DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

I. Between „international order” and „modern international system”.

International order: the normative and the institutional pattern in the relationship
between states. The elements of this might be thought to include such things as
sovereignity, the forms of diplomacy, international law, the role of the Great Powers. It is
a shared value and condition of stability and predictabilty in the relations between states.

International system: a system of interrelated parts connected to form a whole. In Realist

theory, systems have defining principles such as hierarchy – in domestic politics – and
anarchy – in international politics.

a. the emergence of great powers international system based on the principles

and rules of the balance of powers 1618 to 1815

- the term great power was used for the first time in a treaty in 1815, it was
a part of general political vocabulary since the middle of the 18th century:
and mean UK, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia for that century.
- The origins of modern international sytem could be found in the long
series of religious and dynastic conflicts in Europe from 1618 to 1721.
-1618-1648, Thirty years war, maybe the last religious war, or having
religious causes: Austria and Spain, with their Habsburg monarchs were
defeated in their intention to restore the preeminence of catolicism in the
Protestant parts of the Europe; Netherlands, Sweden and France were the
winners, in part because their internal organization was already shaped on the
process of modernization of the state: effective bureucracy, armed forces and
political interest defined in practical terms, or raison d’ etat was prevalent in
their political actions
- The Peace Treaties of Westphalia and Osnabruck, from 1643 to 1648, put
the legal basis of modern statehood and by implication the fundamental
rules of modern world politics;
-agreement amongst Europe’s rulers to recognize each other’s right to
rule their own teritories free from outside interference; i. e. Doctrine of
sovereign statehood, territoriality and state autonomy.
-rex est imperator in regno suo; cuius regio, eius religio; balance of
power based on anti-hegemonial principles and actions.
- characteristics of the european societies of states in post-Westphalian
political order
i. member states have their independence and juridical equality
aknowledged by the way of wars and then by international law.
ii. Every member state was legitimate in the eyes of all other
members
iii. Relations among member states were managed increasingly, by
professional corps of diplomats and conducted by means of an
organized multilateral system of diplomatic communications
iv. Religion was prohibited as a cause of war

- Exercise: analyze the causes of wars between 1648-1815

b. the concert of powers 1815-1914.