CONTEMPORARY WORLD
GLOBAL SYSTEM – M4
Attributes of Today’s Global System
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 UN that facilitate these interactions.
4. Beyond facilitating meetings between
states, international organizations take on
lives of their own.
Interstate System
 Treaty of Westphalia
 The origin of the present-day
concept of sovereignty can be traced
back to this treaty.
 A set of agreements signed in 1648
to end the THIRTY YEARS’ WAR
 After a brutal religious war between
Catholics and Protestants, the Holy
Roman Empire, Spain, France,
Sweden and Dutch Republic
designed a system that would avert
wars in the future.
 By recognizing that the treaty
signers exercise complete control
over their domestic affairs and
swear not to meddle in each other’s
affairs.
Westphalian System
 Provided stability for the nations of
Europe until its first major challenge
by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Bonaparte
 Believed in spreading the principles
of the French Revolution: liberty,
equality and fraternity to the rest of
Europe and thus challenged the
power of kings, nobility and religion
in Europe.
Napoleonic Wars
 Lasted from 1803-1815 with
napoleon and his armies marching
all over Europe.
 In every country they conquered,
the French implemented the
Napoleonic Code that forbade birth
right privileges, encourage freedom
or religion and promoted
meritocracy in government service.
 This system shocked the monarchies
and hereditary elites (dukes and
duchess) of Europe
 They mustered armies to push back
against the French emperor.
Battle of Waterloo in 1815
 Anglo and Prussian armies finally
defeated Napoleon ending the
latter’s’ mission to spread his liberal
code across Europe.
 To prevent another war and to keep
their systems of privilege, the royal
powers created a new system that in
effect restored the Westphalian
system- Concert of Europe.
Concert of Europe
 It was as an alliance of great powers:
UK, Austria, Russia and Prussia.
 They sought to restore the world of
monarchial, hereditary and religious
privileges of the time before the
French Revolution and Napoleonic
Wars.
 More importantly, it was an alliance
that sought to restore the
sovereignty of states
Metternich System
 Named after the Austrian diplomat
KLEMENS VON METTERNICH who
was the systems’ main architect.
 Concert’s power and authority
lasted from 1815 to 1914 at the
dawn of WWI
Present-day International System
 Despite the challenge of Napoleon
to the Westphalian System and the
eventual collapse of the Concert of
Europe after WWI, the present day
international system still had traces
of this history.
 Until now, states are considered
sovereign and Napoleonic attempt
to violently impose systems of
government in other countries are
frowned upon.
Great Powers
 Like the Concert of Europe, great
powers still hold significant influence
over world politics.
 The most powerful groupings in the
UN Security Council, has a core of
five permanent members, all having
veto powers over the council’s
decision making process.
Internationalism
 The Westphalian System and
Concert of Europe divided the world
into separate, sovereign entities.
 Since the existence of this interstate,
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 states, particularly
the greater desire for greater
cooperation and unity among states
and peoples, this desire is called
internationalism
Broad Categories of Internationalism
 Liberal
 Socialist
Immanuel Kant
 First major thinker of liberal
internationalism
 He liked states in a global system to
people living in a given territory
 If people living in a territory require
a government to prevent
lawlessness, shouldn’t the same
principle be applied to states?
 Without a form of government, the
international system would be
chaotic.
 Therefore, citizens like 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.
 Kant imagined a form of global
government.
Jeremy Bentham
 Writing in the late 18th century
 A British philosopher who coined
the term international in 1780
 Advocated the creation of
international law that would govern
inter-state relations.
  He believed that objective global
legislators should aim to propose a
legislation that would create the
greatest good of all nations taken
together.
Giuseppe Mazzini
 A 19th century Italian patriot.
 Reconciled nationalism with liberal
internationalism
 An advocate for the unification of all
Italian –speaking mini- states
 Critic of the Metternich System
 He believed in a republican system
without kings.
 Proposed a system of free nations
that cooperated with each other to
create an international system.
Woodrow Wilson (1913-21)
 One of the 20th century most
prominent internationalist
 Like Mazzini, Wilson saw nationalism
as a pre-requisite for
internationalism
 Because of his faith in nationalism,
he forwarded the principle of self-
determination
Principle of self-determination
 The belief that the world’s nations
had a right to free and sovereign
governments.
 He hoped that these free nations
would become democracies,
because only by being such would
be able to build a free system of
international relations based on
international law and cooperation.
 Wilson became the most notable
advocate for the creation of League
of Nations.
 At the end of World War, I in 1918,
he pushed to transform the League
into a venue for conciliation and
arbitration to prevent another war
 Wilson was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1919
League of Nations
 The league came into being that
same year
 Ironically and unfortunately, US 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
WWII
On one side of the war were the AXIS
POWERS
 Hitler’s Germany
 Mussolini’s Italy and
 Hirohito’s Japan
 Were ultra-nationalists that had an
instinctive disdain for
internationalism and preferred to
violently impose their dominance
over nations
 It was in the midst of this war
between the Axis and the Allied that
internationalism would be eclipsed.
