The State and the International

System
 The International System
What do we mean by “system”?

Interactions by various political entities, but

mostly states. Today the system is global, but it
has not always been the case. Some parts of the
world did not know of other parts, much less
interact.
 Other International Actors

– MNCs: Multinational Corporations

– IGOs: Intergovernmental Organizations
– INGOs: International nongovernmental
organizations
– Other individuals or groups that are politically
active but not necessarily recognized officially
(terrorists, nations, etc.)
The State

• The Primary actors we study in

international relations are states.

• Also known as Countries, Nation-States

A state is a political entity with:

1. control of some area of land -- territorial unit

2. solely responsible for military security -- control

over military for defense

3. Economic control such as power to print money,

trade restrictions, and power to tax

4. Administered by a governmental bureaucracy

(social welfare, tax, police, transportation)
• Some say states require legitimacy with their
people, but in reality this is not always the
case.

• States generally have a monopoly to use

force in legitimate societies, although this is an
object of conflict in countries where there are
civil wars.
Sovereignty

1. Key concept in the international state system

and international law.

2. States recognized each others in the

international system (usually)

3. By sovereignty, we mean that in principal all

states are legally equal (de jure).

4. Sovereignty is recognition by other states that a

state may manage its internal affairs how it
pleases.
Problems of Sovereignty

• Sovereignty is a legal definition and does

not mean that all states are equal in their
power, influence, wealth, etc.

• Sovereignty also does not mean that states

can prevent all crime, injustice, etc. Some
states have higher capacity to regulate
their own borders and people than others.
What is a nation? Is it the same thing as a
state?

No. For our purposes in international

relations and comparative politics, the term
nation is not necessarily synonymous with
state.

This becomes confusing because Nation is

still used loosely by some in the field of
international relations and in the media.
• A nation is a group of people who feel
they have something in common.

• Nations are defined as socially cohesive

groups that have common political goals,
common language; usually share a single
perception of history, as well as common
religion, traditions, symbols and myths.

•Where the people and the political unit

have the same identification we then have a
NATION-STATE, like Japan or Finland.
• Some states have more than one nation,
such as Iraq.

• Some multi-nation states collapse from civil

war, such as Yugoslavia, while others survive,
such as Belgium

• Some nations have no state, such as the

Kurds or the Palestinians
Collapse of Yugoslavia
 The Origin of States

How did the world come to look

like it does?
What did it once look like?
WHERE DID STATES COME FROM?

The international state system is only a few

centuries old. Before then, the transition
was took a few thousand years.

1. primitive times -- loyalty to family

2. Then village
3. Then tribe
4. Then city-state or kingdom by about 3000
b.c. to 1648 a.d
The international state system was born in
Europe with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648,
after the Thirty Years War.

• With this treaty state sovereignty was

recognized for the first time. States begin to
grow in power.

• Nationalism finally emerges with American

and French Revolutions, before then allegiance
was paid to local affiliations, not abstractly to
people never met before.
Expansion of the Interstate
System
• The state system expanded most rapidly in last 150
years, especially the last 50 years.

• It started in Europe and spread to the rest of the

world.

• Europeans experienced fast development necessary

(tax systems and military power) to spread influence
and power around the world.

• Earlier there existed large empires in other parts of the

world. For example, China was the strongest empire in
the world for most of the period from 700 a.d. to 1300
a.d.
 Which areas outside of Western Europe were
the first to form new States?

Three Waves

1. USA and Latin America (1780 -- 1850)

2. East Europe (after WWI) Self-determination

3. Asia and Africa (after WWII), later fall of

communism of Russian Empire and Yugoslavia
(after 1989)
• The expansion of the Interstate system
began in Europe, spread globally through
imperialism, resulting in over two hundred
states and most existing in poverty.

• Today nearly all the world’s land mass

except Antarctica falls under the direct
control of states.