GE 2123 | THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

Lesson 3: A HISTORY OF GLOBAL POLITICS: CREATING INT. OUTCOME

TRANSCRIBED BY: ELLEMA, ARIANNE KENDRA P. | BMLS – 2D | RTRMF | Date: 11/ 15/ 23

THE ATTRIBUTES OF TODAY’S GLOBAL SYSTEM WORLD

POLITICS TODAY HAS FOUR KEY ATTRIBUTES: 4. the state has sovereignty over its territory.
Sovereignty refers to internal and external
1. There are countries or states that are authority.
independent and govern themselves;
2. These countries interact with each other through Internally, no individuals or groups can operate in a
diplomacy; given national territory by ignoring the state. This means
3. There are international organizations, like the that groups like churches, civil society organizations,
United Nations that facilitate these interactions; corporations, and other entities have to follow the laws
4. Task specific agencies like the World Health of the state where they establish their parishes, offices,
Organizations and the International Labour or headquarters.
Organizations.
Externally, sovereignty means that a state’s policies and
WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF THIS SYSTEM? procedures are independent of the interventions of
Nation state is a political community that emanates other states.
from civic society to legitimately execute peace. Thus,
the civic society is the basis of the people’s oneness. Nation (Benedict Anderson) is an “ imagined
community.” It is limited because it does not go beyond
Nation-state concept is relatively modern phenomenon a given “official boundary,” and the rights and
in human history, and people did not always organize responsibilities are mainly the privilege and concern of
themselves as countries. the citizens of that nation.

At different parts in the history of humanity, people in Nations often limit themselves to people who have
various regions of the world have identified exclusively imbibed a particular culture, speak a common
with units as small as their village or their tribe, and at language, and live in a specific territory. Example: An
other times, they see themselves as members of larger American cannot simply go to the Philippine embassy
political categories like “Christendom” (the entire and “convert” into a Filipino citizen.
Christian world). The nation-state is composed of two
interchangeable terms. “Not all states are nations and Nations and States are closely related because it is
not all nations are states”. nationalism that facilitates state formation. States
become independent and sovereign because of
Examples: nationalist sentiment that clamors for this
1. The nation of Scotland has its own flag and independence.
national culture, but still it belongs to a state
called the United Kingdom. THE INTERSTATE SYSTEM
2. Bangsamoro is a separate nation existing within
The Treaty of Westphalia is a set of agreements signed in
the Philippines but, through their elites,
1648 to end the Thirty Years’ War between the major
recognizes the authority of the Philippine state.
continental powers of Europe.
3. The nation of Korea is divided into North and
South Korea.
The following designed a system that would avert wars
4. “Chinese nation” may refer to both the people’s
in the future by recognizing that the treaty signers
Republic of China ( the mainland) and Taiwan.
exercise complete control over their domestic affairs
and swear not to meddle in each other’s affairs after a
WHAT THEN IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATION AND brutal religious war between Catholics and Protestants.
STATE?
State refers to a country and its government. It is a  The Holy Roman Empire
compulsory political organization with a centralized  Spain
government that maintains the legitimate use of force  France
within a certain territory (Weber, 1997).  Sweden
 Dutch Republic
FOUR (4) ATTRIBUTES
1. it exercises authority over a specific population, The Westphalian System provided stability for the
called its citizens. nations of Europe, until it faced its major challenge by:
2. it governs a specific territory;
3. a state has a structure of government that crafts Napoleon Bonaparte who believed in spreading the
various rules that people (society ) follows; and principles of the French Revolution- liberty, equality and

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fraternity – to the rest of Europe and challenged the include the nations of the world” – Kant imagined of
powers of kings, nobility and religion in Europe. global government.

The Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1803-1815 and the Jeremy Bentham, (18th century)
French implemented the Napoleonic Code that  a British philosopher, who coined the word
forbade birth privileges, encouraged freedom or “international” in 1780, advocated the creation
religion, and promoted meritocracy in government of “international law” that would govern the
service. inter-state relations.
This system shocked the monarchies and the hereditary  Bentham believed that the objective global
elites thus, mustered their armies to push back against legislators should aim to propose legislation that
the French emperor. would create “the greatest happiness of all
nations taken together.”
Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in the Battle of
Waterloo in 1815 by the Anglo and the Prussian armies Giuseppe Mazzini
which ended his mission to spread his liberal code  an Italian nationalist internationalist who
across Europe. believes that free, unified, nation-states should
be the basis of global cooperation.
To prevent another war and to keep their systems of
privilege, the royal powers created called the  was the first thinker to reconcile nationalism with
Concert of Europe – an alliance of “great powers”- the liberal internationalism.
 He was both an advocate of the unification of
United Kingdom, Austria, Russia and Prussia.
the various Italian-speaking mini-states and a
major critic of the Metternich System.
The Metternich System (Klemens von Metternich- an  He believed in a Republican government
Austrian diplomat) was the Concert’s power and (without kings, queens, and hereditary
authority which sought to restore the world of succession) and proposed a system of free
monarchial, hereditary, and religious privileges. nations that cooperated with each other to
create an international system.
The Concert System, “great powers” still hold significant  For Mazzini, free, independent states would be
influence over world politics such as the most powerful the basis of an equally free, cooperative
grouping in the UN and the Security Council. international system.
 He argued that if the various Italian mini-states
INTERNATIONALISM could unify one could scale up the system to
Internationalism is basically anchored on the opinion create a United States of Europe.
that nationalism should be outrun because links that
bind people of different countries are more powerful Woodrow Wilson: United States President from 1913 to
than those that disconnect them (Anora, 2014). 192
 was influenced by Mazzini and became one of
Internationalization is the deepening of interactions the 20th century’s most prominent
between states. It does not equal globalization, internationalist.
although it is a major part of globalization. It is the desire  Wilson saw nationalism as a prerequisite for
among states and people for greater cooperation and internationalism.
unity.  Principle of Self-determination – the belief that
the world’s nations had a right to a free, and
Immanuel Kant, (18thcentury) sovereign government.
 German philosopher is the first major thinker of  He hoped that these free nations would
Internationalism. become democracies, because only by being
 He likened states in a global system to people such would they be able to build a free system
living in a given territory. of international relations based on international
 If people living together require a government law and cooperation.
to lawlessness, shouldn’t that same principle be  He became the most notable advocate for the
applied to states? creation of the League of Nations.
 Without a form of world government, he  At the end of World War I in 1918, he pushed to
argued, the international system would be transform the League into a venue for
chaotic . conciliation and arbitration to prevent another
war. For his efforts, Wilson was awarded the
Therefore, states, like citizens of countries, must give up Nobel Prize in 1919.
some freedoms and “establish a continuously growing
state consisting of various nations which will ultimately

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Axis Powers- Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, and The Socialist International collapsed during World War I
Hirohito’s Japan who were ultra-nationalists that have as the member parties refused or were unable to join
an instinctive disdain for internationalism and preferred the internationalists efforts to fight for the war, and these
to violently impose their dominance over the nations. It sister parties ended up fighting each other.
was in the midst of this war between the
Marx warning was confirmed when workers and their
Axis Powers and the Allied Powers composed of United organizations take the side of their countries instead of
States, United Kingdom, France, Holland, and Belgium each other, their long-term interests are compromised.
that internationalism would be eclipsed.
As the SI collapsed, Czar Nicholas II was overthrown
Despite the Leagues failure, there are still international and replaced by a revolutionary government led by
organizations that exist today: World Health Vladimir Lenin.
Organization (WHO) and the International Labour
Organization (ILO). The principles of the League of Vladimir Lenin: the Bolshevik Party leader in the so-
Nations survived World War II. called Russian Revolution of 1917. It was called the
“Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, or USSR.
The League was the concretization of the concepts of
liberal internationalism: The Bolsheviks did not believe in obtaining power for
1. Kant, internationalism emphasized the need to the working class through elections, rather they
form common international principles. exhorted the revolutionary “vanguard” parties using
2. Mazzini, it enshrined the principles of methods of terror if necessary – Communist Party.
cooperation and respect among other nation- Communist International (Comintern)
states. • established by Lenin to encourage these
3. Wilson, it called for democracy and self- socialist revolutions across the world in 1919.
determination. many of the world’s states feared the Comintern
believing that it was working in secret to stir up
Karl Marx revolutions in their countries(which was true).
 a German socialist philosopher and
internationalist was one of Mazzini’s biggest • A problem arose during World War II when the
critics for he did not believe in nationalism. Soviet Union joined the allied Powers in 1914. The
 He believed that any true form of United States and the United Kingdom never
internationalism should deliberately reject trusted the Soviet Union in their fight against
nationalism, which rooted people in domestic Hitler’s Germany; whether the Soviet Union was
concerns instead of global. promoting revolutions among themselves. To
 Marx, instead placed a premium on appease his allies, Joseph Stalin, the successor
economic equality; did not divide the world into of Lenin dissolved the Comintern in 1963.
countries but into classes. The capitalist class
referred to the owners of factories, companies, After the war, Stalin re-established the Comintern as the
and other means of production. Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) to help
direct the various communist parties that had taken
Marx and Friedrich Engels power in Eastern Europe.
 believed that in a socialist revolution seeking to
overthrow the state and alter the economy, the
proletariat “had no nation.” Hence, their battle
cry, “ Workers of the world, unite! You have
nothing to lose but your chains.”

Karl Marx died in 1883, but his followers concretized his

vision by establishing:
The Socialist International: a union of European socialist
and labor parties established in Paris in 1889.

The Si’s achievements were:

(1) declaration of May 1 as Labor Day;
(2) creation of International Women’s Day; and
(3) initiated the successful campaign of an 8-hour
workday.

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