The Global Interstate System

Learning Outcomes:
Identify the elements of contemporary interstate system;

Discuss competing views on interstate system;

Elaborate the changes in the construct of the state,
sovereignty and territory;
Explain the emergence and impact of non-state actors; and
Evaluate the impact of globalization on the global interstate
system.
For a very long time, states have been a
dominant actors in international affairs.
The interstate system have been organized
around the principles of state sovereignty,
territoriality, and interference.
But the idea of state has been transformed over
time. The state in the contemporary world is in
many ways different from the kind of state there
was centuries ago. Not only that, non-state
actors, such as international organizations
and global corporations, continue to grow in
number and take on roles that either
supplement, overlap, or even replace that of the
state.
What is an International Organization?

An international
organization is
an organization with an
international membership,
scope, or presence.
What does Global Corporation mean?
A global company is generally referred to as a
multinational corporation (MNC). An MNC is a company
that operates in two or more countries, leveraging the
global environment to approach varying markets in
attaining revenue generation. These international
operations are pursued as a result of the strategic
potential provided by technological developments,
making new markets a more convenient and profitable
pursuit both in sourcing production and pursuing growth.
 THE INTERSTATE SYSTEM

The idea of a ‘system’ requires the

existence of units, among which
interactions take place. In the
interstate system, the units are the
states, and the interactions include
war, diplomacy, and cooperation.
PRINCIPLES OF THE CONTEMPORARY
INTERSTATE SYSTEM

NON-
INTERFERENCE

TERRITORIALITY
 What does Sovereignty mean?
In political theory, the ultimate overseer, or authority, in
the decision-making process of the state and in the
maintenance of order. The concept of sovereignty—one of
the most controversial ideas in political science and
international law—is closely related to the difficult concepts of
state and government and of independence and democracy.
Derived from the Latin term superanus through the French
term souveraineté, sovereignty was originally meant to be
the equivalent of supreme power. However, in practice it
often has departed from this traditional meaning.
 What does Territoriality mean?

Is a term associated with non verbal

communication that refers to how people
use space (territory) to
communicate ownership or occupancy of
areas and possessions.
What does Interference mean?

Is the act of or
something that
obstructs or hinders.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in northwestern
Germany and one of the three historic parts of the
state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Westphalia is
known for the 1648 Peace of Westphalia which
ended the Thirty Years War'. Peace of Westphalia
was a series of peace treaties signed.
Peace of Westphalia

The peace was negotiated, from 1644, in the

Westphalian towns of Münster and Osnabrück.
Three treaties were signed to end each of the
overlapping wars: the Peace of Münster, the
Treaty of Münster, and the Treaty of Osnabrück.
Peace of Westphalia
State-centered international States were not the main
system is relatively new actors before the Westphalian
Treaty in 1648

At the micro level, authority Europe before the Westphalian

centered on political units Treaty consisted of feudal
smaller than the states entities

At the macro level, authority

existed in the form of Roman State was not the locus of
Catholic Church power
 Peace of Westphalia

Westphalian Treaty
of 1648 recognized
the sovereign rights
of the state
-became the basis
for the Westphalian
international system
(i.e. modern
interstate system)
*It has been said that the current interstate
system is the result of a convergence of many
factors
-political as well as economic factors

*What are these factors?

These factors primarily were: capital and
coercion, that is: wealth (resources), and
means to launch wars

*They enabled the monarchs to wield powers

against Church and feudal lords
Peace of Westphalia

Money

Money in Capitalist Tax

2016
Class Monarchs
2017 Bureaucracy collection;
Economy
Money Army
Security
Peace of Westphalia

“The state makes

wars, and war
makes the state.”
-Charles Tilly
 ended the Thirty Years'
War (1618–1648) in the Holy Roman
Empire, and the Eighty Years'
War(1568–1648) between Spain and
RESULTS the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally
recognizing the independence of the
Dutch Republic.

