The Interstate System

Saturday, March 9, 2024 11:26 AM

The Global Interstate System

It is the whole system of human interactions. The modern world-system is structured politically as an interstate
system a system of competing and allying states. Political Scientists commonly call this the international system,
and it is the main focus of the field of International Relations

The Interstate System

The term "Interstate System" specifically refers to the network of highways within the United States. However, if
we broaden the concept to include global highway networks that connect multiple countries, similar initiatives
exist, though they vary widely in scale, development, and governance. These international road networks aim to
facilitate trade, travel, and economic integration across borders.
 A theoretical system of contending and cooperating states. This is generally referred to as the international
system by political scientists, and it is the primary focus of the study of International Relations

International Relations
• Collective interactions or relationships of the international community.
• Interactions and behavior occur across the boundaries of states.
• Also called as International Studies and International Politics.
• Key players:
○ Nations and states
○ Inter-governmental organizations
○ Non-governmental organizations *New*
○ Multinational corporations *New*
• The institutions that govern international relations are concerned with peace treaties and military alliances,
social and economic growth, and global economy. Governments of countries around the world participate in
these different institutions.

Globalization
• Widening intensifying, speeding up and growing impact of the world-wide interconnected.
• Is a process of economic exchange in the globe that removes the barriers of the flow of goods, services,
capital, and labor. It is more on a free flow of the weal to all nations involved.

Nation-State
• A nation-state is a type of political entity that is characterized by two main components: a nation and a
state.
• It represents a sovereign state whose citizens or subjects are relatively homogeneous in factors such as
language or common descent.
• The concept of the nation-state is pivotal in both political geography and international relations because it
embodies the idea of a governed population with a defined territory that also shares a common identity.
• A political entity in which a nation and a state coincide or coexist.

Nation
• Refers to a group of people who share common cultural elements such as language, traditions, customs, and
often a shared history or ethnicity.
• Nations are socially constructed communities, imagined by the people who perceive themselves as part of
that group.
State
 It refers to a political organization or entity with a defined territory, government, and population.
 Each state is expected to maintain unchangeable power because of its possessed sovereignty.
Characteristics of a Nation-State
1. Sovereignty: The nation-state exercises supreme authority within its territory, making decisions
independently without external interference.
2. Defined Territory: A nation-state has clearly defined geographical boundaries recognized by other states.
3. Permanent Population: It has a stable population that resides within its territory and is subject to its laws.
4. Common Identity: The people share a sense of belonging to the same nation, often through common
language, culture, and history.
5. Political System: It has a government that provides public services and enforces laws.

State and Sovereignty

• The state emerged in 15th and 16th century Europe as a system of centralized rule that succeeded in
subordinating all the institutions and groups, temporal and spiritual.
• The concept of statehood was attributed to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, a package of treaties that
ended the 30-year war (1618-1648), where Europe's rulers would recognize each other's right to rule their
own territories and free from outside interference.
Peace of Westphalia
○ The negotiations took place in the Westphalian cities of Münster and Osnabrück, hence the
name "Peace of Westphalia."
○ One of the most crucial aspects of the Peace of Westphalia was the recognition of the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of individual states within the Holy Roman Empire.
○ Is often cited as a foundational event in the development of modern international law. It
contributed to the establishment of the principles of state sovereignty and non-intervention in
the internal affairs of sovereign states.
• Westphalian System guarantees stability and unification for the nations of Europe which was expressed by
Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian nationalist
• This was mostly signified in US President Woodrow Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points’ in 1918.
• During the French Revolution, the Westphalian system was challenged by Napoleon Bonaparte, a French
leader who implemented the Napoleonic Code.
• After his defeat in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the royal powers founded an alliance of ‘great powers’ or
the Concert of Europe---Austria, Russia, Prussia, and the United Kingdom and created a new system which
affected the revival of the Westphalian system and restored the sovereignty of states.
• It was stated in 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States as one of the four
qualifying elements:
○ a defined territory,
○ a permanent population,
○ an effective government,
○ capacity to enter relationship with other states.

• While internal sovereignty refers to the state's authority within, external sovereignty defines the
relationship of states and international actors as it establishes state's capacity to act as an independent and
autonomous entity in world affairs.

State and Globalization

• In the arrival of globalization, debates about the power and significance of state in world system have been
found.
• Some believed that globalization brings the demise of the sovereign states as global forces weaken the
power of the state to control their own economies and societies.
• Oppositely, some assumed that state remains as a primary agents which could even shape the world order.
• In between, a perspective recognize globalization would transform the role, significance and nature of the
sovereignty of the state.
• Globalization as a process is more than simply growing connections or interconnectedness between states.
• Rosenau suggests that globalization implies cumulative scale, scope, velocity and depth of contemporary
 interconnectedness is dissolving the significance of the borders and boundaries that separates the world
into its many constituent states or national economic and political spaces.
• It suggests a shift towards seeing the world as a unified social space where economic and security concerns
are global rather than confined to specific regions or continents.
• Globalization is characterized by deterritorialization, a process where social, political, and economic
activities extend across the globe, diminishing the importance of physical geography and distance.
• This phenomenon is evident in the operations of terrorist and criminal networks that function both locally
and globally, as well as in the economic domain where a country's major companies may no longer be tied
to national territorial boundaries
• In this sense, globalization can be defined as: "a historical process involving a fundamental shift or
transformation in the spatial scale of human social organization that links distant communities and expands
the reach of power across region and continents."

• A state is more than a government that is clear. Government changes, but state endure.
• A state is the means of rule over a defined or sovereign territory. It is comprised of an executive, a
bureaucracy, courts and other institutions.
• States refers to legal and political entity, which combined the following: population, defined territory,
government and ability to enter into a formal relation with other state.

Shifting from International Politics to global Politics

• Jeremy Bentham coined the term 'International Relations' that was introduced in his principles of morals
and legislation.
• In the 18th century, the term eventually was recognized as 'inter-national' as the territorially-based political
units have gained clearer and genuine 'national' character.
• Based on this shifting concept from nationhood to statehood why most modern states could effectively act
and interact with one another on the global (world) system or also described as 'inter-state' system.
• State sovereignty became the fundamental organizing principle of international politics.
• Internationalization should be differentiated from globalization.
○ Internationalization is the growing interdependence between states; state remain discrete national
units
○ Globalization is a process in which the very distinction between the domestic and the external breaks
down.
• Growing number of complex issues has eventually acquired a 'global' character which in that effect extend
potentially to all parts of the 'world'. This resulted to a shift of paradigm from the usual 'international'
politics to 'global' politics:
1. New actors on the world stage
○ Due to globalization new key players have come to exert influence and identified as
transnational corporation (TNCs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and a range of non-
state institutions.
2. Increased interdependence and interconnected
○ Global issues can't be resolved by any state alone thus states generally resort on collective
efforts to address issues.
○ However, this may be asymmetrical where interdependence can lead to domination and conflict
rather than peace and harmony.
3. The trend towards global governance
i. Since 1945, a new framework of global governance (and regional governance) has been
recognized.
ii. This attributed to established international organizations such as International Monetary Fund
(IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), European Union and most significantly, the United
Nations