A HISTORY OF GLOBAL

POLITICS: CREATING AN
INTERNATIONAL ORDER
 HISTORY OF GLOBAL
POLITICS

The world is composed of many countries or states, all of

them having different forms of government.
 Some scholars of politics are interested in individual states and
examine the internal politics of these countries.
 Other scholars are more interested in the interactions between
states rather than internal politics.
 They study political, military, and other diplomatic
engagements between two or more countries.
 HISTORY OF GLOBAL
POLITICS

Internationalization does not equal globalization,

although it is a major part of globalization.
 Globalization encompasses a multitude of connections and
interactions that cannot be reduced to the ties between
governments.
 Governments are key drivers of globalization.
THE ATTRIBUTES OF TODAY’S GLOBAL
POLITICS

The world politics today has four key attributes:

 There are countries or states that are independent and
govern themselves.
 These countries interact with each other through diplomacy.
 There are international organizations that facilitate these
interactions.
 International organizations also take on lives of their own.
 THE ATTRIBUTES OF TODAY’S GLOBAL
POLITICS

The nation-state is composed of two non-interchangeable

terms.
 Not all states are nations and not all nations are states.
 The nation of Scotland belongs to a state called United
Kingdom.
 The nation of Korea is divided into North and South Korea.
 The Chinese nation includes People’s Republic of China and
Taiwan
 THE ATTRIBUTES OF TODAY’S GLOBAL
POLITICS
What then is the difference between nation and state?
STATE
 It refers to the country and its government.
 It has four attributes/elements:
 Citizens
 Territory
 Government
 Sovereignty
 THE ATTRIBUTES OF TODAY’S GLOBAL
POLITICS

Sovereignty refers to the internal and external authority

over its territory.
 Internally, no individuals or groups can operate in a given
national territory by ignoring the state.
 Externally, state’s policies and procedures are independent
of the interventions of the other states.
 THE ATTRIBUTES OF TODAY’S GLOBAL
POLITICS

NATION
According to Benedict Anderson, it is an imagined
community.
 It is limited since it has its boundaries, and because its
right and responsibilities are mainly the privilege and
concern of the citizens of the nation.
 THE ATTRIBUTES OF TODAY’S GLOBAL
POLITICS

NATION
According to Benedict Anderson, it is an imagined
community.
 Calling it “imagined” does not mean that the nation is made-
up.
 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.
 THE INTERSTATE
SYSTEM

The origins of the present-day concept of sovereignty can

be traced back to the Treaty of Westphalia.
 The treaty was a set of agreements signed in 1648 to end the
Thirty Years’ War between the major continental powers of
Europe.
 After the brutal religious war, European countries designed a
system to avert wars in the future by recognizing sovereignty
of each country over domestic affairs.
 THE INTERSTATE
SYSTEM

The Westphalian system provided stability for the nations

of Europe, until it faced its major challenge by Napoleon
Bonaparte.
 Bonaparte believed in spreading the principles of the French
Revolution.
 Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1803-1815 with Napoleon and
his armies marching all over much of Europe.
 THE INTERSTATE
SYSTEM

Napoleonic Code was implemented on every country that

they conquered.
 It forbade birth privileges, encouraged freedom or religion,
and promoted meritocracy in government service.
 This shocked the monarchies and the hereditary elites of
Europe, and they mustered their armies to push back against
the French emperor.
 THE INTERSTATE
SYSTEM

Anglo and Prussian armies finally defeated Napoleon in the

Battle of Waterloo in 1815, ending the latter’s mission to spread
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,
restores the Westphalian system.
 THE INTERSTATE
SYSTEM

Concert of Europe was an alliance of “great powers” that

sought to restore the world of monarchial, hereditary, and
religious privileges of the time before the French Revolution and
the Napoleonic Wars.
 This alliance sought to restore the sovereignty of
states.
 This Metternich system lasted from 1815 to 1914.
 THE INTERSTATE
SYSTEM

Despite the challenge of Napoleon to the Westphalian

system and the eventual collapse of the Concert of Europe after
World War I, present-day international system still has traces of
this history.
 Until now, states are still sovereign and the violent
imposition of systems of government in other countries
are still frowned upon.
 INTERNATIONALISM

Westphalian and Concert systems divided the world into

separate sovereign entities.
The desire for greater cooperation and unity among
sovereign states and people is known as internationalism. It may
be divided into two broad categories:
 Liberal internationalism
 Socialist internationalism
 Liberal Internationalism

A. IMMANUEL KANT
 He is an 18th century German philosopher who argued that
without a form of world government, the international
system will be chaotic.
 According to him, if people living together require the
government to prevent lawlessness, so as the states.
 Liberal Internationalism

A. JEREMY BENTHAM
 He is a late 18th century British philosopher who advocated
the creation of “international law” that would govern the
inter-state relations.

