Module 3

A History of Global Politics: Creating an International Order

Learning Outcomes

1. Identify key events in the development of international relations;

2. Differentiate internationalization from globalization
3. Define the state and nation
4. Distinguish between the competing conceptions of internationalism
5. Discuss the historical evolution of international politics

Attributes of Today’s Global System

Four key attributes:

1. There are countries or states that are independent and govern themselves.
2. These countries interact with each other through diplomacy
3. There are international organizations like the United Nations (UN) that facilitate these
interactions.
4. Beyond simply facilitating meetings between states, international organizations also take on
lives of their own.
For UN, apart from being a meeting ground for presidents and other heads of state, also has task-
specific agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor
Organization (ILO).

What are the origins of this system?

Nation -a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language,
inhabiting a particular country or territory.
State - a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one
government.
Nation State is relatively modern phenomenon in human history, and people did not
always organize themselves as countries. In history of humanity, people in various regions of the
world have identified exclusively with units as small as their village or tribe and at other times,
they see themselves as members of larger political categories like "Christendom" (entire
Christian World)
Composed of two non - interchangeable terms
1. Not all states are nations
2. Not all nations are states

What is the difference between nation and state?

In Layman's term, states refers to a country and its government. Example, the government of the
Philippines.

Four attributes of States

1. It exercise authority over a specific populations called its "citizens".
2. It governs a specific territory.
3. It has a structure of government that crafts various rules that people (society) follow.
4. It has sovereignty over its territory.

Citizen - a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its
government and is entitled to its protection (distinguished from alien). an inhabitant of a city or
town, especially one entitled to its privileges or franchises.

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Government - A group of people that governs a community or unit. It sets and administers public
policy and exercises executive, political and sovereign power through customs, institutions, and
laws within a state.

Sovereignty – Absolute, supreme and ultimate dominion and authority of a political state subject
to no higher power, expressed within its territory in full self-government and in complete
freedom from any outside influence.

Sovereignty in internal
It has no individuals or groups can operate in a given national territory by ignoring the state.
Examples, groups of churches, civil society organizations, corporations and other entities have to
follow the laws of the state where they establish their parishes, offices or headquarters.

Sovereignty in external
A state's policies and procedures are independent of the interventions of other states.
Example, the country of Russia or China, cannot pass laws for the Philippines and vice versa.

According to Benedict Anderson nation is an “imagined community". It is limited because it

does not go beyond a given “official boundary" and because rights and responsibilities are
mainly the privilege and concern of the citizens of that nation. Being limited means that the
nation has its boundaries. This characteristic is in stark contrast to many religious communities.

Calling "Imagined" does not mean that nation is made up. Rather, the nation allows one
to feel a connection with a community of people even if he/she will never meet all of them in
his /her lifetime.
In a given national territory like the Philippine archipelago, you rest in the comfort that
the majority of people living in it are also Filipinos. Finally, most nations strive to become states.
Nation-builders can only feel a sense of fulfillment when that national ideal assumes an
organizational form whose authority and power are recognized and accepted by "the People".
Moreover, if there are communities that are not states, they often seek some form of autonomy
within their “Mother States".
Nation and state are closely related because it is nationalism that facilitates state
formation. In modern and contemporary era, it has been nationalist movements that have allowed
for the creation of nation-states. States become independent and sovereign because of nationalist
sentiment that clamors for this independence.
Sovereignty is one of fundamental principles of modern politics. Understanding how this
became the case entails going back as far as 400 years ago.

The Interstate System

- A system for international relation international relations- a branch of political

science concerned with relations between nations and primarily with foreign policies
Treaty of Westphalia- set of agreement signed in 1648 to end the 30 years’ war between
the major continental powers of Europe. After a brutal religious war between the Catholic and
Protestant the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, France , Sweden and the Dutch Republic designed a
system that would avert war in the future by recognizing the treaty signers exercise complete
control over their domestic affair and swear not to meddle each other affair.

Westphalian system - is the system of international relations, established in Europe in connection

with the Peace of Westphalia, signed in 1648 after the Thirty Years' War.
- provided that stability for the nations of Europe, until it faced its first major challenge
by Napoleon Bonaparte.

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Napoleon Bonaparte - a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the
French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary
Wars. He believed in spreading the principle of the French revolution: liberty, equality,
and fraternity- to the rest of Europe and challenge the power of king, nobility, and
religion in Europe.

