Modern State System

• The present day world community is composed of a number of

nation-states.
• The states are the basic units of the international relations.
• In recent times many non-state actors have also become
important in international relations
• The state system is the present organization of the world’s
population into a number of “Independent sovereign nation
states”.
• According to Palmer and Perkins, the state system is the pattern of
political life in which people are separately organized into
sovereign states that interact with one another in varying degrees
and in varying ways.
• The rise of sovereign states back to the end of the Middle ages in
Europe.
• 1.The protestant Reformation ended the spiritual dominance and
ideological universalism of the Roman Catholic Church in the Western
world.
• 2.The parallel disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire into a series of
independent sovereign nations such as Spain,France,etc, also
contributed to the development of the nation state system.
• 3.In these newly emerged nations the medieval feudal system declined
and it was displaced by highly centralized and powerful .
• 4.The theoretical contributions of thinkers like Machiavelli, Bodin,
Grotious, Hobbes and others also laid the foundation of an
independent secular nation state.
• The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 was the first attempt to build up
an international system based on independent National Sovereignty.
• It recognized the independence of Holland and it gave to France the
treaty of Alsace
• The European state system depended largely upon a balance of
power to prevent international disputes.
• Treaty of Westphalia 1648, the treaties of Utrecht 1713, Vienna
1815, Versailles 1919, and the San Francisco Charter 1945, all
contained plans for the preservation of peace.
• After two world wars non European states like the USA, USSR , Japan
and many other new states have become powerful and influential.
• The European state system has been transformed into a
global structure.
• Today this global structure is composed of a number of states
of varying capabilities and of extremely diverse cultures.
Features :
• 1.Territoriality
• 2.Concept of legal sovereignty
• 3.Doctrine of Nationalism
• 4.National Power
• 5.Political Anarchy
• Richer and Poor countries
• Based on Ideology
• Based on Power
• Challenges to the Modern state
• Development of Military Technology
• Psychological Challenges
• Economic Dependency
• Emergence of Non-State Actors