The Evolution of World Politics

1
The Evolution of World Politics

• Chapter 2
• PS 130 World Politics
• Michael R. Baysdell

2
The Evolving World System Early Development

• Important concepts come from ancient Greece and
  Rometerritorial (city-)state/sovereignty/national
  ism/democracy
• Two types of Democracyrepresentative and direct
• These government also create concept of
  citizenshipPaul 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)
• Feudal system--local authority in the Middle Ages

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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)

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Decline of Universalistic Authority Causes

• Renaissance between 1350-1650
• Belief in reason trumped God
• Protestant Reformation splits Catholic Church
  Luthers 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 Empireover
  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

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The 18th and 19th CenturiesEmerging 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
• 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 Nationalismundermines 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 Hitlers 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 Doctrineglobalization
  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 isnt overstretch, its
  government paralysis
• But for now, lets 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-accept
  ed 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 isolationismKrautham
  mer 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?

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Francis FukuyamaThe 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.

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Clash of CivilizationsSamuel 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.

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Benjamin Barber Jihad v. McWorld (1992)

• Fragmentation and Globalization compete
• McDonalds and MNCs now have global
  operationsproduce and sell products around the
  world.
• World smaller than everinterconnected by
  internet, telecommunications
• Tribal enclaves lure members
• These two forces collide to produce catastrophe
  and anomie

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Challenges to Authority of States

• Internal challenges
• Jihad
• Ethnic rivalries and tribalism
• State disintegration i.e., former Yugoslavia,
  East Timor, Turkey, and Rwanda
• Increased number of refugees
• Movement toward autonomy (i.e., Kosovo)

• External challenges--McWorld
• Political integration
• Increase in number and importance of
  international actors
• Economic interdependence
• Social integration
• Weakening Western Orientation

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Countries That Have Splintered/Threatened to
Splinter

• 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)

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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 ZakariaIlliberal Democracy (1997)

• Most democracies before 1960 were liberal
  democraciestwo characteristics
• Protect civil liberties
• Allow for free elections
• Recent development only 1 of 2 present
• Examples
• Haiti
• Singapore
• Hong Kong

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Security in the 21st Century

• National security traditionally based on
  self-reliance
• 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

• Increasing importance of human rights
• Womens 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

• The world is more than just the sum of its parts
  (countries)
• World politics is more than just the sum of the
  individual interactions among those parts
• There are general patterns of actions among the
  systems actors

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CHAPTER OBJECTIVES CHECKLIST

• After reading this chapter, students should be
  able to
• 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.