Napoleonic War-Lasted from 1803-1815 with Napoleon and his armies all over much of Europe.
In every country they conquered they implement the Napoleonic Code that forbade birth
privileges, encourage freedom or religion and promoted meritocracy in government service. This
system shocked the monarchies of Europe and they mustered their armies to push back against
the French emperor.

The Anglo and Prussian army finally defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.To
prevent another war and to keep their system of privileges, the royal power created a new system
that, in effect, restored the Westphalian system.

Concert of Europe- was alliance of great powers the United Kingdom, Austria, Russia, Prussia. It
sought to restore the world of monarchical, hereditary and religious privileges of the time before
the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. It also sought to restore the sovereign state. Lasted
from 1815 to 1914 until World War ll.

Metternich System- named after the Austrian diplomat Klemens von Metternich, who has the
system’s main architect, the Concert’s power and authority lasted from 1815 to 1914, at the dawn
of World War 1.

Despite the challenge of Napoleon to the Westphalia system and the collapse of the Concert of
Europe after World War 1 international system still has traces of this history. Until now, states
are considered sovereign, and Napoleonic attempts to violently impose system of government in
other countries are frowned upon. Like the Concert system “great power " still hold the
significant influence over world politics.

Internationalism

- The action or process of bringing place under the protection or control of two or more
nation.
Internationalism - is a political principle which transcends nationalism and advocates a greater
political or economic cooperation among nations and people.
Internationalization - the action or process of making something international.
- the action or process of bringing a place under the protection or control of two or more
nations.

The Westphalia and Concert systems divided the word into sovereign entities. Since the
existence of this interstate system, there have been attempts to transcend it. Some like Bonaparte,
directly challenged the system by infringing on other states’ sovereignty, while others sought to
imagine other systems of governance that go beyond, but do not necessarily challenge
sovereignty. Still, others imagine a system of heightened interaction between various sovereign
state, particularly the desire for greater cooperation and unity among states and people. This
desire is called internationalism.

Internationalism comes in different forms, but the principle may be divided into two
broad categories: liberal internationalism and socialist internationalism.
Liberal internationalism, cluster of ideas derived from the belief that international
progress is possible, where progress is defined as movement toward increasing levels of
harmonious cooperation between political communities.

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 The first major thinker of liberal internationalism was the late 18th century German
Philosopher Immanuel Kant. Kant likened states in global system to people living in a given
territory. Without a form of world government, he argued, the international system would be
chaotic. Therefore, states, like citizens of countries, must give up some freedoms and “establish a
continuously growing state consisting of various nations which will ultimately include the
nations of the world”. In short, Kant imagined a form a global government.

Writing the 18th century as well, British Philosopher Jeremy Bentham (who coined the word
“international” in 1780) advocated the creation of “international law” that would govern the
inter-state relations. Bentham believed the objective global legislators should aimed to propose
legislation that would create “the greatest happiness of all nation taken together.”

The first thinker to reconcile nationalism with liberal internationalism was the 19th century
Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini. Mazzini was both an advocate of the unification of the various
Italian-speaking mini-states and a major critic of the Metternich system. He believed in a
Republican government (without kings, queens, and hereditary succession) and proposed a
system of free nations that cooperated with each other to create an international system. He is
nationalist internationalist, who believes that free, unified nation-states should be the basis of
global cooperation.

Mazzini influenced the thinking of United President (1913-1921) Woodrow Wilson, who
became one of the 20th century’s most prominent internationalist. Like Mazzini, Wilson saw
nationalism as a prerequisite for internationalism. Because of his faith in nationalism, he
forwarded the principle of self-determination – the belief that the world's nation had right to a
free, and sovereign government. Wilson became the most notable advocate for the creation of the
League of Nation. At the end of World War I in 1918, he pushed the transform the League into
venue for conciliation and arbitration to prevent another war. For his efforts, Wilson was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919.

The League came into being that same year. Ironically and unfortunately for Wilson, the
United States was not able to join the organization due to strong opposition from the Senate. The
League was also unable to hinder another war from breaking out. It was practically helpless to
prevent the onset and intensification of Work War II. On the side of the war were the Axis
PowersHitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, Hirohito's Japan-who were ultra-nationalist that had
an instinctive disdain for internationalism and preferred to violently impose their dominance over
other nations. It was the midst of this war between the Axis Powers and the Allied Powers
(composed of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Holland, and Belgium) that
internationalism would be eclipse.

Despite its failure, the League gave birth to some of the more task specific international
organizations that are still around until today, the most popular of which are the World Health
Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO). More importantly, it
would served as the blueprint for future forms of intention cooperation. In this respect, despite its
organizational dissolution, The League of Nations’ principles survived World War II.