To many, these proposals of global government and

international law seemed to represent challenges to state’s
sovereignty.
 Liberal Internationalism

C. GIUSEPPE MAZZINI
 He is a late 19th century Italian patriot who advocated the
unification of various Italian-speaking mini-states, and a
major critic of Metternich system.
 He proposed a system of free nations that cooperated with
each other to create an international system.
 Liberal Internationalism

C. GIUSEPPE MAZZINI
 He was a nationalist internationalist who believes that free,
unified nation-states should be the basis of global
cooperation.
 He influenced the thinking of US president (1913-1921)
Woodrow Wilson.
 Liberal Internationalism

D. WOODROW WILSON
 He is one of the 20th century’s most prominent
internationalist.
 Like Mazzini, he saw nationalism as a prerequisite for
internationalism.
 He forwarded the principle of self-determination.
 He became the most notable advocate of the League of
Nations, and he won Nobel Peace Prize in 1919.
 Liberal Internationalism

D. WOODROW WILSON
 The league came into being. However, it was also unable to
hinder another war from breaking out.
 Despite the failure of the League of Nations to avert war, it
gave birth to some of the more task-specific international
organizations that are still around today.
 Liberal Internationalism

D. WOODROW WILSON
 The league came into being. However, it was also unable to
hinder another war from breaking out.
 Despite the failure of the League of Nations to avert war, it
gave birth to some of the more task-specific international
organizations that are still around today.
 Liberal Internationalism

The league was the concretization of the concepts of liberal

internationalism.
 It emphasized the need to form common international
principles.
 It enshrined the principles of cooperation and respect among
nation-states
 It called for democracy and self-determination.

These ideas assert the creation of the United Nations in 1946.

 Socialist Internationalism

A. KARL MARX
 He is a German socialist who did not believe in
nationalism.
 He believed that nay true form of internationalism should
deliberately reject nationalism.
 He placed a premium on economic equality.
 Socialist Internationalism

A. KARL MARX
 Marx and Friedrich Engels believed that in a socialist
revolution seeking to overthrow the state and alter
economy, the proletariat “had no nation”.
 With the battle cry “Workers of the world, unite! You have
nothing to lose but your chains”.
 He believed that nationalism prevented the unification of
the world’s workers.
 Socialist Internationalism

A. KARL MARX
 Marx died in 1883 but his followers established Socialist
International.
 SI collapsed in WWI when sister parties ended up fighting
each other, thus confirming Marx warning.
 Socialist Internationalism

As the SI collapsed, a more radical version emerged, the

Communist International (Comintern).
 In the so-called Russian Revolution of 1917, Czar Nicholas
II was overthrown and replaced by a revolutionary
government led by Bolshevik Party and its leader, Vladimir
Lenin.
 Socialist Internationalism

As the SI collapsed, a more radical version emerged, the

Communist International (Comintern).
 Unlike the majority of the member parties of SI, the
Bolsheviks did not believe in obtaining power for the
working class through elections.
 They exhorted the revolutionary “vanguard” parties to lead
the revolution across the world, using methods of terror if
necessary.
 Socialist Internationalism

A problem arose during WWII when the Soviet Union

joined Allied Powers in 1941.
 The US and the UK would, of course, not trust the Soviet
Union in their fight against Hitler’s Germany.
 To appease his allies, Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin
dissolved comintern in 1943.
 Socialist Internationalism

After the war, however, Stalin re-established the Comintern

as the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform).

For the postwar period, Liberal internationalism would once

again be ascendant. It rose the United Nations as the center of
global governance.
THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE
CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL
GOVERNNACE
 THE GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Although many internationalists imagined the possibility of

global governance, nothing of the sort exists today.
No organization can militarily compel a state to obey
predetermined global rules.
 However, there is regularity in the general behavior of states.
 Though there is no single world government, states adhere to
certain global norms for international order.
 THE GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Global governance refers to the intersecting processes that

create international order.
Sources of global governance include:
 Signing of treaties
 Forming of organizations
 Forming of non-governmental organizations
 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION

