Ramil H. Agapay Jr.

International Relation

Dr. Virgilio H. Onganiza

Chapter 2:

THE HISTORICAL SETTING

OF INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONS

Introduction

“Conquest has been the

greatest lever of change

in human history.”

- Barbara Ward

The Origin of the Modern

State

Antiquity An outline of the state began to take form in the

seventeenth century, but some influence originated in antiquity.

Greek city-states (800 B.C.- 168 B.C.) –antecedents of modern diplomacy and arbitration to settle disputes that states and international organizations, such as UN would later use.

Athens – created and practiced democracy.

A Legacy of Rome in the West (27 B.C.-A.D476) – rudiments of international law… to conduct relations w/ barbarian tribes living in the borders of its empires.

during the Byzantine days, was the Justinian Code,.... influenced modern code law states.

Feudalism

The collapse of Roman rule left western Europe

in the Dark Ages(A.D. 476-800), a period marked

by decline in law and order, trade, and learning

and decrease in population.

Protection improved as feudalism evolved,

reaching its full form between the eleventh and

thirteenth centuries of the Middle Ages (A.D. 801-

1400).

Feudalism called for lords to distribute land

vassals and to offer them protection. In return, the

vassals contributed money and soldiers to their

lords.

Attempts at a Universal State

Charlemagne (A.D. 742-814), king of the Franks,

established a Christian kingdom over the former

Roman Empire in Western Europe, and Pope Leo

III anointed him as the Roman Emperor.

Holy Roman Empire (A.D. 962-1806) – took

shape usually under the rule of a German

emperor approved by the Roman Catholic pope.

Napoleon dissolved the Holy Roman Empire in

1806. Voltaire (1694-1778) supposedly said that

this empire were neither Holy, Roman Empire nor

an Empire.

Strong Kings A king usually began as lord but, over time, came

to rule over the lords and large territories.

Not only the did kings have to gain control overthe feudal lords within their domains; these rulersalso had to wrest themselves free of the control ofthe Roman Catholic pope at the same time.

The Roman Catholic Church was a cultural unifierfor centuries in Europe, and the pope hadconsiderable powers.

Protestant Reformation

Creation of the Church of England – during the reign of KingHenry VIII

In the 1600s, some kings eve asserted they ruledby the Divine Right.

Strong Kings (Cont) Bloody wars against states took over as to

whether the Catholic or the Protestant faith wouldprevail in Europe and was finally culminated inthe Thirty Years’ War (1618 - 1648) known as thePeace of Westphalia of 1648 by recognizing thesovereignty of each king.

The American Revolution of 1776 and the FrenchRevolution of 1789 jolted the monarchs’ powerfulposition, since these revolutions rejected theentire concept of monarchial rule. The state absorbed the sovereign status once held

by king

In time, sovereignty passed from the state to thepeople, meaning the people were the ultimatesource of all legitimate political authority or thePopular Sovereignty.

The Role Nationalism

Not only did authority finally transfer to the

people, but passion sprang from them that

empowered the state as well.

Nationalism – set of beliefs involves a special

sense of identity among a group of people that

distinguishes them from the other group.

Nationalism today is not the fierce political force

that it was in the Second World War or during the

colonial independence movement following this

war, but it remains an important political force in

the world.

THE CLASSICAL STATE SYSTEM

(1648 - 1914)

The War System After the religious wars of the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries, European fought wars not to

completely destroy an opponent but to take a piece of

territory in Europe, grab a colony from another state,

or check the advances of an opposing state.

War was never inevitable, and gradually the

prosecution of war fell under the regulation of

international law, although an effort to outlaw war

altogether was not made until the twentieth century.

A Balance of Power system helped to preserve the

independence of states. Ideally, under this system, a

powerful state or alliance always faced a counter

alliance marshalling about equal power.

The most serious challenge to the balance of power

The Economic SystemMercantilism (approximately the 16th through the 18th

century and extended to some in the 19th)Stressed the accumulation of gold and silver by the state and

state control over manufacturing and trade to enhance state power and prestige.

This economic system stressed protection for homed markets and, consequently, greatly restricted trade among countries.

States were prone to fight wars to secure colonies for resources and markets.

Free trade or laissez-fairean alternative economic system proposed in The Wealth of

Nations by Adam Smith.He advocated that countries sell their products without trade

restrictions such as tariffs and quotas so that everyone would have quality goods at cheaper prices and enjoy higher standards of living.

The Industrial Revolution (1750 - 1850 Helped to prepare Europe for a free trade system by ) providing

technological means to produce great amounts of goods for sale.

The Colonial System

+A primary objective was to enhance the wealth of

the colonizing state in different way+

First Colonial Period (late 16th to the middle 19th

century) accompanied and served the policy of

mercantilism. Spain exercised mercantilism in the 1500s by mining gold

and silver in the Americas.

1600 and 1700s other European countries placed settler

colonies along the Atlantic Seaboard of North America

Second Colonial Period or Ages of Imperialism

(1870 - 1900) A spirit of manifest destiny animated Europeans and

convinced them they had a mission to rule over non white

races.

The Political System The classic era of the state system in Europe also

bore witness to the emergence of democratic self-rule as the prevalent form of government.

