The Contemporary World - module PDF

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History of global politics: creating and international order...

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A HISTORY OF GLOBAL POLITICS: CREATING AND INTERNATIONAL ORDER THE ATTRIBUTES OF TODAY’S GLOBAL SYSTEM 1. 2. 3. 4.

o FOUR KEY ATTRIBUTES There are countries or states that are independent and govern themselves. These countries interact with each other through diplomacy There are international organizations like the United Nations, (UN), that facilitate these interactions. Beyond simply facilitating meetings between states, international organizations also take on lives of them own.

WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF THIS SYSTEM?  

A good start is by unpacking what one means when he/she says a ―country‖, or what academics also called the nation-state. The nation-state is composed of two non-interchangeable terms: ―Not all states are nations and not all nations are states.

WHAT THEN IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATION AND STATE?    

NATION is a community of people, associated with a particular territory, united by common descent, history, culture, or language. (Wikipedia) It is more on ―ethnic definition. STATE is a community of people living in a definite territory with a government of its own and free from external control/intervention. It is more on a ―political‖ definition.

FOUR IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF A STATE 1. 2. 3. 4.

People Territory Government Sovereignty

INTERSTATE SYSTEM 

TREATY OF WESTPHALIA (Westphalian system) Westphalian system: A global system based on the principle of international law that each state has sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs, to the exclusion of all external powers, on the principle of non-interference in another country's domestic affairs, and that each state (no matter how large or small).

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TREATY OF WESTPHALIA?

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The Treaty of Westphalia is regarded as a key step in the development of tolerance and secularization across the world. It also strengthened nations since they could now enter into foreign alliances and decide important matters, such as peace and war.

SIX RESULTS OF PEACE OF WESTPHALIA? 

Six results of the peace of Westphalia were the weakening of Austria and Spain, the strengthening of France, the independency of German princes from the Holy Roman Emperor, the end to religious wars in Europe, the introduction of the peace summit, and the abandonment of Catholic rule over Europe.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE  

Napoleon Bonaparte destroyed the principle of Westphalia. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. ... Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, Napoleon successfully waged war against various coalitions of European nations and expanded his empire.

WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE NAPOLEONIC WARS? 

The French Revolution was the main reason for the Napoleonic wars because of the impact it had on the rest of Europe. In the French revolution, the Head of state, the Monarch, lost their power, and the common people took over with the ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

METTERNICH SYSTEM 

The Metternich System was a series of meetings among the more powerful European nations between the Napoleonic War and World War I; its objective was to resolve disputes between European nations. This was named after the Austrian diplomat, Klemens Von Metternich, who was the system’s main architect.

KLEMENS VON METTERNICH 

Prince Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859), Austrian politician and diplomat, suppressed nationalistic and democratic trends in Central Europe but was also the architect of a diplomatic system which kept Europe at peace for a century.

BATTLE OF WATERLOO IN 1815

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The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18 June 1815 between Napoleon's French Army and a coalition led by the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher. The decisive battle of its age, it concluded a war that had raged for 23 years, ended French attempts to dominate Europe, and destroyed Napoleon's imperial power forever. And who won the battle? At Waterloo in Belgium, Napoleon Bonaparte suffers defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington, bringing an end to the Napoleonic era of European history.

WHAT DID THE CONCERT OF EUROPE DO? 

The Concert of Europe was a system of dispute resolution adopted by the major conservative powers of Europe to maintain their power, oppose revolutionary movements, weaken the forces of nationalism, and uphold the balance of power.

WHAT IS INTERNATIONALISM? 

Internationalism is a political principle that advocates greater political or economic cooperation among states and nations. It is associated with other political movements and ideologies, but can also reflect a doctrine, belief system, or movement in itself.

TWO CATEGORIES 1. Liberal Internationalism  Liberal internationalism, cluster of ideas derived from the belief that international progress is possible, where progress is defined as movement toward increasing levels of harmonious cooperation between political communities. 2. Socialist Internationalism  The tenets of socialism assert that the state should wield total economic power by manipulating prices of goods and wages of workers. Furthermore, socialism requires people to submit to the rule of law. In return for their compliance, citizens are provided with resources rationed by the government. IMMANUEL KANT ON LIBERALISM 

Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law. ... Liberals also ended mercantilist policies, royal monopolies and other barriers to trade, instead promoting free trade and marketization.

GIUSEPPE MAZZINI

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Italy: leaders of unification Mazzini formed a nationalist group known as “Young Italy” in 1832. He called for an end to foreign rule and the unification of Italy based on the common language and culture of the people. The Italian nationalist movement was called the Risorgimento (resurgence) 1848- rebels failed and former rules of Italian states drove Mazzini and other nationalist’s leaders into exile.