International Organization refers to intergovernmental

organizations or groups that are primarily made up of member-
states.
Powers of IOs listed by international relations scholars
Michael N. Barnett and Martha Finnemore include:
 Power of Classification
 Power of Fix Meanings
 Power to Diffuse Norms
 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
A. POWER OF CLASSIFICATION
Because IOs can invent and apply categories, they create
powerful global standards.
Example: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
defined what a refugee is.
Since states are required to accept refugees entering
their boundaries, this power to establish identity has
concrete effects.
 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION

B. POWER TO FIX MEANINGS

States, organizations, and individuals view IOs as a
legitimate sources of information.
Example: The UN has defined SECURITY as not just
safety from military violence, but also safety from
environmental harm.
 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION

C. POWER TO DIFFUSE NORMS

Norms are accepted codes of conduct that may not be strict
law, but nevertheless produce regularity in behavior.

Example: World Bank economists come to be regarded as

experts in development. Therefore, they can create norms
regarding the implementation and conceptualization of
development projects.
 THE UNITED NATIONS
The UN was created after the collapse of the League of nations
at the end of WWII.
 Countries that are worried about another global war began to
push for the formation of the more lasting international league.
 The UN has 5 active organs:
 General Assembly
 Security Council
 Economic and Social Council
 International Court of Justice
 Secretariat
 The General Assembly (GA)

 UN’s main deliberative policy making and representative

organ.
 Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace
and security, admission of new members, and budgeting
matters, require a two-thirds majority of the GA.
 Annually, GA elects a GA president to serve one-year term of
the office.
 The Security Council (SC)
 This body consists of 15 member states.
 The SC takes the lead in determining the existence of threat to
the peace or an act of aggression.
 It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle the act by
peaceful means.
 States that seek to intervene militarily in another state need to
obtain the approval of SC.
 Each country in P5 holds veto power over the council’s
decisions.
 The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

 The principal body for coordination, policy review, policy

dialogue, and recommendations on social and environmental
issues, as well as the implementation of internationally agreed
development goals.
 It is the central platform for discussion on sustainable
development.
 The International Court Justice

 Its task is to settle legal disputes in accordance to international

law.
 it is also tasks to give advisory opinions referred to it by
authorized UN organs and specialized agencies.
 States involved in the disputes shall voluntarily submit
themselves to the court for arbitration.
 The court cannot try individual states.
 The International Court Justice

 Though the creation of human right arbitration rules in the

UN, any citizen of any state may petition the UN to look into
human rights violation in a country.
 This system was designed in the Late 1960s by Salvador
P. Lopez and other Filipinos.
 The Secretariat

 Consists of the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of

international UN staff who carryout the day-to-day work of
the UN as mandated by the GA and the organization’s other
principal organs.
 CHALLENGES OF THE UNITED
NATIONS

UN respect states sovereignty.

 It is not a world government, and it functions
primarily because of the voluntary cooperation from
states.
 If the states refuse to cooperate, the influence
of the UN can be severely circumscribed.
 CHALLENGES OF THE UNITED
NATIONS
Example:
UN Council on Human Right can send special rapporteurs
to the countries where alleged human rights violations are
occurring.
 If the country does not invite the rapporteurs or places
conditions on his/her activities, however, this
information-gathering mechanism usually fails to
achieve its goal.
 CHALLENGES OF THE UNITED
NATIONS

On issues of security, the UN Security Council is

tasked with authorizing international acts of military
intervention.
 Because of the P5’s veto power, it is tough for the
council to release a formal resolution, much more
implement it.
 CHALLENGES OF THE UNITED
NATIONS

Example:
In the late 1990s, when the US sought to intervene in Kosovo
War.
 Hundreds and thousands of Albanians were victims of
massacres, mass deportations, and internal displacement.
 Members of NATO sought SC authorization to intervene on
humanitarian grounds, but China and Russia threatened to
veto any action.
 CHALLENGES OF THE UNITED
NATIONS

Example:
The Civil War in Syria
 Russia has threatened to veto any SC resolution against
Syria because Syrian President Bashar al-Assard is an ally of
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
 As a result, the Un is again ineffectual amid a conflict that
ahs led to over 220,000 people dead and 11 million
displaced.
 CHALLENGES OF THE UNITED
NATIONS
The UN Security Council has been wrong on issues of
intervention, but it has also made right decisions.
Example:
When the US sought to invade Iraq in 2001, it claimed that
Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
that threatened the world.
 UN members Russia, China and France were unconvinced
and vetoed the UN resolution.
 Un has discovered that there were no WMD.