ETIT WEEK 6 Evolution of World Political History – 2 (Part 1)

The 18th & 19th Cent. : 3 Themes 1)Popular Sovereignty 2)Westernization of the International System 3)The Growth of the Multipolar System

1) Popular Sovereignty The people claimed the state for themselves. Until this time, the prevailing belief was that kings ruled by divine right over both territory and people, who were subjects, not citizens. Inspired by the age of Enlightment, The American (1776) and French (1789) revolutions challanged this philosophy. Democracies were established on the principle that ultimate political power rests with people, not the monarch. The concept of nationalism to include mass identification with/participation in the affairs of the state.

Political Implications of Revolutions Democratic nationalism spread throughout Europe and steadily undermined monarchical government and its concept of divine right. Nationalism and popular sovereignty were also undermined the basis of multiethnic/colonial empires (i.e.Ottoman, Austria-Hungary, Russia, British,etc.)

2) Westernization of the International System The domination & shaping of the international system by the West. The growth of European powers (Britain,France, etc.) to thrust outward and the take control of America and some parts of Asia/Africa/Middle East. The process accelerated in the 19th cent, mainly due to industrial revolution.

European Colonization of Americas (1763)

3) The Growth of the Multipolar System From the Treaty of Wesphalia (1648) through the mid-20th cent., multipolar system governed political relations among the globally dominant major European powers. The multipolar system as marked by shifting alliances designed to preserve the balance of power.

Diplomats at the Congress of Vienna (1815)

The national boundaries within Europe as set by the Congress of Vienna, 1815

The Evolving World System: The Twentieth Century The pace of world political evolution began to speed up even more by the beginning of the 1900s. Nationalism & Democratic demands increasingly undermined the foundations of 1815 Vienna settlements; the multi-ethnic empires such as the Austo-Hungarian & Ottoman empires. Unification of Germany and Italy in the late 19th cent. Following WWI, many new states emerged such as Czechoslovakia, Poland & Yugoslavia, along with the ones in the Middle East and Africa.

To be continued