733A40: History of International Relations
Group 1
Svetlana Izosimova
Silvije Cvijetic
14.09.2012
Morteza Eslahchi
Kitija Gräve
Martin Gudert
Jean-Simon Lepage
Yavor Raychev
Ademir Zilic
Empires and Systems of Independent States; Can the European Union be viewed as
an Empire?
To define whether the European Union (EU) is an empire or a system of independent states, it is
necessary to define these concepts first. The world has known a wide array of empires that were
similar and yet different at the same time definitions of the word “empire” vary a great deal. For
the purpose of this analysis, we define it as follows:
Empire: is an extensive group of states or countries ruled over by a single monarch, an oligarchy,
or a sovereign state1. Empires can be also characterized as a relationship of political control
imposed by some political societies over the effective sovereignty of other political societies, and
as major political units having a territory of great extent or a number of territories or peoples under
a single sovereign authority2.
Main characteristics, non-exhaustive could be defining
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Centralized form of governance (Comprise of a core, One leader ‘emperor’)
Control on the economical system of all states
Common military force
Ideology
Extend over neighbors military and domestic policy
Pretense to hegemony
Vast and expansive territory
Multinational and multicultural population3
System of independent states: is a group of independent states who interact on military, political,
social, and environmental spheres. With the world being more globalized, states simply do not
have a choice; therefore, interaction is almost inevitable and affects the behavior of each state.
Comparing independent states and empires from the perspective of international history several
similarities and differences:
The main difference between these two concepts is that empires are usually created using force
and sometimes even violence. Nations are not asked if they want to join an empire. They are just
forced to do so. However, in independent system of states, one nation does not oppress other
nations. We can also say that empires are hierarchical systems whereas systems of independent
states are anarchical. A system of states does not have common military force or currency. Each
state has its own military, policies etc. every state is sovereign, has hard boundary territory with its
own political organization and centralized government4. In addition - empires impose peace within
their territory, thus producing a Pax Romana effect. In empires, the political agenda of the member
states is monopolized by the main state. In this regard, systems of independent states are
functionally different. Units interact between each other with the help of diplomacy, international
law and norms.
Similarities:
1
Oxford Dictionary, http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/empire (14 Sep. 2012)
Buzan & Little: International systems in world history 2000 p. 176
3
Ibid. pp. 176-189
4
Ibid. p. 246
2
States that are under imperial control or part of a system of IS are primarily concerned with
other states from the same empire/system for political and economic issues.
Both are usually embedded in a larger context and need to interact with “outsider
elements”
Autonomous (both of the system have its political autonomy, which means that they have
the right of self-government)
Positioning as a mainstream - actors in the system of international relations during the era
of their existence .5
Fitting the EU into a pre-existing category of international actors has been keeping IR
scholars busy. It has been argued that the EU should be viewed as an empire. Although the EU
indeed shares some of the characteristics of an empire, it is not entirely one. We would say that the
EU is something between an empire and a system of independent states that follows a Kantian
logic.
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YES
Superior law that supersedes the national
law;
Centre of power (Brussels) – one central
government;
Common
army,
currency,
budget,
flag;Bureaucracy;
Territory keeps expanding;
Grasps a wide variety of languages,
religions, cultures.
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NO
No emperor (little known president);
No single actor can make decisions, e.g., it is
not up to one actor to make the EU go to war;
Anarchical system of states;
States join voluntary (Kantian system of
states);
Pre – federal state;
States are willing to cooperate and interact;
The EU uses a democratic process, in
empires: “divide and rule”6
Empires expand their influence using military
power;
All the units are equal;
Operated under the guidance of democracy.
We can also say that the EU is a non-imperial empire. It has traits of an Empire, but although
member states have given part of their sovereignty to be part of the EU, they remain independent.
The EU’s structure is not hierarchical like that of an empire but anarchical, in the sense that each
state is officially on the same level.
We mentioned that the EU stands somewhere between an empire and a system of independent
states. To categorize this, if we consider an empire as a ‘unit’ and a system of independent states
as a ‘system’, the EU can be considered as a ‘subsystem’. EU is a subsystem of international
system with UN as its objective evidence.
5
6
Buzan & Little: International systems in world history 2000 p. 88
Ibid. p. 176