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[Music]
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you
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everyone this is lecture 2 for POS 273
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international relations an online
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undergraduate course taught at the
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University of Maine and I'm the
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instructor Rob Glover today's lecture is
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on the emergence of the modern
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international system so we're gonna
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cover three things we're going to talk
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about how history impacts contemporary
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international relations we're also going
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to look at what are some particularly
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important historical events that have
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shaped international relations it won't
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be a comprehensive history but some
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really important moments that have set
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the contemporary global political system
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on a certain trajectory and then we'll
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ask how the state of in the
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international system today reflects
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these historical events so a couple
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quotes at the outset for thinking about
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this relationship between history and
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international relations the first is
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from George senton santiana he says
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those who cannot learn from history are
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doomed to repeat it
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it's an idea that has become pretty
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frequently used right if we don't learn
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from the past then potentially the
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mistakes the tragedies the justices of
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the past will be repeated indefinitely
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and so that's one initial thing to kind
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of have in the back of your head
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thinking about why we would look
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backwards to think about international
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relations today or international
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relations in the future the second quote
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is from Karl Marx and I I like it and I
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think you can appreciate the quote even
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if you don't subscribe to Marxism or
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think that the world is fundamentally
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organized around class struggle the
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quote is men make history but they do
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not make it as they please they do not
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make it under self-selected
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circumstances but under circumstances
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existing already given and transmitted
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from the past the tradition of all dead
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generations weighs like a nightmare on
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the brains of the living that's from the
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kind of Marxist conception of history
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right that like different time periods
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different historical periods don't make
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history fundamentally
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new they don't engage in their daily
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activities unconstrained by what has
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happened in the past and so in thinking
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about international relations that's
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important to keep in mind right that the
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actions that we take today hurts some
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ways always conditioned by what has
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happened previously we can't radically
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change our foreign policy because
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there's a certain historical pattern
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that has emerged and there's
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relationships that have been forged over
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time that shape and constrain what
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international relations looks like today
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so a couple initial ideas for thinking
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about how history has a tie to and has
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an impact upon international relations
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today the impact of history on
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international relations just generally
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right we can say that history can be a
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reminder of the progress that humanity
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has made if we go back you know 100 or
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200 or even 60 years we see a world that
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looks very different we see practices
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that are would be unthinkable today
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we're relatively commonplace a couple
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examples I always give one is the use of
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chemical and biological weapons right
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there had to be an international norm
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established that that was something
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problematic it's not to say that it
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doesn't happen today like the ongoing
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civil war in Syria one of the
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allegations against the Assad regime has
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been that they're using chemical weapons
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but it sparks outrage and there had to
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be a norm that developed that this was
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something that should spark outrage
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right there is also a period in history
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in which states you know governments
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national governments would use the
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military to collect sovereign debt so at
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one point the military of Britain the
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British Navy came to Argentina to
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collect upon a sovereign debt and use
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military force in order to do so and
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that's something that's much less common
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today right that it's virtually
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unthinkable that a country would use its
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military power to collect upon a
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sovereign debt so in that sense progress
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is always uneven but we can look at
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certain instances of things that have
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happened in
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past and say well you know at least that
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doesn't happen anymore history can also
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be a reminder of past failures past
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tragedies past shortcomings so it's very
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common we use this terminology with 911
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we use this terminology with the
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Holocaust the horrors of World War two
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and the Nazis to use the terminology of
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never again right and so one of the
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reasons we look to history is so that we
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can look at past injustice past
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atrocities and say what can the
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international community do to ensure
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that that never happens again it doesn't
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mean that it won't happen again but it
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means that we use history as a guidance
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point for what sorts of things to avoid
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and how to prevent things from happening
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in the future we can also look to
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history to try to understand a legacy of
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cooperation and conflict of exploitation
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and liberation we can understand where
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the world is at today economically
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socially politically as a results of
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those past legacies and we can even go
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further to say that history shapes and
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forms identities our understanding of
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what it means to be the United States in
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the world what American foreign policy
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means what American values represent or
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what we as American citizens strive to
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be is shaped by history it's shaped by
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our past and so in that sense history
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socially constructs the president the
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present and the future and we'll get
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more into this kind of social
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construction the idea of what social
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construction means when we talk about
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the theory of constructivism but
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essentially we're saying that there's
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nothing inherent about an American
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identity or a British identity or a
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Japanese identity that this is
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constructed through social interaction
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over time that's an interesting idea
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that history can play that significant
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of a role and I think you can make a
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case that that is in fact true so
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history has a really significant impact
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on international relations so let's talk
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a little bit about the emergence of the
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modern international system that term
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international system simply means the
