the
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:
By:
End
Gesim
Gimena
Golloso
Guadalquiver
Iwayan
