A History of Global Politics: Creating an International Order

Four Key attributes of world politics today

1. There are countries and states that are independent and govern
themselves.
2. These countries interact with each other through diplomacy.
3. There are international organizations that facilitate these interactions.
4. International Organizations also take on lives of their own

Nation-State

State
- refers to a country and its government
- four attributes:
1. It exercises authority over a specific population- Citizens.
2. Governs a specific territory.
3. Has a structure of government that crafts various rules that people
follow.
4. Sovereignty over its territory (Internal, External)

Nation
- Benedict Anderson- Imagined community
- Has its “official” boundaries – often limit themselves to people who have
imbibed a particular culture, speak a common language, and live in a specific
territory
➢ Nationalism facilitates state formation
➢ Sovereignty - one of the fundamental principles of modern state politics

Interstate System

Treaty of Westphalia – set of agreements signed in 1648 to end the Thirty

Years’ War Napoleon Bonaparte
- Challenged the Westphalian System
- Napoleonic Code (forbade birth privileges, meritocracy, freedom of religion)
- Was defeated in Battle of Waterloo (British Army led by Duke of Wellington
and Prussian Army led by Field Marshall Blucher)
Concert of Europe
- alliance of “great powers” (UK, Austria, Russia, Prussia)
- Sought to restore the world monarchical, hereditary, and religious privileges.
Metternich System
-series of meetings among the European nations with the objective of
resolving disputes between European nations.

Internationalism – Desire for greater cooperation and unity among states and
peoples.

1. Liberal Internationalism
Immanuel Kant - Global Government
Jeremy Bentham - International Law
Guiseppe Mazzini - Republican Government
Wilson Woodrow - Principle of self determination

Axis Power – Germany, Italy Japan

Allied Powers – UK,US, France, Holland, Belgium

2. Socialist Internationalism
Karl Marx – economic equality
Vladimir Lenin – Bolshevik Party Leader
Joseph Stalin – Lenin’s successor