Int 101 Lecture 4 9

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INT101: Chapter II Historical Context of International Relations

L. 4-5-6 -Pre-Westphalian World-Emergence of Westphalian System-Europe in the 19th Century

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1. Why Historical Overview?

• IR is to a great extent based on History.• Students need to be familiar with the past to

have a sense of temporal patterns,• Concepts and theories –state, sovereignty,

power, balance of power - have emerged in historical contexts,

• Policy makers look into history to draw lessons from the past.

2. Pre-Westphalian World1648 is an important watershed in the history of modern international

system because modern sovereign states were born in that year through Treaty of Westphalia. That is why, taking Westphalia as a landmark, we review state and international system before the Westphalian world.

a. Greece and the City State System (ancient times upto 50 BC)• Greek civilization based on independent city state system was at its height in

400 BC. City states played classical power politics as well as typical economic interactions like trade. Thucydides narratives in History of Peloponnesian Wars describe the details of peaceful interactions as well as power politics.

• Philosophy, arts and science flourished – Aristotle, Plato, Socrates lived in Greece around that time.

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2. Pre-Westphalian World contd…

b. Rome : Governing an Empire (50 BC-400 AD)• Greek city states eventually incorporated in Roman empire as large

political organization. • Tribes, kingdoms, states and territories were integrated to form the large

empire covering much of Europe, the Mediterranean portions of Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa.

• Force was used, different administrative systems were followed, free citizenship was granted and autonomy was given to different territories to keep up the vast empire.

• Roman philosophers like Cicero provided the essential theoretical underpinning of empire building – importance of law and order and security – as well as future international relations theory.

• Roman empire disintegrated in the 5th century AD because of centrifugal tendencies of constituent states.

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c. Middle Ages : Centralization and Decentrallization, 500-1000 A.D.

• End of Roman civilization saw travels, communications and trade flourishing.

• By 1000 AD, three civilizations emerged in and around Europe: Arab civilization based on Islamic caliphate developed on vast territories ranging from Middle East to Persia, North Africa to Iberia. Mathematics and technical accomplishments became well-known; Byzantine Empire, based on Christianity, located nearer the core of Roman empire in Constantinople; rest of Europe where central authority was absent, languages and cultures flourished, networks of communications and transportation developed by the Romans were disintegrating.

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2. Pre-Westphalian World contd… c. Middle Ages contd…

• Much of Western Europe reverted to feudalism where land lords exercised absolute control over lands, farmers and means of production. Feudalism was forerunner of industrial revolution and capitalism.

• Dominance of church as an institution of monopoly of power – divine state. Pope exerted enormous power.

d. Late Middle Ages : Transnational Networks and Conflict Formations (1000-1500 AD)

• Late middle ages witnessed series of positive and negative developments in Europe.

• Positive changes: Firstly: invention of new technologies like windmills and watermills led to increased commercial activities around well-known commercial centres like Genoa, Venice, Florence. Secondly, commercial transactions laid the foundation of diplomatic practices, posting of ambassadors for negotiations, diplomatic culture including encryptions.


c. Late Middle Ages contd…

• Thirdly, through international interactions, arts, culture, literature were enriched, enlightenment was followed by Renaissance, and eventually, Industrial Revolution. Fourthly, seafaring led to discovery of new lands like America, India, Australia. Eventually, an era of colonization started.

• Negative Changes: Three conflict formations: Church state conflicts, intra-religious conflicts within Christianity – Protestants and Catholicism; elite-mass conflicts because the common mass were doubly exploited and oppressed: by the church hierarchy and by the state hierarchy. Thus, Europe was caught in complex and prolonged conflicts, some in and over the colonies but mostly, in Europe itself over the three conflict formation.

3. Thirty Years War and Emergence of the Westphalian State System, 1630-1648

• The complex conflict formations in Europe gave rise to what came to be known as Thirty Years War in Europe (1630) over basically dynastic succession but soon other facets of conflicts were linked up.

• The thirty years war devastated Europe, with the armies plundering the central European landscape, fighting battles and killing civilian population.

3. The Treaty of Westphalia and Modern State system contd..

• The European leaders rose to the occasion and met at Westphalia in Germany to end the war.

• They signed a treaty which came to be known as Treaty of Westphalia, 1648. The Treaty not only ended the war but also laid the foundation of modern state. Let us review the main provisions of the Treaty to see how that was possible:

First, the Treaty of Westphalia embraced the notion of sovereignty as all territories in Europe were declared sovereign states. Sovereignty meant state territory was sacred and no outside interference would be acceptable.