under the terms of the peace

settlement, a number of countries received
territories or were confirmed in
their sovereignty over territories.
 Five Principles in Politics
1. The principle of state sovereignty.
2. The principle of legal (equality)of
states.
RESULTS 3. The principle of non-intervention of
one states in international affairs of
another.
4. International law and diplomacy .
5. Reason of state replaced religion.
Impact of Peace of Westphalia
 1. Development

Emerging of Westphalia

Reduction of role played by

religion
i) Pope of Head of Catholic Church
ii)Emperor Head of HRE
 Development

» -Rise of Nation States

» - Birth of an International system based
plurality of International States

» Recognizing no superior authority

over them
 Development (Concept of nation state)
• 1) Permanently exist
• 2) Corporate entities in their own right
• 3) Separate from the rulers who governed them at any time

• + Development of law of nations (govern interstate)

• + Rulers free govern as they pleased
 2. Westphalian System
• Known as ‘Original Territorial Basis of Modern Interstate
System’

Features

Nation States
are territorially Autonomous
independent
 3. Anti-Hegemonic System
• -based on feudal,hierarchy system
• -ended hegemony of Habsburg Empire
• -emphasised :
• i) independence
• Ii) Territorial Sovereignty
• Iii) Sovereign Equality
• Iv) seperation of states RATHER THAN unity of christiandom
(rejected pope as absolute authority)
 4) Adoption in United Nations
• Article 2(1) of the United Nations Charter.

The organisation is based on the principle of

sovereign equality of all its members.

• Article 2(7) of the United Nations Charter.

Nothing contained in the present charter shall

authorise the United Nations to intervene in matters
which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of
any state or shall require the members to submit such
matters to settlement under the present charter.
5. Growth of National Consciousness

 Number of states has grown enormously

 Many changes in inter-state relations in the State

system
 After WWII, large number of Asian and American
countries become equal sovereign through
decolonization
 6. International Relations
• According to Jaclyn Hawtin, Treaty of Westphalia created
an opening for nation states to have a new kind of
conversation with each other, one where agreements
could be made and power could be exchanged in a
logical and rational way.
CHALLENGES

Globalization
 GLOBALIZATION
Meaning: Broadly defined as the migration of human activities from the narrow confines of the nation-
state to a much larger scale.

For example; the Integration of national economies through trade, investment, capital flow, labor
migration and technology.

Globalization results from the removal of barriers between national economies to encourage the flow of
goods, services, capital and labor.

It helped globalize the world economy, transportation and communication technologies.

Why it matters? Increasingly, businesses must recognize that their success depends on efficiency and
scalability that is being able to quickly mobilize global resources and reach world markets.

But, globalization has led economic decision-making away from local control.
 GLOBALIZATION
States are becoming less Westphalian in terms of legal power to intervene in countries.
Eg; European Union, United Nations and the International Criminal Court

Globalization emphasizes the interdependence of States and has encouraged the increasing degree of human and
material mobility and interaction. Eg; International Rights movement. It views solving socio-economic and political
problems require collective efforts and restrictions on State sovereignty.

Why? This is because Westphalia territoriality is over protective, imprisoning, aggressive in assertion, and condones
off areas of opportunity and zones of contract and cooperation.

IGO’s (Intergovermental Organizations) have played a role in intertwining the political and economic affairs of
nation states around the globe. These types of organizations consistently encroach on the oncept of sovereignty. Eg;
United Nations and World Trade Organization
 GLOBALIZATION
Globalization introduces wider webs of transnational governance, new supranational
institutions and new technologies which increase the flows of capital, commodities and
people across borders.

These are not in line with the conception of the Treaty of Westphalia which aims to
enable governments control resources and people in a way to determine its economic
fortunes.