WOODROW WILSON 

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Woodrow Wilson, a leader of the Progressive Movement, was the 28th President of the United States (1913-1921). After a policy of neutrality at the outbreak of World War I, Wilson led America into war in order to ―make the world safe for democracy. During World War I, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson promoted the concept of "selfdetermination," meaning that a nation—a group of people with similar political ambitions—can seek to create its own independent government or state.

KARL MARX

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Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, critic of political economy, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary. Karl Marx saw capitalism as a progressive historical stage that would eventually stagnate due to internal contradictions and be followed by socialism. ... They believe that private ownership of the means of production enriches capitalists (owners of capital) at the expense of workers.

FRIEDRICH ENGELS

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Friedrich Engels, sometimes anglicised as Frederick Engels, was a German philosopher, critic of political economy, historian, political theorist and revolutionary socialist. Engels is famous for his authorship with Karl Marx of some of the most influential works in the history of socialism, for his status with Marx as an intellectual leader of the early socialist movement, and for his interpretation of Marx's ideas, which dominated popular and scholarly understandings of Marx Socialist International (SI).

CZAR NICOLAS II  

Nicholas II was the last tsar of Russia under Romanov rule. His poor handling of Bloody Sunday and Russia's role in World War I led to his abdication and execution. The Russian honorific "czar"—sometimes spelled "tsar"—derives from none other than Julius Caesar, who predated the Russian Empire by 1,500 years. Equivalent to a king or an emperor, the czar was the autocratic, allpowerful ruler of Russia, an institution that lasted from the mid-16th to the early 20th centuries.

VLADIMIR LENIN

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Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known by his alias Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party, as the political prelude to the establishment of communism.

JOSEPH STALIN  

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who governed the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. Stalin considered the political and economic system under his rule to be Marxism– Leninism, which he considered the only legitimate successor of Marxism and Leninism.

THE UNITED NATIONS AND CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL GOVERNANCE WHAT IS GLOBAL GOVERNANCE?

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Global governance is a process of international cooperation among transnational actors, aimed at negotiating responses to problems that affect more than one state or region. – Wikipedia Global governance brings together diverse actors to coordinate collective action at the level of the planet. The goal of global governance, roughly defined, is to provide global public goods, particularly peace and security, justice and mediation systems for conflict, functioning markets and unified standards for trade and industry. One crucial global public good is catastrophic risk management – putting appropriate mechanisms in place to maximally reduce the likelihood and impact of any event that could cause the death of 1 billion people across the planet, or damage of equivalent magnitude. The leading institution in charge of global governance today is the United Nations. It was founded in 1945, in the wake of the Second World War, as a way to prevent future conflicts on that scale. The United Nations does not directly bring together the people of the world, but sovereign nation states, and currently counts 193 members who make recommendations through the UN General Assembly. The UN’s main mandate is to preserve global security, which it does particularly through the Security Council. In addition, the UN can settle international legal issues through the International Court of Justice, and implements its key decisions through the Secretariat, led by the Secretary General.

WHAT IS AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION?

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It is an organization with international membership, scope and presence established by treaty or other instrument governed by international law and possessing its own international legal personality, such as UN, WHO and NATO. Composed of primarily member-states but may also include other entities such as other international organizations.

POWERS IF IO’S 1. IO’s have the power of classification. 2. IO’s have the power to fix meanings. 3. IO’s have the power to diffuse norms. 

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The United Nations has added a range of areas to its core mandate since 1945. It works through a range of agencies and associated institutions particularly to ensure greater shared prosperity, as a desirable goal in itself, and as an indirect way to increase global stability. As a key initiative in that regard, in 2015, the UN articulated the Sustainable Development Goals, creating common goals for the collective future of the planet. Beyond the UN, other institutions with a global mandate play an important role in global governance. Of primary importance are the so called Bretton Woods institutions: the World Bank and the IMF, whose function is to regulate the global economy and credit markets. Those institutions are not without their critics for this very reason, being often blamed for maintaining economic inequality.

6 ACTIVE ORGANS OF UN o GENERAL ASSEMBLY – the policy making organ of the united nations made of representatives from each of the 193 member states. o SECURITY COUNCIL- the main body responsible for the peace and security of the 193 member states. o ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL – the principal organ charged with coordinating the economic and social work related to the United Nations’ mission. o SECRETARIAT- made of an international staff that carries out the day to day work of the United Nations. o INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE- the principal judicial organ that settles legal disputes between member states. o TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL- it provides international supervision for 11 Trust Territories....