Second, Monarchs and rulers realized that church-state conflict was the root of all problems. So church was

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separated from state power and brought under the control of the state.

• Thus, the concept of secular and internally sovereign state was established.

• Thirdly, the European leaders had seen the devastating impact of mercenaries in wars. So, the leaders agreed to establish standing military force.

• Thus, the state with a national army emerged, its sovereignty acknowledged and its secular status firmly established.

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• However, the Treaty of Westphalia established only a core group of states that dominated the world until the 19th century: Austria, Russia, Prussia, England, France, United Province (Netherlands and Belgium), while the rest of Asia, Africa and Latin America remained colonized by European powers.

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4. 19th Century Europe : Peace at the Core of European System• End of Thirty Years war, however, did not bring

complete peace in Europe because of the emergence of dominant power under Napoleon. However, following the defeat and death of Napoleon in 1815, five European powers – Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia – decided the reemergence of any dominant power again, and with this purpose, signed a peace agreement, known as the Congress of Vienna, 1815.

• This brought about a period of relative peace for about hundred years until the World War I.

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4. 19th Century Europe : Peace at the Core of European System contd..

• No major wars were fought and the European leaders decided that no domination by any power will be accepted. In case of an aggression, the European powers will build coalition against aggression. This agreement and period is known as Concert of Europe.

• The major power agreed that they would remain neutral in wars and not get involved in any war simultaneously.

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4. Concert of Europe contd.. • Question is: why was it possible on the part of Europe to

remain peaceful for long 100 years? And then, how? • The first question is relevant because Europe in the 19th

century was going a number of transformations: Demographic – rapid population increase and movement, Political – unification of Italy, 1870 and Germany, 1871, division of Holland, 1830s, disintegration of the Ottoman empire and creation of Greece, Moldovia, Romania, Economic: rapid industrialization of Europe, industrial revolution in Britain.

• With such changes, why was it possible on the part of Europe to maintain long peace?

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4. Concert of Europe contd….

Reasons behind Concert of Europe:• First, European solidarity: civilized, white, Christian and

bringer of enlightenment to the rest of Europe. Like minded powers. Vision of a larger Europe kept them unified, Congress of Vienna was a manifestation.

• Second, European elites remained united for fear of revolution from below from the masses;

• Third, the changes and transformation mentioned earlier did not affect their relations, rather they seem to have reinforced their relations.

4. Concert of Europe contd….

Then the second question : how was peace maintained? What was the mechanism?

• The answer lies in the concept of Balance of Power, a well-known and time tested theory of IR.

• Balance of power meant: the European powers feared and opposed the emergence of any dominant hegemonic power and in case of aggression, they agreed to form coalition of the like minded to counter-balance the aggressor. This was the essence of the concept of Balance of Power (BoP).

• The second important feature of BoP was that it was a fluid and flexible arrangement, meaning, whoever was the aggressor and whoever was the victim,

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4. Balance of Power contd….

• they agreed to form coalition against the aggressor and in favor of the victim.

• The treaties around the Concert of Europe ensured that no hegemon like France under Napoleon or Britain or Russia emerge again to dominate Europe again. And actually none did exert hegemonic power.

• Rather, Britain played the role of a Balancer and Russia played the role of an alliance builder, while France remained quite supportive of BoP.

• That Britain played the role of a Balancer was evident from the following: (i) it intervened on behalf of Greece against Turkey in Greece’s independence war in late 1820s; one behalf of Belgians against Holland during their independence war in 1830, on behalf of Turkey against Russia in the Crimean War 1854-65 and again the Russo-Turkey war in 1877-78,

4. Balance of Power contd….

• Britain ensured that other states did not intervene and Europe remained balanced.

• Russia played the role of builder of Alliance. • The Holy Alliance of 1815 kept Austria, Prussia and

Russia united against revolutionary France and Russia used its claim over Poland to build a bond with Prussia.

• Russia’s interests in the Dardanelles waterway overlapped with Britain and it viewed it as common interests rather than conflict to play together in BoP.

• This is how, BoP worked.

5. Weakening of BoP and Solidification of Alliance• In the last three decades of the 19th century, the BoP system

weakened. The members of the Concert of Europe began to break norms and rules of BOP and follow national agenda. The weakening, of course, started with Russian invasion of Turkey in 1954-56 and again 1877.