 Despite its failure, the League gave
birth to some of the more specific
international organizations that are
still around until today. The most
popular are:
 WHO (World Health Organization)
and ILO (International Labor
Organization)
 More importantly, it would serve as
the blueprint for future forms of
international cooperation
 In this respect, despite its
organizational dissolution, the
League of Nations’ principles
survived WWII

League of Nations
 A concretization of the concepts of
liberal internationalism
 Kant - emphasized the need to form
common international principles
 Mazzini - enshrined the principles of
cooperation and respect among
nation-states.
 Wilson – called for democracy and
self-determination
 These ideas would re-assert
themselves in the creation of United
Nations in 1946.
CONTEMPORARY WORLD
THE UNITED NATIONS – M5
The United Nations (U.N.)
 is a global diplomatic and political
organization dedicated to
international peace and stability.  parties involved to settle it
1945
 When the United following the
horrific events of World War II, when
international leaders proposed
creating a new global organization to
maintain peace and avoid the
abuses of war
 193 members in total
 U.N. members initially had just 51
member states.
New York City
 Headquarters of the UN
United Nation’s Four Main Goals
 Maintain international peace and
security;
 Develop friendly relations among
nations;
 Achieve international cooperation in
solving international problems; and
 Be a center for harmonizing the
actions of nations in the attainment
of these common ends.
U.N. Bodies
General Assembly:
 The General Assembly is the main
policymaking body of the U.N. that
votes on decisions the organization
makes.
 All 193 members are represented in
this branch.
Security Council
 This 15-member council oversees
measures that ensure the
maintenance of international peace
and security.
 The Security Council determines if a
threat exists and encourages the
peacefully.
Economic and Social Council
 The Economic and Social Council
makes policies and
recommendations regarding
economic, social and environmental
issues. It consists of 54 members
who are elected by the General
Assembly for three-year terms.
Trusteeship Council: 
 The Trusteeship Council was
originally created to supervise the
11 Trust Territories that were placed
under the management of seven
member states. By 1994, all the
territories had gained self-
government or independence, and
the body was suspended. But that
same year, the Council decided to
continue meeting occasionally,
instead of annually.
International Court of Justice
 This branch is responsible for
settling legal disputes submitted by
the states and answering questions
in accordance with international law.
Secretariat:
 The Secretariat is made up of the
Secretary-General and thousands of
U.N. staffers. Its members carry out
the daily duties of the U.N. and work
 on international peacekeeping
missions.
 New members must be
recommended by the United
Nations’ Security Council and
accepted by a two-thirds vote from
the General Assembly.
U.N. Members
 started as a group of 51 states has
grown increasingly over the years.
War, independence movements and
decolonization have all helped boost
membership in the U.N.
 Currently, there are 193 members,
representing countries from all over
the world.
Major U.N. initiatives
 include preventing conflict by
exploring options to ensure peace,
 providing food and medical
assistance in emergencies, and
 offering humanitarian support to
millions of people around the world.
 While the United Nations is
sometimes criticized for its policies,
bureaucracy and spending, the
organization has accomplished
hundreds of successful
peacekeeping missions.
U.N. Successes
 Since its inception, the United
Nations has performed numerous
humanitarian, environmental and
peace-keeping undertakings,
including:
 Providing food to 90 million people
in over 75 countries
 Assisting more than 34 million
refugees
 Authorizing 71 international
peacekeeping missions
 Working with 140 nations to
minimize climate change
 Assisting about 50 countries per year
with their elections
 Providing vaccinations for 58 percent
of children in the world
 Helping about 30 million women a
year with maternal health efforts
 Protecting human rights with 80
treaties and declarations
United Nations Criticisms
 Over the years, the role of the U.N.
has expanded from an organization
that focused on peace and security
to one that includes a wide range of
global concerns. Today, the U.N.
provides solutions for problems
related to healthcare, the
environment, criminal justice,
refugee dilemmas and more
 Though many support including
these extended responsibilities,
others believe the organization may
be overstepping its boundaries.
 The U.N. has also faced criticism for
promoting globalization, not being
effective enough, backing
provocative policies, providing
controversial health options, being
too bureaucratic, giving certain
countries more power than others
and spending too much money.
U.N. Failures
 Some of the more well-known U.N.
efforts that ended in failure or a
publicized scandal include:
 The 1994 Rwanda Mission: During
this undertaking, the U.N. tried to
stop the Rwandan genocide, but the
 Hutus slaughtered nearly a million
members of the Tutsi minority.
 Cholera in Haiti: After the 2010
earthquake, U.N.-led Nepali aid
workers were blamed for spreading
cholera throughout Haiti. More than
10,000 people died from the
outbreak.
 Oil for Food Program: This initiative
was designed to allow Iraq to sell oil
through the U.N. in exchange for
food and medicine. But, accusations
surfaced that much of the money
was funneled to the Iraqi
government and to U.N. officials.
 Sexual abuse allegations: In early
2005, U.N. peacekeepers were
accused of rape or paying for sex in
the Republic of Congo. Similar
allegations of sexual misconduct
were also reported in Cambodia,
Haiti and other countries
 Crisis in South Sudan: A U.N.
peacekeeping mission, which was
established in 2011, was
unsuccessful at protecting civilians
from death, torture or rape in South
Sudan.
 While every organization has its
flaws and shortcomings, the
majority of international leaders and
experts agree that the U.N.
continues to play a critical role in
securing peace, stability and
prosperity throughout the world.