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Global Interstate System handouts 2021.pdf
The Contemporary World (Mapúa University)
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GLOBAL INTERSTATE SYSTEM
The Attributes of Today’s Global System
1. countries or states are independent and govern themselves;
2. these countries interact with each other through diplomacy;
3. international organizations facilitate these interactions (i.e. UN); and
4. international organizations also take on lives of their own.
Nation-state – relatively modern phenomenon in the human history whereby it composed of two noninterchangeable terms: nation and state.
a. Nation, according to Benedict Anderson, is an “imagined community” and does not go beyond a
given “official boundary”. It is inherently limited and sovereign. It has boundaries, meaning not
anyone can be a Filipino.
- this refers to large group of people who share common characteristics such as language,
traditions and ethnicity.
b. State, in layman’s terms, refers to a country and its government.
- a community of persons more or less numerous occupying a definite territory
completely free of external control and possessing an organized government to which the
great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience.
Interstate system – a system of competing and allying states.
Treaty of Westphalia – set of agreements signed in 1648 to end the Thirty Years’ War between the major
continental powers of Europe. It was designed to avert wars in the future by recognizing that the treaty
signers exercise complete control over their domestic affairs and swear not to meddle in each other’s
affairs and provide stability for the nations of Europe.
Concert of Europe – alliance of “great powers” of the United Kingdom, Austria, Russia and Prussia that
sought to restore the world of monarchial, hereditary and religious privileges of the time before the
French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. This Metternich system (named after the Austrian diplomat,
Klemens von Metternich, the system’s main architect) lasted from 1815 to 1914, at the dawn of World
War I.
The above interstate system have been attempted to be transcend. They imagine system that
heightened interaction between the nation states, the one in the box are the principles they employed in
creating the systems and below it are its examples or manifestation in history.
Principles of Interstate System
NATIONALISM – a doctrine and/or a political movement that seeks to make the nation the basis of a
political structure especially a state. It is a sense of national consciousness that generally exalts one’s own
nation above others, and focuses on the promotion of interests.
INTERNATIONALISM- desire for greater cooperation and unity among states and people. In a more
comprehensive definition, it is a political principle that places the interests of the entire world above those
of individual nations and argues for cooperation among nations for common good. This can be divided
into two broad categories: liberal internationalism and socialist internationalism.
Liberal internationalism - set of related concepts on how to best organize international relations between
states and non-state actors that emphasize a belief in international progress, interdependence,
cooperation, diplomacy, multilateralism, and support for international political structures and
organizations. The theory assumes that we can move past the violence and anarchy of the international
system through cooperation. Liberal internationalists believe that humans by nature are good, or at least,
not naturally aggressive. They also have faith in the good that both domestic and international
organizations and institutions can do.
Socialist internationalism – believes that it is possible to build a better world based upon the twin goals
of equality and social justice. Nations should work together to create a more peaceful world and finally
bring an end to capitalist exploitation. They argue that there is a shared common interest amongst the
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working-class. Our identity is determined by economic forces rather than artificially-imposed national
boundaries.
Immanuel Kant – first major thinker of liberal internationalism that likened states in a global system to
people living in a given territory.
Jerry Bentham – British philosopher who coined the term “international” in 1780. He believed that
objective global legislators should aim to propose legislation that would create “the greatest happiness of
all nations taken together”.
Giuseppe Mazzini – first thinker to reconcile nationalism with liberal internationalism in 19 th century. He
believed in a Republican government and proposed a system of free nations that cooperated with each
other to create an international system and that free, independent states would be the basis of an
equally free, cooperative international system. Moreover, as a nationalist internationalist, he believes
that free, unified nation-states should be the basis of global cooperation.
Woodrow Wilson – American president during 1913-1921 who became one of the 20th century’s most
prominent internationalist. He believed in the principle of self-determination - the belief that the world’s
nations had a right to a free and sovereign government. He hoped that free nations would become
democracies only by being such would they be able to build a free system of international relations based
on international law and cooperation.
League of Nations – established in 1919 and a concretization of liberal internationalism. This is a venue
for conciliation and arbitration to prevent another war. Despite being a failure, it gave birth to some of
the more task-specific international organizations that are still around until today.
Karl Marx - German socialist philosopher and internationalist and one of Mazzini’s biggest critics. He
believed that any true form of internationalism should deliberately reject nationalism which rooted
people in domestic concerns instead of global ones. Instead, he placed a premium on economic quality;
he did no divide the world into countries but into classes.
The Socialist International (SI) – union of European socialist and labor parties established in Paris in
1889.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) – a more radical version of the collapsed SI. It is a revolutionary
government led by the Bolshevik Party and its leader, Vladimir Lenin. The Bolsheviks did not believe in
obtaining power for the working class through election. Rather, they exhorted the revolutionary
“vanguard” parties to lead the revolutions across the world.
Communist parties – parties that provide power for the working class using methods of terror if
necessary.
Communist International (Comintern) – established by Lenin in 1919 that served as the central body for
directing Communist parties all over the world. After World War II, it is late re-established as
Communist Information Bureau (Cominform).