This phenomenon is a challenge to the Treaty of Westphalia as the border changes are
able to devalue state borders in terms of emphasizing supranational or sub national
entities.
 PEACE OF WESTPHALIA CHALLENGES UNDER
GLOBALIZATION

The control of physical

Legal sovereignty is no territory is much less Non-state actors are
longer the monopoly of meaningful today both emerging as the new
national governments as source and domain of stars of the global order
power

International law is Westphalian wars are in

beginning to challenge decline.
Modernization
the supremacy of state Non-Westphalian
sovereignty conflicts are on the rise
 Legal Sovereignty is no longer the monopoly of national
governments

• Contemporary central governments have responded to globalisation by

voluntarily shifting power upwards to supranational institutions.

• For example; The emergence of the European Union (EU). This is

because the European law takes precedence over national law.

• Other example; Other intergovernmental organisations such as the

WTO (World Trade Organizations) are also picking up powers which
may involve a transfer of sovereignty. The upward power shift from
governments to supranational bodies.
The control of physical territory is much less meaningful today both
as a source and domain of power

• Improvement in transportation and telecommunication

technologies.
• The Internetof global finance does not respect
national borders and sovereign jurisdictions.
• This severely reduces the ability of national
governments to deal with global challenges.
 Non-state actors are emerging as the new stars of the global order

• Large multinational corporations wielding considerable economic (and political

too). Eg; OECD (The Organizations of Economy of Corporations and
Development)
• Militant Special Interest Groups which include organized religions, special lobbies,
secret societies, and other groups that have influence. Outlaw elements such as
mafias are included as well who have been much quicker in harnessing the
potential of globalization than legitimate groups.
• The NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations claiming to represent Civil Society)
and who have, via street demonstrations and persuasive communication through the
Internet, shown considerable ability to block or delay the signing of agreements on
globalisation.
• IGOs (Intergovernmental Organisations) created by sovereign governments. Eg;
World Bank, WTO and others.
 International law is beginning to challenge the supremacy of state
sovereignty

• Concepts such as human rights, environmental protection, ethnic self-

determination, sustainable development are beginning to trump state
sovereignty in the court of public opinion and are invoked to justify
interventions in the affairs of sovereign states.
• For example, today’s attempted genocides are on the news and cannot be
ignored.
• Therefore, interventions overriding national sovereignty are now approved
by world opinion although the exact criteria and legal basis for such
interventions have never been clarified.
• The breaching of sovereignty is now more acceptable, yet the rules for
doing so are
still very vague.
Westphalian wars are in decline. Non-Westphalian conflicts are on the rise

• A Westphalian War is a clash of sovereign countries according

to certain rules such as formal declarations of wars, treatment
of prisoners and others.
• The new confrontations are economic and informational.
• The game has changed and the protagonists are no longer
national governments but corporations, special interest
groups, drug cartels, ethnic mafias and others.
 MODERNIZATION
This encompasses not only
In general under modernization economic modernization and
is a processes where rural, development of market
traditional societies are infrastructure and technology,
transformed into industrialized but also political modernization
and modern. and the developed system of
interest representation.

The process of modernization is

The United States has been
an obvious case of dominant
doing this for a long time all
countries acting from a place of
over the world and the most
power that allows for strategic
current example is the U.S.
positioning economically and
presence in Afghanistan.
politically.
 Conclusion
• Treaty of Westphalia created state system.
• It ended the 30 Years’ War and introduced a
few principles in contemporary world:
Principle of non-intervention of one state in the
internal affairs of another state

Principle of equality between states

Principle of sovereignty of states and

fundamental right of political self
determination
• Treaty of Westphalia is undergoing a historic
change.

Process of
Wave of
globalization since
democratization
1945.

Creation of United
Nations and inter- Humanitarian
governmental Intervention
bodies.
 Change in nature and understanding of
sovereignty
• Sovereignty is redefined.
• State is interdependent.
• Nature of sovereignty has changed from one which vests states
with certain rights, like the right to non-intervention, to one
which grants them certain responsibilities – primarily towards
its own population.
• Eg: Human rights violations perpetrated by government
• However, it argued that Westphalia holds a continuing
relevance despite the evolution of its system.
• The outcomes of Peace of Westphalia founded important
norms for the international system and serve as a model for
contemporary international law and relations.
• The transformation in the concept of sovereignty has rather
reiterated, reasserted and re-emphasized the obligations and
duties of sovereign states with respect to protection and
upholding of citizens’ rights.
Theoretical Perspectives of
Interstate System
 L
R
I M

CONSTRUCTIVISM
E B A
A E R
R
L A
X
I L I
I S
S
S M
M M
R
E  Realists assume that just like human
individuals, states are rational actors and their
A primary concern is to maximize their self-
L interest.
I  It also assumes that the structure of the
S international system is anarchy.