European international society emerged during the classical state system. These states interacted with some regularity because they shared common rules and institutions. A growing body of international law governed diplomacy, the prosecution of war, and many other aspects of states’ relationships.

By the First World War, the European society of states was regularly interacting with some states from other continents.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Ideology

o Ideology is the fundamental belief system

concerned with the nature of society’s political,

social and economic arrangements and the role

of individuals and groups within these

arrangements. And ideology can be a guide and

call to action for its believers and political

“blueprint” for organizing society and even for

conducting foreign policy.

o Different visions of world order, bound up in

ideological perspectives, have contributed to

three long, intense wars: First World War, Second

World War, and the Cold War.

Mass Ideologies and World Wars First World War (1914 - 1918)

Pres. Woodrow Wilson expressed America’s war mission as “making the world

safe for democracy”. Self-determination has resounded up to the present as a

major democratic principle for various minorities wanting autonomy or independent

statehood.

Democracy would soon encounter serious challenges by totalitarian dictatorship in

Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union.

Democracy – as an ideology calls for a population to select its

government and hold that government accountable to the people

through elections. Stressed the values of individual liberty, equality,

and the rule of law.

Communism – emanated from the writings of Karl Marx (1818-

1883). He believed it was historically inevitable that the workers in

the industrial age would destroy and revolt capitalism and the

governments of the states that protected the rich capitalists and

factory owners. In theory and in practice, communists always put the

group interest of Soviet society ahead of individual rights.

Fascism – is the only modern ideology that extols the virtues of war,

Mass Ideologies and World Wars

(Cont.)

Second World War (1939 - 1945)

began with Germany’s and Russia’s attack on

Poland in 1939 and ended in 1945 with the

unconditional surrender of the German and

Japanese leaders, a total surrender made possible

by the complete victory of Allies.

After the 2nd World War, the Western allies brought

democratic reforms to West Germany, and the

United States did the same in Japan. These

Western states wisely assisted the conquered

states in their economic renewal and in their return

to the state system

The Cold War The Unite States and the Soviet Union had a cool

relationship long before 1917, when Lenin’s communists took control.

Allies probably hoped their presence would encouraged the counterrevolutionary forces to overthrow the communists. The United States and the Soviet Union did not recognized esc other diplomatically until 1933.

However, nuclear stand –off between the two superpowers resulted in four decades of peace in the sense that these states did not fight each other directly.

The Cold War began because of opposing ideological world views but also because of the usual power struggle among major states to establish a new balance of power after a war.

The Cold War was a series of tense and dangerous crises over a four-decade period. A crises is a sudden, unexpected threats that portends serious consequences.

The Collapse of Communism

In the 1980s, the communist system in Europe

began to implode with a swiftness that caught

almost all Western leaders and scholars by

surprises. The Solidarity Movement in Poland first

challenged Poland’s Community Party in 1981

and later Poland’s military regime after it took

control.

By 1989, mass demonstrations across Eastern

Europe had brought down communist

governments while Soviet troops remained in

their barracks.

The Post-Cold Era Although the Cold War did not involve direct fighting

between the two superpowers, communisms defeat

was a resounding as if the West had won a Third World

War. As in other postwar periods, matters in the post-

Cold War era are in a state of flux before a new

balance of power and a new order of values can take

clear form. A period of this kind is a “defining

movement”, an opportune time for victorious leaders to

shape conditions that will serve the common interest of

the international society if they choose to do so.

At least, in 1990, after leading the Western coalition

that defeated Iraq’s aggression against Iraq in 1990-

1991, President George Bush spoke of a “new world

order” that could form with the end of competing

ideological visions for the world.

Globalization as a Stage of

History

According to James N. Rosenau, the state has

proven unable to provide solutions to many

problems that originate outside the territory and

beyond the authority of the single state. States have

reached new levels of cooperation and have worked

out a new form of authority to make up for what they

cannot do alone.

Increasingly, global policies are taking the shape as

most states identify many of the same problems and

recognize they must work together in a world of

growing interdependence. World efforts to diffuse

conflicts and halt the proliferations of weapons have

become critical.

History and International

Society Hans Morgenthau, in his classic study Politics Among

Nations, believes social laws govern politics. Since these laws have roots in human nature, including the drive for power, we should not expect much to change about international relations. Morgenthau calls his thinking realism because he takes human nature for what it is and historical processes for what they are. He believes, however, that the pursuit of power by states and the resulting conflict are durable.

Kenneth N. Waltz , whose view culminated in his Theory of International Politics, neo-realists focus on “structural realism”. This form of realism concerns the distribution of power among a given number of major states bounded within the same system. For him, structural transformation sufficiently radical to alter the anarchical nature of the international system is unfathomable.

History and International Society

(Cont.)

Robert Gilpin offers a different twist to neorealist

theory. He thinks international relations operate by

the rules of a strong, dominating state until a

challenging state arises to replace the first.

Trans-nationalists such as Robert O. Keohane and

Joseph S. Nye Jr., with their work Power and

Interdependence, represent a group of scholars

who regard realism as less adequate today to

account for significant changes in international

relations. The world was becoming more

interdependent, requiring emphasis on cooperation

instead of conflict.

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