THE GLOBAL INTERSTATE SYSTEM
Globalization 1.0: 1492-1800s
● Thomas Friedman: “The world
shrank from large to medium”
● European states
● Occurred during the Age of Discovery
○ Spices
○ Wealth
○ Trading routes
○ New territories
● Facilitated
interaction
between
countries
○ Colonialism
○ International relations
Nation
 "a large group whose members
believe they belong together on the
basis of a shared identity as a people"
 “refers to a social group that is linked
through common descent, culture,
language, or territorial contiguity”
 NATION = GROUP OF PEOPLE
o shared
identity
(culture,
history, language, religion, or
territory)
 "imagined community"
o there is connection despite
lack of physical interaction
State
 layman's' term: country and its
government
o an organized political entity
that has four attributes:
o a permanent population authority over its citizens;
capable of reproducing
o a defined territory - it has
specific borders
o an effective government capable of administration;
there are laws to follow
o sovereignty - the state has
absolute and unlimited power
 Internal - it has
supreme
power/
authority
over
its
people within the
territory
 External - the absolute
and
unlimited
authority
as
an
independent actor in
the
international
realm; there are no
higher authorities
 A state is an independent political
entity (sovereignty-external) located
within a specific area (territory)
governed
by
a
government
(government) that exercises authority
(sovereignty-internal) over a group of
people (population)
Nation-state
 combination of NATION and STATE
o a group of people sharing a
common identity (nation)
living within a specific political
unit (state)
 “not all states are nations and not all
nations are states”
not all states are nations
 there is no need for a state to
correspond to one group of people
only
 states can have authority over
multiple groups of people sharing the
similar identities within its territory
o PHILIPPINES
(lowland
Christianized
Filipinos,
Moros, Indigenous Peoples)
o SINGAPORE
(Chinese,
Malays, Indians)
 nations can exist beyond the borders
of states
o Chinese (People's Republic
of China, Taiwan, Malaysian
Chinese,
Singaporean
Chinese, etc.)
o Koreans (North Koreans,
South Koreans)
o Kurds (Syrian Kurds, Iraqi
Kurds,
Iranian
Kurds,
Armenian
Kurds)
Kurds,
STATE/INTERSTATE SYSTEM
the
world
is
composed
of
independent states that govern
themselves
o there is no higher authority
that hold govern states
o States are co-equal entities;
they
interact
through
diplomacy
 States are the most significant actor
on the world stage
o basic unit of global politics
 What makes it the most significant
actor?
 Sovereignty - states' authority/power
o states
exercise
unchallengeable power within
their borders (the state
controls the law)
o states
operate
as
independent and autonomous
entities (no other state should
interfere)

Evolution Towards State System
 states emerged in Europe
o European invention
 During the medieval period in Europe
(500s to 1500s), Europe practiced
feudalism as its political/economic
system
o it is a system of give and take

Problems with feudalism
o
o
Turkish




allegiances are competing
overlapping authorities over
territories
o territories are not properly
defined
Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
o Started as a religious civil war
o Soon, countries all over
Europe joined to pursue their
interests
The war ended in 1648 through the
Peace of Westphalia
The
Peace
of
Westphalia
institutionalized important concepts
that led to the state system today:
o states
are
sovereign
entities
 states are principal
actors
that
are
independent of each
other
 no higher authority
o states are co-equal actors
 it should not interfere
with
the
internal/domestic
affairs of other states
o states should have defined
territories
 territorial
borders
should be respected
 a state's authority is
only effective within its
borders
These
concepts
became
the
foundation of the state system that is
existing until today

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This European state system reached
other territories around the world
through colonization.
European
countries
conquered
various territories and imposed
territorial boundaries.
When colonized territories gained
their independence, they adopted
their former boundaries. Hence
adopting the state system
Throughout world history, there has
been attempts to violate the
principles of state sovereignty:
o States invading other states
o Territories being violated
These attempts resulted to wars
Nevertheless, the state system
persists until this day.
States in Today’s Globalized World
 States are major facilitators of
globalization
o colonization
o Trade
o States
control
domestic
affairs
o international relations
 Globalization 1.0
 Despite
the
authority
and
independence of states in the world
stage, the processes of today's
globalization has affected it.
Global Economy
 States' are especially threatened by
the global economy and global
economic flows
o BEFORE: the economy is
constrained
within
the
borders of the state's territory
o NOW: national economies
have been integrated into
single global market economy
 economic problems in the global level
= problems in the local level
 states cannot anymore control global
economic flows
o Pandemic
o War in Ukraine
Criminality


Despite states' power to exercise the
full might of the law within its borders,
this power has been eroded by the
influx of new forms of crime
o drug trade
o money laundering
o human trafficking
o Disinformation
These crimes have been made
possible by the development and
continual refinement of technologies
of all sorts.
o Due to technology, they are
difficult to trace
Diseases



The spread of global diseases have
been a common occurrence in the
21st century
o AIDS
o tuberculosis
o SARS
o COVID-19
o Monkeypox
The flow of people in and out of each
state has made it extremely difficult
to contain the spread of diseases.
States cannot address the spread of
these diseases alone.
Climate Change

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

Climate change is a global
phenomenon.
It is not caused by a single state.
Each
country
faces
various
consequences.
States have the authority to
implement programs to address the
impact of climate change.
However, the effectivity of these
programs are only limited. A state
cannot control world temperature or
decrease the damage of a storm.
International Institutions

The state has also been weakened
by the growing power of global and
transnational
organizations
that
operate largely free of the control of
nation-states.
o These organizations affect
states by imposing rules,
suggesting
policies,
pressuring leaders, and more.
Are states still relevant in today’s world?

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Though the world is globally
interconnected nowadays, most
human activities occur at the national
level.
o economic activity takes place
within state borders than it
does across state borders
o these economic activities are
still regulated by the state
it is misleading to suggest that
globalization disempowers states
o states choose to engage in
the global economy and do so
for reasons of national selfinterest
o Globalization
is
an
opportunity for states to grow
and initiate cooperation
States continue to be the most
dominant actors in the world stage.
o States exercise power in a
way and to an extent that no
other actor can.
o states have the machinery
(government
and
its
agencies) to make something
possible
people continue to adhere to the state
system
o As most states are nationstates, this is ensured by the
survival
of
nationalism
(national identity)
o nationalism remains to be the
strongest ideological force in
the world
Economic globalization is made
possible by states' control of the
internal affairs
o
the global economy can only
work
successfully
in
conditions of legal and social
order that only states can
guarantee