• Second factor responsible was colonial war among the European powers. Latin American countries won freedom from Spain and Portugal by 1830. But Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy fought wars in Asia and Africa over colonies.

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5. Weakening of BoP and Solidification of Alliance contd..

• Among the non-BoP members, Germany was the most difficult to tackle. Germany wanted status and territory in Europe. In the Congress of Berlin in 1878, parts of Africa – East Africa (Tanganyaka), West Africa (Cameroon, Togo) were given to Germany. But it was not clear if German thirst for territory and status was satisfied with this. It will be seen later.

5. Solidification of Alliance contd…

• In any case, BoP which was fluid and flexible solidified into Alliance.

• Two Alliance systems emerged: Triple Alliance - Germany, Austria and Italy; and Dual Alliance –

Russia and France.• In 1902, Britain broke the ‘balancer ‘ role and built

naval alliance with Japan to prevent a possible Russo-Japanese rapprochement in China.

• Alliance competition intensified. And Germany voiced dissatisfaction over territories in Europe.

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6. Alliance Competition and World War I

• In such tensed atmosphere, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian empire, in 1914 in Sarajevo, acted like a trigger.

• Germany provoked Austria to crush Serbia. Under the system of alliance, allies honored their commitment and began to participate in the war.

• In support of Serbia, Russia, France and Britain got involved, Germany joined in support of Austria.

• Like other European wars in the past, this war was also thought to be short and decisive but it was neither.

• Rather the war expanded when Russia withdrew because of Bolshevik Revolution and to fill in the vacuum, USA joined the war making World War I trans-Atlantic.

6. World War I contd…

• Between 1914 and 1918, soldiers from more than a dozen countries endured the horrors of trench and gas warfares.

• More than 8.5 million civilians and 1.5 million soldiers lost their lives.

• The century of relative peacefulness ended in system-wide confrontation.

• Next, we discuss the immediate impact of World war I and the inter-war period climaxing again in another global war, World War II.

5. The Interwar Years and World War II• The end of World War signified important

change in the international system:• First, three European empires were strained

and finally, collapsed during or near the end of WWI. Russia exited the War in 1917 as socialist revolution raged through Czarist Russia and in its place socialist USSR came into being having impact on world politics in the post-WWII period.

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5. Inter War Years and the World War II contd..

• Second to disintegrate was the Austro-Hungarian empire replaced by Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, part of Yugoslavia and part of Romania. Third to be reconfigured was the Ottoman empire. The Ottomans were allied to the Triple Alliance under the leadership of Germany and after the War, the Turks were ousted from Europe.


• Germany was defeated in the War but the Treaty of Versailles that formally ended the war made Germany even more dissatisfied because Germany was made responsible for initiation of the War, it had to pay $32 bn for war reparation and it had to give a commitment that it won’t crave any more for territories.

5. Inter War Years and the World War II contd… • The end of World War II saw major change in

the international system:• First, the European empires were strained and

finally, died during or near the end of WWI. Czarist Russia exited the War in 1917 as Bolshevik revolution gripped the country which converted Russia in Soviet Union. Such a transformation had profound impact on the international system, particularly after WWII.


• The dissatisfaction provided the climate for emergence of Adolf Hitler to promote the cult of aggressive and fascist nationalism.

• Thirdly, to enforce the Versailles Treaty and bring peace in the world, an international institution, The League of Nations, was founded in 1919. However. The League was still born because the very proponents of the organization like the USA, UK did not participate in it.


• Although not materialized, the vision of a post-War world order in terms of democracy, peace and liberal economic system based on free trade was propounded by world leaders like US President Woodrow Wilson.

• However, the League collapsed and the period 1919-39 was an abrupt descent from vision and high hopes to turbulence, economic chaos and military preparedness.

• Germany turned out to be a real challenge for Europe.


• Having rearmed under Hitler, encouraged by helping the Spanish fascist regime in Spanish civil wars and successfully reuniting ethnic Germans from far-flung areas, Germany was ready to right the wrongs done to it by the Versailles Pact.

• Britain and France acquiesced Germany’s occupation of Czechoslovakia in the hope that Germany would be happy with this territory. But it was not to be.

6. World War II and the Cold war • But when Germany invaded Poland, Britain declared war and

the Allied Power consisting of USA, Britain, France and Russia came into being against the Axis power consisting of fascist Germany and Italy and imperialist Japan.

