The Evolution of World Politics
Chapter 2
PS 130 World Politics
Michael R. Baysdell
The Evolving World System:
Early Development
• Important concepts come from ancient Greece and Rome—
territorial (city-)state/sovereignty/nationalism/democracy
• Two types of Democracy—representative and direct
• These government also create concept of citizenship—Paul the
Apostle example
• Only male nonslave citizens were allowed to vote
• Fall of Rome and the emergence of universalistic authority-both religious and secular authority
• Roman Catholic Church asserts itself (Holy Roman Empire,
Kings crowned by Pope to display dominance)
• Secular authority fills the power vacuum: (Empires: Russian,
Austro-Hungarian, British, French, etc)
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• Feudal system--local authority in the Middle Ages
The Feudal System in Europe
• Organized around principalities, dukedoms, baronies, other
fiefdoms
• Nobles ruled these organizations and exercised almost
complete authority.
• In theory the nobles were subservient to a King, but at times
the King was technically weaker than the noble!
• Declined because of military technology and economic
expansion (except Russia, serfs until 1863)
Decline of Universalistic Authority:
Causes
• Renaissance between 1350-1650
• Belief in “reason” trumped God
• Protestant Reformation splits Catholic Church; Luther’s 95
theses (1517)--25% of Western Europeans become Protestant
• Henry VIII rejects Papal authority after denied divorce, creates
Church of England (Episcopalian Church)
• The Treaty of Westphalia (1648):
• Holy Roman Empire splintered into two rival Catholic
monarchies (Spain, Austria-Hungary)
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The Treaty of Westphalia (1648)
• Ended 30 Years War, 1618 to 1648
• Decentralization of the Holy Roman
Empire—over 300 German princes
became sovereign
• Emphasis on state sovereignty
within anarchical political system
• Collapse of multinational empires
• Habsburg supremacy curtailed
• Rise of the Bourbon Dynasty in France
• Rise of the Swedish Empire
• Rise of the Dutch Republic
• Decline of papal authority
The 18th and 19th Centuries:
Emerging Themes Surrounding the Sovereign State
• Popular sovereignty:
– Rise of democracy
• Westernization of the international system
– Lasting impact of the industrial revolution
– Domination of Eurowhite cultural beliefs & values
• Growth of the multipolar system and the preservation
of the balance of power
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Shifting alliances and numerous major powers
Goal: Stop any one power from becoming dominant
Concert of Europe, 1815
UK, Russia, Prussia, Austria-Hungary, France (1818 after
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle)
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The 20th Century: 1900 to World War II
• European multipolar balance-of-power system ends
– British concern about the possibility of French domination
– Rigid alliance system leads to World War I (Triple Entente/Triple
Alliance)
– World War I drains European Powers
– Rise of Nationalism—undermines multiethnic empires
– States gain independence, colonies begin breaking away
– Empires collapse--Democracy rapidly eroding the legitimacy of monarchs
– Rise of Communist USSR (1917)
– Increased roles for Japan and the United States
– Europeans give in to Hitler’s demands (appeasement) at 1938 Munich
conference
• Europe collapses as a global power center.
• The United States and Japan emerge as major world powers.
• Multipolar system quickly becomes a bipolar system with the end of WWII
and the beginning of the cold war. USSR emerges as major world power
with U.S. after WWII.
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Bipolar System: 1945-1991
• US and USSR eye each other as enemies even before WW II end
• East-West axis established; Cold War runs its course
– U.S. pursued Containment Doctrine—globalization of policy
– NATO v. Warsaw Pact
– Third world lobbied for support; nonalignment movement
– Confrontations do occur--Cuban missile crisis
– Proxy Wars (Nixon Doctrine)—Middle East, Vietnam, Afghanistan
– Détente: SALT I/II, Nixon “Plays China Card”
– Reagan largely credited for knockout blow: SDI
– Gorbachev undermines Soviet system with glasnost and perestroika
– The fall of the USSR ends bipolar system
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The 21st Century:
The Genesis of a New System
• One power pole-U.S. hegemony. Will this last?
• U.S. stronger military than any other hegemon in history
• But U.S. military power has 3 problems: Better at deterring than
compelling, built to fight other militaries, and other states still
possess power
• Multipolar urges--regional powers such as the European Union
• Imperial Overstretch/Decline? (Paul Kennedy)
• Limited unipolarity?--power of U.S. restrained by international
organizations, international law, and interdependence
• Future polarity--highly contested
• U.S. must lead actively but not too aggressively
• Zakaria: U.S. problem isn’t overstretch, it’s government paralysis
• But for now, let’s soak up the “unipolar moment”
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Charles Krauthammer:
The Unipolar Moment (1990) (2002) (2006)
• Thinking about post-Cold War US foreign policy has been led astray by three
conventionally-accepted but mistaken assumptions about the character of
the post-Cold War environment.
• (1) that the world is now multipolar, whereas it is in fact unipolar, with the
USA the sole superpower, at least for present policy purposes
• (2) that the US domestic consensus favors internationalism rather than
isolationism—Krauthammer admits he was wrong here
• (3) that in consequence of the Soviet collapse, the threat of war has
substantially diminished. Dangers may be smaller, but more widespread.
• Krauthammer thought this unipolarity would last 30 years or so.
