THE ORIGINS OF THE STATE
The modern state system begins with the Peace of
Westphalia, 1648.
Westphalian System: The modern state system that many
believe emerged out of the 1648 Peace of Westphalia:
 based on the sovereignty of states
 political self-determination
THE ORIGINS OF THE STATE
Feudalism dominated until the 1600s.
 Feudalism: A hierarchical system in which most people owned
little and were subservient to an aristocracy that controlled most of
the land and political power.
 Peasants lived, worked, and died on estates operated by
aristocrats.
 Aristocrats answered to the monarchs – but ruled with little
interference on their own estate
 Monarchs could be removed by murder or by defeat in war, but
otherwise they ruled by divine right.
PHILOSOPHICAL ORIGINS OF THE STATE
 Thomas Hobbs (1588–1679) wrote The Leviathan.
 Hobbs suggested that society had to submit themselves to
government with absolute power, or a “leviathan” that
dominated society.
 John Locke (1632–1704)
 Locke argued that people had “natural rights” to life,
liberty, and property and that they entered into a social
contract with government to protect these rights.
 Social contract: The idea that individuals give up sovereignty
to government in return for which government agrees to
uphold the rule of law.
THE NATION STATE
Nation:
 A community whose members identify with each other
as sharing a common terminal (or ultimate) political
identity. Usually based on common territory, history,
language, culture and often religion.
 Typically people’s strongest political loyalties are
attached to their NATION.
THE NATION STATE
Types of Nations:
Ethnic Nation: National identity based on a
sense of common ethnicity or culture.
Theocratic Nation: National identity based on a
common commitment to a particular religion.
Civic Nation: A national identity based on a
shared commitment to a form of government
and a STATE.
Palestinian Ethnic Nation
American Civic Nation
THE NATION STATE
Nation State: The union of a national identity
with a sovereign state government
Nationalism: The belief that people with a common
national identity (usually marked by a shared culture
and history) have the right to form an independent
state and to govern themselves free of external
intervention.
CLICKER: 2 POINTS
Nationalism in Australia tends to be focused on
a common commitment to the political
identity, to the Australian Constitution and its
guarantees of liberty. We would define the
concept of the Australian Nation as:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
A civic nation
A constitutional nation
An ethnic nation
A static nation
A theocratic nation
THE NATION STATE
The Union of Nation and State: Nation State:
• National identity and THE STATE have the same
boundaries
• Creates coherent community / government
identity
• Strengthens political cohesiveness
• Enables more stable government
Most early States, and most powerful States in
modern politics are Nation States.
RISE OF STATES
Economic Factors –Agricultural progress first … Then
Industrial Revolution:
 The shift away from manual labor
 Use of non-human energy
 Use of machines in production
 Leads to changes in economic structures and
political and social relations.
RISE OF STATES
Industrial Revolution:
 Increases Productivity
 Expands the scope of cooperation and
exchange
 Enables larger scale political organization
 Strengthens the STATE
IDEAS ENHANCING STATES
Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (published in
1776) outlined the basic concepts of capitalism.
Capitalism: An economic system in which the
means of production are privately owned and
operated for profit, and in which people sell
their labor for wages and prices are set by
supply and demand.
IDEAS ENHANCING STATES
Capitalism:
Private Property &
Private Sector Economic Choice
Supply and Demand
Competition for Profit
CREATIVE DESTRUCTION
IDEAS ENHANCING STATES
Capitalism:
Generates extraordinary productive capacity strengthens
STATES through a strong economy.
Demands increasing access to resources
Demands increasing access to markets
Capitalist or Bourgeois Class becomes wealthy and powerful
Working or Proletariat Class grows, but low wages and harsh
working conditions
HISTORY OF STATES: IMPERIALISM
Finite population and domestic market lead capitalist
states to attempt expansion
By the 19th century, Britain had become the
dominant imperial power, establishing a presence on
every inhabited continent.
Imperialism: The extension of power (political,
economic, social, or even cultural) through
territorial conquest, or through the imposition
of ideas and values.
HISTORY OF STATES: IMPERIALISM
WW I & WW II: Ended imperialism as the direct occupation or control
of territory.
WW II Effectively ended the multi-state balance of power that was
the norm for relations among STATES.
Two Super Powers emerged with nuclear arsenals to establish a
bipolar international order and a new context for STATES to work
within.
THE COMMUNIST INTERLUDE
Communism: a new governing ideology in some
STATES
Karl Marx (1818–1883): The most influential
socialist and communist theorist
Marx (with Friedrich Engels [1820–1895])
proposed the theoretical foundation of socialism
and communism, in The Communist Manifesto
and Das Kapital.
Among those influenced by Marxist philosophy
was Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924).
*more on communism when we get
to the chapters on communist states..
CLICKER: 2 POINTS
The primary author of The Communist Manifesto was:
A.
Adolph Hitler
B. Friedrich Engels
C. John Locke
D. Karl Marx
E.
Vladimir Lenin
CLICKER
The term Proletariat refers to:
A. Business owners
B. Farm workers
C. Government leaders
D. Industrial workers
E. Intellectuals
CLICKER: 2 POINTS
Which of these played a primary role in actually leading
the revolution and formation of the government in
Russia based on his interpretation of Communist
ideas?
A. Adam Smith
B. Friedrich Engels
C. Karl Marx
D. Thomas Hobbs
E. Vladimir Lenin
THE COMMUNIST INTERLUDE
 Cold war: A war of words and ideas between the Western and
Soviet blocs between the late 1940s and early 1990s.
THE IMPACT OF COLONIALISM
A colony is a settlement established in a
territory by citizens of a foreign state.
Colonialism: The process by which citizens of one
territory live in and control another territory, which
answers to the home government.
THE IMPACT OF COLONIALISM (Cont’d)
Newly independent states of Asia and
Africa — collectively (along with Latin
America) “the Third World”—were mixed.
Weak governments
Underdeveloped economies
Little sense of National identity
Multi-national states in many cases
THE REVIVAL OF ISLAM
Islam is the second biggest religion in the world after
Christianity.
“Islam” means submission to God (or Allah) and is based
on taking the Quran (the book of revelations given by Allah
to the prophet Muhammad) as the literal word of God.
Islamic law consists of codes of behavior that evolved over
time out of the Quran and the hadith, the collected
sayings and hearsay statements of Muhammad.
THE REVIVAL OF ISLAM
1979: Growing pressure and tensions led to the overthrow
of the Shah of Iran and the creation of a theocratic
system; its advent representing Islamic resurgence.
 Islamic resurgence: The rediscovery of Islamic values and
practices throughout the Middle East and North Africa,
representing a change in political, economic, and social
direction.