• A more devastating war than WWI ravaged Europe, Asia and part of Africa. The Allied were victorious, the Axis lay in ruins, totally defeated. Total casualty stood at 60 million.

• As the War was continuing, the world leaders were preparing for a post-War world order of economic liberalism and peace, but a spell of Cold War between USA and Soviet Union, allies in WWII, began.

7. The Origins of the Cold War

• The most important outcome of the World War II was the emergence of two Super Powers – USA and Soviet Union – as the primary actors in the international system and decline of Europe as the epicenter of international politics. Both appeared to be reluctant powers in joining wars but both were armed with nuclear weapons which made a fundamental difference in global politics and in their bilateral relations.

7. The Origins of the Cold Warcontd..

• Before we proceed further to talk about the other outcomes of WWII, we define Cold War. By Cold War, we mean the period 1945-89 when there were intense rivalry and competition between the two Super Powers and at times, they participated in wars, but no direct wars were fought between them. As there was rivalry and competitions and wars, the word ‘War’ is justified but since the two did not fight directly, it was called Cold.

7. The Origins of the Cold Warcontd..

• The second outcome of WWII was the recognition of fundamental incompatibilities between the two in national interests and ideology.

• Incompatibility of national interests was manifest in a natural division of the sphere of influence – Soviet claim over Eastern Europe and Central Asia and USA over Western Hemisphere or Latin America.

• Because of this geographic division, Cold War was also known as East-West divide or confrontation.

7. The Origins of the Cold War

• Based on this division, USA followed containment policy and USSR followed intrusive policy.

• Incompatibility of ideology was reflected in the ideological rivalry between capitalism and socialism, each wanting to destroy the other. This fuelled arms race between them.

• The third outcome was globalization of conflicts around the world, especially in the Third World in their bid to co-opt support base in the Third World.

8. The Cold War as a Series of Confrontations• The Cold War 1945-89 may be characterized as 45

years of high level tensions and competition between the two Super Powers but with no direct military conflict.

• But why no direct military conflict? The answer lies in the advent of nuclear weapons. Wars with nuclear weapons can be fought only on pain of mutual destruction. Thus, the two Super Powers avoided escalation of conflicts that may turn nuclear. This explains the fact that Cold War was a bipolar stalemate, and it was ‘Cold’.

8. The Cold War as a Series of Confrontations contd..

• But actually Cold War was not that cold, throughout the period, a series of high tension crises, conflicts and confrontations took place around the world and in most of them the Super Powers were pitted against each other.

• Some of them were high tension crises (Berlin blockade, 1948 and Cuban Missile crisis, 1962), some confrontations short of war; some were confrontations or wars between proxies (N. Korea vs South Korea, 1950, N. Vietnam vs South Vietnam, Ethiopia vs Sudan, Angola and Namibia), in some either USA or Soviet Union got directly involved ( USA in Vietnam, 1965-75 and USSR in Afghanistan, 1978-89), while others were war of words ending in agreement.

• But one thing was common, there was a conscious effort on either side to avoid escalation because of nuclear stalemate.


• These then were the patterns of interactions between the two Super Powers during Cold War.

• What we shall be doing in this section is to make a chronological run down of these events to elaborate these patterns by concrete evidence and case studies.

• Students are advised to mark the cause, pattern of interactions and outcome.


• Between 1945-48, Soviet Union established socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and brought these states under its control. They became Soviet satellite/vassal states.

• The first ever direct confrontation between the two Super Powers took place in Germany.

• Defeated Germany was divided into zones of occupation – western portion in capitalist control and eastern zone under Soviet control.

• Berlin, capital of Germany was also split but it lay within Soviet controlled East Germany.

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• In 1949, Soviet Union blockaded Western access to Berlin - Western countries had to airlift supplies to their installations in Berlin for 13 months.

• It was a low level crisis. Eventually, the two Powers agreed to create two states – East Germany with capital in Berlin under Soviet control and West Germany with capital in Bonn and pro-West.

• 1961, East German Government erected Berlin Wall to prevent East Germans to cross over to the West. This Wall later became the symbol of East-West divide.

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8. The Cold War as a Series of Confrontations contd..• The second major East-West confrontation was in Asia over

Korea. Northern Korea declared itself a communist state with influence of Soviet Union and China. China became communist in 1949.