The following are the effects of Globalization to Governments
1. It led to emergence of ‘post-sovereign’ governance.
2. It spurred several shifts in the main attributes of ‘States’.
3. It promoted moves toward multilayered governance.
4. It encouraged some privatization of governance.
THE UNITED NATIONS AND CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
International Organizations (IOs) – international intergovernmental organizations or groups that are
primarily made up of member-states.
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According to international relations scholars Michael N. Barnett and Martha Finnemore, the following
are the powers of IOs:
1. Power of clarification – IOs can invent and apply categories, they create powerful global
standards.
2. Power to fix meanings – IOs are viewed as legitimate sources of information. The meanings they
create have effects on various policies.
3. Power to diffuse norms – IOs do not only classify and fix meanings; they also spread their ideas
across the world thereby establishing global standards.
Institutions Governing International Relations
1. International Monetary Fund (IMF) established in 1944 and promotes world trade. It has 184 member
countries. Headquartered in Washington D.C. It works to improve the financial condition of its member
countries.
2. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was set up in 1961 and is the world’s largest conservation organization. Its
main aim is to protect endangered animals and the places where they live.
3. World Health Organization (WHO) is a part of the United Nations. It promotes health matters
worldwide and aims to raise medical standards and monitor diseases.
4. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was set up in 1947. It works to improve the health and welfare
of children and mothers in developing countries.
5. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was set up in 1946. It
encourages countries to get together on matters such as education, culture, and science.
6. World Bank is an international financial institution was founded in 1944 which works on reducing
poverty. It helps developing countries by giving loans.
7. World Trade Organization (WTO) encourages international trade by establishing trade agreements
between countries. With 153 member countries and consisting more than 97% of entire world trade, it
propagates the international trade policies.
8. The Group of 8 (G8) is made up of the world’s leading industrial countries (Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, UK, USA, and Russia). The heads of the G8 countries meet each year to discuss global issues
such as world poverty and security.
9. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 in Washington. The foreign ministers
of 10 countries signed a defense treaty that committed to helping each other in the event of an attack.
There are now 26 country members with headquarters in Belgium.
10. United Nations (UN) was founded in 1945. Most countries of the world – a total of 191, are members.
The general assembly of UN makes the decision about peacekeeping and human rights.
Functions:
a. Maintain international peace and security
b. Protect human rights
c. Deliver humanitarian aid
d. Promote sustainable development
e. Uphold the international law
UNITED NATIONS’ primary goal is to avert another global war. The UN is divided into five active groups:
1. General Assembly that acts as UN’s “main deliberative policymaking and representative organ”;
2. Security Council takes lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or an act of
aggression;
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3. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) which is 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;
4. International Court of Justice whose task is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal
disputes submitted to it by the states and to give advisory opinions referred to it by authorized
United Nations organs and specialized agencies; and
5. Secretariat consisting of the Secretary-General and ten thousands of international UN staff
members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly
and the organization’s other principal organs.
Challenges of the United Nations
1. Limits placed upon its various organs and programs by the need to respect state sovereignty
2. Issues of security
Challenges Faced by International Organizations
1. Lack of multilateral outcomes
2. Size and number of issues
3. Competition to be the classical international organizations
4. Speed of technological change
5. Acceleration of history and slow multilateral processes
6. Geopolitical change
7. Blurring distinction between public and private
8. Digital environment
9. Incoherence, exclusion and inappropriate governance and accountability
Relevance of State Amid Globalization
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The functions and role of the State have been transformed substantially. The general
configuration of its responsibilities has changed and this has introduced important modifications
both in the policy arena and in the State’s requirements for high-level skills, qualitatively and
quantitatively.
The course of change points to a shift of focus away from hands-on management and the direct
production of services and goods towards strategic planning with a view to the establishment and
maintenance, refinement and reform of an enabling framework for private enterprise and
individual initiative.
The governments that seem to “be ‘riding the wave of globalization’ are those that have opened
their [policy] analysis to uncertainty, ambiguity and change.
In these globally aware governments, institutions have been created or altered to scan the rapidly
changing environment, to promote policy invention and policy dialogue, to speed up decisionmaking in order to take advantage of emerging opportunities, and to embrace short-term failures
in favor of creating long-term sustainable strategies.
Governments without adequate capacity to recognize and respond to change are destined to be
forever behind the ‘waves of change’.
The ability to embrace change is related to an attitude of openness to diversity, comfort with
uncertainty, and optimism about the future.
With the advance of globalization, the State has an important role to play in the establishment
and preservation of an "even playing field" and an enabling environment for private enterprise,
individual creativity and social action.
Strong democratic states are necessary to protect the children, the sick, the elderly and other
vulnerable segments of society, combat the social exclusion of minority groups and ensure a more
equitable distribution of the benefits of globalization.
A democratic State, which is proactive and strategic, is required to arrest and, in the mediumterm, reverse poverty and underdevelopment.
It is important to underline that an intelligent, democratic State can also be socially proactive, but
does not mean "big government". It means "quality" not "quantity" or volume of government
activity. It implies a State with lean but strong democratic institutions.
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