2. The State and the International System

3. The International System What do we mean by “system”? Interactions by various political entities, but mostly states. Today the system is global, but it has not always been the case. Some parts of the world did not know of other parts, much less interact.

4. Other International Actors –MNCs: Multinational Corporations –IGOs: Intergovernmental Organizations –INGOs: International nongovernmental organizations –Other individuals or groups that are politically active but not necessarily recognized officially (terrorists, nations, etc.)

5. The State The Primary actors we study in international relations are states. Also known as Countries, Nation-States

6. A state is a political entity with: 1.control of some area of land -- territorial unit 2.solely responsible for military security -- control over military for defense 3.Economic control such as power to print money, trade restrictions, and power to tax 4.Administered by a governmental bureaucracy (social welfare, tax, police, transportation)

7. Some say states require legitimacy with their people, but in reality this is not always the case. States generally have a monopoly to use force in legitimate societies, although this is an object of conflict in countries where there are civil wars.

8. Sovereignty 1.Key concept in the international state system and international law. 2.States recognized each others in the international system (usually) 3.By sovereignty, we mean that in principal all states are legally equal (de jure). 4.Sovereignty is recognition by other states that a state may manage its internal affairs how it pleases.

9. Problems of Sovereignty Sovereignty is a legal definition and does not mean that all states are equal in their power, influence, wealth, etc. Sovereignty also does not mean that states can prevent all crime, injustice, etc. Some states have higher capacity to regulate their own borders and people than others.

10. What is a nation? Is it the same thing as a state? No. For our purposes in international relations and comparative politics, the term nation is not necessarily synonymous with state. This becomes confusing because Nation is still used loosely by some in the field of international relations and in the media.

11. A nation is a group of people who feel they have something in common. Nations are defined as socially cohesive groups that have common political goals, common language; usually share a single perception of history, as well as common religion, traditions, symbols and myths. Where the people and the political unit have the same identification we then have a NATION-STATE, like Japan or Finland.

12. Some states have more than one nation, such as Iraq. Some multi-nation states collapse from civil war, such as Yugoslavia, while others survive, such as Belgium Some nations have no state, such as the Kurds or the Palestinians

13. Collapse of Yugoslavia

14. The Origin of States How did the world come to look like it does? What did it once look like?

15. WHERE DID STATES COME FROM? The international state system is only a few centuries old. Before then, the transition was took a few thousand years. 1.primitive times -- loyalty to family 2.Then village 3.Then tribe 4.Then city-state or kingdom by about 3000 b.c. to 1648 a.d

16. The international state system was born in Europe with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, after the Thirty Years War. With this treaty state sovereignty was recognized for the first time. States begin to grow in power. Nationalism finally emerges with American and French Revolutions, before then allegiance was paid to local affiliations, not abstractly to people never met before.

17. Expansion of the Interstate System

18. The state system expanded most rapidly in last 150 years, especially the last 50 years. It started in Europe and spread to the rest of the world. Europeans experienced fast development necessary (tax systems and military power) to spread influence and power around the world. Earlier there existed large empires in other parts of the world. For example, China was the strongest empire in the world for most of the period from 700 a.d. to 1300 a.d.

19. Which areas outside of Western Europe were the first to form new States? Three Waves 1.USA and Latin America (1780 -- 1850) 2.East Europe (after WWI) Self-determination 3.Asia and Africa (after WWII), later fall of communism of Russian Empire and Yugoslavia (after 1989)

20. The expansion of the Interstate system began in Europe, spread globally through imperialism, resulting in over two hundred states and most existing in poverty. Today nearly all the world’s land mass except Antarctica falls under the direct control of states.