• Revisited in 2002 and 2006 “Apogee”
• Halfway through the 30 years, still no alliances against U.S.
• Some trouble being made by Iran, assisted by Russia/China
• Economic concerns, debt, EU emerging, China
• But no clear end in sight. Fewer state-on-state conflicts. Why?
Francis Fukuyama—
The End of History and the Last Man”
(1992)
• "What we may be witnessing is not just
the end of the Cold War, or the passing of
a particular period of post-war history, but
the end of history as such: that is, the end
point of mankind's ideological evolution
and the universalization of Western liberal
democracy as the final form of human
government.“
• But not so fast….
Clash of Civilizations—
Samuel Huntington (1991)
• After the Cold War, what are we going to fight
about? Democracies generally have same
western values, rarely fight each other
• People's cultural and religious identities will be
the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold
War world.
Benjamin Barber:
Jihad v. McWorld (1992)
• Fragmentation and Globalization compete
• McDonalds and MNCs now have global
operations—produce and sell products around
the world.
• World “smaller” than ever—interconnected by
internet, telecommunications
• Tribal enclaves lure members
• These two forces collide to produce catastrophe
and anomie
Challenges to Authority of States
External challenges-McWorld
Internal challenges—
Jihad
• Political integration:
• Ethnic rivalries and
tribalism:
– Increase in number
and importance of
international actors
• Economic
interdependence
• Social integration
• Weakening Western
Orientation
– State disintegration –
i.e., former Yugoslavia,
East Timor, Turkey, and
Rwanda
• Increased number of
refugees
• Movement toward
autonomy (i.e.,
Kosovo)
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Countries That Have
Splintered/Threatened to Splinter
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Former USSR
Yugoslavia/Slovenia-Croatia-Bosnia-Kosovo
East Timor (from Indonesia)
Eritrea/Ethiopia
Rwanda
Spain (Basque provinces, Catalonia)
Iraq
Canada (Quebec referendum of 1995)
Even the U.S. not totally immune (Texas)
Weakening Western Orientation
• Colonial possessions become states.
• Increase in number of non-Western
independent states:
– Strong presence in UN
– Joining together to promote their causes
(Group of 77)
– Different value systems
– Less developed countries
– ILLIBERAL DEMOCRACIES
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Fareed Zakaria:
“Illiberal Democracy” (1997)
• Most democracies before 1960 were liberal democracies—two
characteristics
• Protect civil liberties
• Allow for free elections
• Recent development: only 1 of 2 present
• Examples:
• Haiti
• Singapore
• Hong Kong
Security in the 21st Century:
• National security traditionally based on selfreliance
• High costs involved in providing national security:
– Economic and human costs of war
– Advent of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) changes the
nature of such costs
• Asymmetrical warfare--new responses toward
unconventional political violence needed.
• Alternatives to self-reliance:
– Arms control
– International security and peacekeeping forces
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Economic Interdependence:
• Transnational flow of trade, investment capital, and
currencies have economically entwined all countries.
• Creation and strengthening of global and regional
economic organizations (i.e., the World Bank, IMF, WTO,
and EU)
• Emphasis on free trade, particularly within regional
alliances (NAFTA, EU, ASEAN, and Mercosur)
• Trade and monetary tensions particularly when state
sovereignty is at stake
• Problem areas: surrendering sovereignty, lack of corporate
regulation/differing regulations between states, protecting
worker rights
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Economic Disparity:
The Growing Gap between North and South
• GNP disparity between Economically Developed
Countries (EDCs) and Less Developed Countries
(LDCs). Most EDCs in North.
• Less developed countries demand new
international economic order--one with an
equal distribution of wealth
• EDCs must recognize the complex link between
poverty and political violence
• NICs and BRICs also common terms
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The Quality of Life: Changes and Choices
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Increasing importance of human rights
– Women’s rights
– Recognition of Genocide (Darfur v.
Rwanda)
– International Criminal Court
– International Court of Justice
• Emphasis on the environment
– Idea of sustainable development
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Conclusion: Understanding the Concept of an
International System
1. The world is more than just the sum of
its parts (countries)
2. World politics is more than just the
sum of the individual interactions
among those parts
3. There are general patterns of actions
among the system’s actors
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CHAPTER OBJECTIVES: CHECKLIST
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
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1. Recognize major trends in the evolving world system from the birth of states to the present.
2. Describe the origin of the current world system and the importance of the Treaty of
Westphalia (1648).
3. Identify the changes that occurred during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and
continue to have an important impact on the international system.
4. Discuss the pace of world political evolution at the beginning of the twentieth century and
describe the weakening of the multipolar system.
5. Discuss the evolution cold war bipolar system including alliance structures, containment,
détente, and perestroika.
6. Discuss the challenges, the US will likely face in trying to preserve a unipolar system.
7. Analyze the potential shift in the international system away from strictly Western orientation.
8. Identify both international and domestic challenges to the authority of the state.
9. Discuss different approaches to providing security, self reliance, arms control, and
international security forces.
10. Identify the implications of economic interdependence and the counter pressures to pursue
more traditional national economic policies.
11. Discuss the implications of the growing economic disparity between the North and South.
12. Analyze the future of human rights and environmental issues in the face resistance to
international solutions.