The League was the concretization of the concepts of liberal internationalism. From Kant, it
emphasized the need to form common international principles. Mazzini, it in shrined the
principles of cooperation and respect among nation state. This ideas would re-assert themselves
in the creation of the United Nations in 1946.

One of Mazzini’s biggest critics was German socialist philosopher Karl Marx who was also an
internationalist, but who differed from the former because he did not believe in nationalism. He
believed that any true form of internationalism should deliberately reject nationalism, which

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rooted people in domestic concern instead of global ones. Instead, Marx, placed a premium on
economic equality; he did not divide the world into countries, nut into classes. The capitalist
class referred to the owners of factories, companies, and other “means of production.” In
contrast, the proletariat class included those who did not own the means of production, but
instead, worked for the capitalist.

Marx and his co-author, Friedrich Engel, believed that in a socialist revolution speaking to
overthrow the state and alter the economy, the proletariat “had no nation.” Hence, their now
famous battle cry, “Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.” They
opposed nationalism because they believed it prevented the unification of the world's workers.
Instead of identifying with other workers, nationalism could make workers in individual
countries identify with the capitalist of their countries.

Marx died in 1883, but his followers soon sought to make his vision concrete by establishing
their international organization. The Socialist Internationalism (SI) was a union of
European socialist and labor parties established in Paris in 1889. Although short-lived, the SI’s
achievement included the declaration of May1 as Labor Day and the creation of the
International
Women’s Day. Most importantly, it initiated the successful campaign for an 8-hour workday.
Socialist International (SI) is a worldwide organization of political parties which seek to establish
democratic socialism. It consists mostly of democratic socialist, social-democratic and labour
political parties and other organizations.

Socialism - a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the
means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community
as a whole.
Communism - a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a
society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to
their abilities and needs.

The SI collapsed during World War I as the member parties refused or were unable to join the
internationalist efforts to fight for the war. Many of these sister parties even ended up fighting
each other. It was a confirmation of Marx’s warning: when workers and their organizations take
the side of their countries instead of each other, their long-term interests are compromised.

As the SI collapsed a more radical version emerged. In the so-called Russian Revolution of
1917, Czar Nicholas II was overthrown and replace by a revolutionary government lead by the
Bolshevik Party and its leader, Vladimir Lenin. This new state was called the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, and USSR.

Unlike the majority of the members’ parties of the SI, the Bolshevik did not believe in obtaining
power for the working class through elections. Rather, they exhorted the revolutionary
“vanguard” parties to lead the revolutions across the world, using methods of terror if necessary.
Today parties like this are referred to as Communist parties.

To encourage these socialist revolutions across the world, Lenin established the Communist
International (Comintern) in 1919. The Comintern served as the central body for directing
Communist parties all over the world. This International was not only more radical that the
Social International, it was also less democratic because it followed closely the top-down
governance of the Bolshevik.

Many of the world's states feared the Comintern, believing that it was working in secret to stir up
revolutions in their countries (which was true). A problem arose during World War II when the
Soviet Union joined the Allied Powers in 1941. The United States and the United Kingdom

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would, of course, not trust the Soviet Union in their fights against Hitler’s Germany. This
countries wondered if Soviet Union was trying to promote revolutions in their backyards. To
appease his allies, Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin, dissolved the Comintern in 1943.

After the war, however, Stalin re-established the Comintern as the Communist Information
Bureau (Cominform). The Soviet Union took over the countries in Eastern Europe when the
United States, Soviet Union, and Great Britain divided the war-torn Europe into their respective
spheres of influence.

The Cominform, like the Comintern before it, helped direct the various communist
parties that had taken power in Eastern Europe

With the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, whatever existing thoughts about
communist internationalism also practically disappeared. The SI managed to re-establish itself in
1951, but it influence remained primarily confirmed to Europe, and has never been considered a
major player, in international relations on this very day.
For the postwar period, however, liberal internationalism would once again be ascendant. And
his best evidence of his is the rise of the United Nation as the center of global governance.

Learning Assessment

Activity 4 Essay

1. What are the differences between liberal and socialist internationalism? What are their
strength and weaknesses?
2. Do you think internationalization erode the sovereignty of states? Why?

Note: Follow the correct format of the previous activity in answering the essay.
Quiz will be posted online.

References:

https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-andmaps/
globalization-and-global-systems-analysis

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/internationalism

https://prezi.com/p/fza_ulanujw7/the-global-interstate-system/

The Contemporary World by Lisandro E. Claudio and Patricio N. Abinales

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