M
L
I
B
E It emphasizes the pacifying role of
R international organizations,
A economic interdependence, and
L democracy.
I
S
M
C
O
N
S It is concerned with the relationship
T between units and structures. It answers
R how we can understand the relationship
U between states and anarchy.
C It argues that both state interests and
T anarchy are socially constructed, that is,
I they are created by the state themselves.
V
I
S
M
 It is a social theory that aims to scrutinize and
M critique the underlying foundations upon which
contemporary world system is built.
A
R It argues that the world is primarily divided along
X economic lines, between the core developed states
and the peripheral developing states.
I
S It predicted that capitalism in advanced, industrial
states will overthrown and replaced by socialism,
M and eventually communism
 Summary of the Theories
Competing Realism Liberalism Constructivism Marxism
Theories
State always Democracy, free Norms and ideas can Capitalist motives
Central Argument compete for power trade, and re-constitute state cause conflicts
international behavior, interests, between core, semi-
organizations matter identities, and peripheral, and
to state behavior preferences peripheral states

States are rational States are rational Institutions, including History is a class
Assumptions actors; international actors; international anarchy, are socially struggle
system is anarchic system is anarchic constructed

Focus of analysis States States Individuals World system

Theorists Kenneth Waltz, John Robert Keohane, Alexander Wendt, Immanuel

Mearsheimer joseph Nye Jr. Nicholas Onuf Wallersrein,
Theotonio dos
Santos
Evolution of Interstate System
COLD WAR (1947-1991)
COLD WAR

War between
Soviet Union
and United
States of
America
The
relationship
between the
US and the
Soviet Union
during the
Cold War
Advancements
of Nuclear
Weapons/
Technologies
The Spread
of
Communists
around the
nations
 Eastern Europe Soviet Union
 China enlarge its
 North Korea communist
 Vietnam sphere of
 Latin America influence:
It regards globalization as an exogenous process
that is making a profound impact on states affairs.
States become powerless to the forces of the
market. Globalization is seen as an extreme form
of interdependence such that the ordering
principles of sovereignty, territoriality, and non-
interference are called into question. The
implication is that globalization is undermining the
contemporary interstate system.
Globalization recognizes that states are the ones
influencing the level of global interconnectedness today.
It emphasizes that globalization is not an independent
phenomenon that takes place in a vacuum. While it
affects the states, states also shape globalization . If
globalization is a transformative process that redefines
the conceptions of state, sovereignty, and territory, and
does not necessarily replace them, then it is better to
think of the contemporary system as global interstate
system.
The term global interstate has important implications.
This conception leads us to think not of demise or
retreat of the state, but about its changing functionality:
states still exist but do different things, do the same
things less well that they used to, and also have taken
on new responsibilities in exchange. The state, and the
interstate, continues. But unlike in the past, they have
transformed to cope with emerging challenges brought
about both by internal and external factors, including
globalization.
End
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Community. “In the Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to
International Relations, edited by John Baylis, Steve Smith and Patricia Owens.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Steger, M. (2005). “Ideologies of Globalization Journal of Political Ideologies
10(1): 11-30. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing.
 https://www.slideshare.net/JoanieYeung/cold-war-beginning-
19451949?qid=1796fd7b-29fc-456a-a992-fca3f329e380&v=&b=&from_search=3
 http://global-politics.eu/peace-treaty-Westphalia-1648-consequences-international-
relations/
 https://www.history.com/topics/karl-marx