• At one point, North Korea invaded South Korea. The two power blocks got involved and Korean war turned out to be proxy war.

• But Chinese troops fought alongside the North Koreans and the US troops fought alongside the South Koreans.

• UN forces were sent to bring about ceasefire in 1953. However, tensions between the two Koreas remained ever since as US troops were based in South Korea and North Korea ventured to become nuclear.

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• A new crisis for USA began when Cuba just on the backyard of USA turned socialist under the leadership of Fidel Castro in 1959. USA decided to invade Cuba and mobilized troops along the Bay of Pigs that divide the two countries. However, seeing Cuban revolution as already a success, USA conceded and did not attack Cuba. This is known as Bay of Pigs crisis, 1960. No conflictual interactions took place over this time.

• But more was waiting for USA in 1962 when a high level confrontation short of nuclear war took place between USA and Soviet Union over Cuba.

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• US satellites discovered that Soviet Union had deployed missiles in Cuba, only 90 miles away from Florida. USA considered it as a direct threat. Soviet explanation that the deployment was defensive was not acceptable to USA. But it took the softer option of naval blockade rather than direct land or air invasion.

• Counter threat was made by USA by deployment of missiles toward Cuba and it seemed nuclear exchange was a possibility.

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• Behind the scene negotiations between US President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Krushchev led to agreement, Soviet Union agreed to take away missiles from Cuba and USA agreed to lift naval blockade.

• It showed that the two Super Powers were ready to project power but careful enough to stop short of nuclear exchange.

• Both had stake in stability.44


• The next theatre of Cold War rivalry occurred in Vietnam, as an extended civil war when North Vietnam turned communist under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh.

• As usual polarization along Cold War line took place – North Vietnam being supported by Soviet Union and China, South by USA, France and regional countries like Thailand, Philippines, South Korea, all concerned as to how to contain spread of communism.

• US moral and military support to South Vietnamese regimes faltered, USA increased ground troops and stepped up sir strikes over the North.

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• While in the early stage, US policy makers were fairly confident that their superior military power and technically skilled manpower will defeat the ill-equipped North Vietnamese troops, but mounting casualties created adverse public reactions.

• This forced USA to use all its conventional military power to fight an all out war. The war was prolonged and eventually US forces were defeated in 1975.

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• In the 1960s and 1970s, both alliance systems experienced cracks.

• Another pattern of Super Power behavior during Cold War was recognizing each other’s sphere of influence. There were incidents on one side and the other side did not react strongly. For example, Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 was not met by resistance from USA while USA invasion of Dominican Republic in 1961 was not reacted by Soviet Union.

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8. The Cold War as a Series of Confrontations contd..• In many regions, the Super Powers were less directly involved

while the regional powers fought intensely. This was evident in the Middle East which was strategically important, yet the Super Powers maintained a rough balance of power, USA supporting Israel and Soviet Union supporting the Arab countries, in general. But later on, USA alone maintained the balance.

• In many less strategic regions, local forces fought proxy war as in Congo in 1960.

• In other parts of Africa, local protagonists of civil war converted the strife into Cold War conflicts and then they fought proxy war.

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• Finally, the two Super Powers also engaged in dialogues and negotiations on arms reduction or maintaining global peace. Some were successful, like Glassboro summit in 1967 leading to détente but some ended in failure, like the Vienna summit in 1960 when Soviet Union shot down a US spy plane. And there were a number of agreements like SALT I in 1972.

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9. Cold war as a Long Peace

• Some scholars have termed Cold War as a long peace, mainly because like 19th century Concert of Europe, general war was averted.

• How was that possible? Firstly, nuclear stalemate. Secondly, bipolar polarization. Thirdly, hegemonic influence of the Super Powers including economic underwriting.

• Fourthly, cyclical nature of global peace.

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10. End of Cold War and Post-Cold War Era• Fall of Berlin War in 1989 symbolized the end of Cold War. But

it was gradual. Soviet Union under Gorbachev started political and economic reforms which it could not manage. It set in motion turmoil that led to the collapse.

• An alternative explanation is US policy of beggar thy neighbor.• What is the international system today? It is not certainly

purely unipolar. Rather it is multilayered and multipolar. • But profound transformation in many aspects. International

Relations, if that means inter-state relations, has given way to transnational relations.

• International security has been replaced by global security and human security.

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Int 101 Lecture 4 9

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Transcript of Int 101 Lecture 4 9