The Contemporary Transformation of the International System
Professor John Wilton
Lecture 1
The States-system and its emergence

                                                                      Timetable
06.10.10        Lecture 1
13.10.10        Lecture 2
20.10.10        READING AND WORKSHOP PREPARATION (no class)
27.10.10        Workshop 1
03.11.10        Lecture 3
10.11.10        Lecture 4
15.11.10        Lecture 5
17.11.10        NATIONAL HOLIDAY (no class)
24.11.10        Lecture 6
01.12.10        Lecture 7
08.12.10        Workshop 2
15.12.10        Lecture 8
 Tuesday 4 January 2011:  SUBMISSION OF ESSAY - Essays to be submitted by email or the Masaryk
University Information System

Lecture 1
How and why the ‘modern’ states-system of today emerged and developed
A)Geographical and territorial processes
B)Capitalist economic development, and the parallel development of capitalist social relations
C)Ideological and philosophical development

Lecture 1
A)Geographical and territorial processes
- the identification and acceptance of national and nation-state boundaries
- based upon power relations and the   balance of power between states,   alongside ethnic and
cultural identities
- The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 – origin of ‘modern’ states-system in Europe

Lecture 1
Westphalian states-system based on principles of:
A)Sovereigns were not subject to any higher political authority + Sovereigns independent and equal
to every other Sovereign;
B)The Sovereign Ruler decided the religion of his/her state;
C)There should be a ‘Balance of Power’ between states – to prevent any one state dominating (i.e.
prevent hegemonic power)
A)

Lecture 1
B) Capitalist economic development, and the parallel development of capitalist social relations
- (uneven) development of a productive capitalist economy, and capitalist social relations,
transformed and expanded the European states-system
- the ‘political’ states-system assisted the development of the capitalist economic system across
Europe
- AND, in turn, the capitalist economic system assisted the development of the ‘political’ states-
system

Lecture 1
C) Ideological and philosophical development
  - the emergence of liberalism as an ‘ideology’ and the ‘Enlightenment’ as a philosophical
perspective
- liberalism based upon:
a) individual rights and liberties;
b) universality and equality;
c) the promotion of mutual gain through co-    operation, including co-operation among    nations.

Lecture 1
From the middle of 18th century ‘liberal international order’ based upon 3 assumptions:
a)that the basic actors in the international system are individuals and private groups;
b)that the actions and preferences of States represent the interests of some of those individuals
and groups;
c)that State behaviour is determined by the interdependence of State preferences across the
international system.

Lecture 1
-Towards end of 18th century saw a fundamental re-assessment on the nature of the European state,
through ‘the Enlightenment’
-Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine argued that:
-society served the individual, and the function of government was to foster, safeguard and promote
the rights of the individual;
-rights were universal, and were not privileges held by individuals because they were granted to
them by Sovereigns and Rulers (challenged ‘Divine Right of Kings and Queens’)