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environment and
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States and other global actors interact
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the institutions and rules which guide
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and shape that interaction and the
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outcomes which this interaction produces
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right so the international system is a
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catch-all for the environment the
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institutions and then the outcomes of
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the the environment and institutions it
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is the background condition for
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international interaction and what the
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international system looks like how it
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is emerged over time can determine what
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the nature of that interaction is going
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to be so we're gonna follow with a
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history of some major kind of critical
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junctures in global history that have
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had a significant impact on what
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international relations looks like today
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and what it might look like in the
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future it's not a comprehensive history
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it's not a full timeline right that
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would take an entire course an entire
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set of courses perhaps a whole lifetime
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to go through that that would be a
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comprehensive survey of global history
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and that's not what we're doing we're
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looking at a select number of individual
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occurrences that are particularly
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meaningful particularly impactful for
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what the international system looks like
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today you can read more about the
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timeline of international relations in
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your chapter the chapter from Lamy and
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his co-authors that you read for today
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but I want to focus in on a few really
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key ones the first is what we call the
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Peace of Westphalia a peace of
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westphalia emerged in the middle of the
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17th century and really emerged out of a
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series of devastating Wars the the
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stated kind of reason for the worst was
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religion right there were different
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sects different denominations of
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Christianity that existed in Europe at
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the time and they were going to war with
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one on one another but really these were
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Wars about territory they were Wars
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about power they were Wars about
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economic control of the continent and
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religion of course played a part
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right but religion was the justification
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used to
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to go to war right and it was really
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just a power struggle at a period in
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which you had you know some some major
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powers in Europe that didn't get along
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very well these lasted for centuries
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right the period between the 14th and
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the 17th century was one of really
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devastating religious wars that
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sometimes stretched on for decades you
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had the 30 Years War the Hundred Years
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War and at a certain point after
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centuries of this protracted warfare in
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which everyone was feeling pretty unsafe
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and it was feeling as if war was
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basically the default condition the
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leaders of the different major powers
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got together and said how can we work
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out some sort of arrangement in which we
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can coexist and we can end this cycle of
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violence and war and basically what they
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agreed to is to allow the Monarchs to
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allow the leaders at this point it would
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have been you know kings and princes and
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things to allow them to have control
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over religious affairs within their
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country so they could be expected to
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oversee their countries you know
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religious institutions without
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interference from an outside power it
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was not acceptable under the terms of
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this this peace agreement for you know
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France to invade Britain because they
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thought they were practicing the wrong
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and religion what it does is it creates
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an expectation of non-interference and
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establishes a basic principle that will
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become very very important in
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international relations what we call
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sovereignty right
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it creates the expectation of
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non-interference it creates the
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expectation that a country can oversee
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its internal affairs as it sees fit and
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that cannot be a justification for
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another country to invade or you know go
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after them violently that has always
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been on perf imperfect it has always
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been kind of unn
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unn realized in certain respects we
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constantly see violations of sovereignty
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we constantly see instances in which a
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sovereignty is over
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but it creates the principal it creates
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the expectation in international
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politics that country is going to have
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sovereignty it also becomes an equalizer
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for states right in a formal sense one
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country does not have more sovereignty
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than another and the goal that is
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seeking is a balance of power it wants a
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balance of power among the European
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states rather than hegemony rather than
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a single state having power over the
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continent and this idea of sovereignty
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would become very important over time to
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the point now where we refer to
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sovereignty and it actually has meaning
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in international negotiations at the
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United Nations when a country is talking
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about its foreign policy if you invoke
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sovereignty and say you are working to
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protect your sovereignty that means
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something and and you know potentially
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others will respect that
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the next major chapter that we need to
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talk about is European colonialism
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really be getting in the 15th century
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and going right up until the 20th
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century them the final colonial powers
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began to dismantle their their last
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colonial holdings in the latter half of
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the 20th century you have this this
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period in which European powers sought
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to expand outward and they wanted to
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establish formal control over foreign
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territories and foreign people's and
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there were a number of reasons why they
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could do this first is advances in
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technology right you had advances in
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navigation advances in military military
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hardware
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advances in map making and understanding
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the layout of the world
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shipbuilding these sorts of things that
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enabled European powers to go strike out
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and travel over you know further
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distances than they had previously but
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you also have the internal stability
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created by the Peace of Westphalia right
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relative to other periods in history
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countries were not so much concerned
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about protecting against foreign
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invaders anymore and because they had
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this relatively speaking this internal
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stability they could go out and try to
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expand their power
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to other parts of the world and so that
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had a significant impact on what the
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world like but what the world looked
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like ensure much of the world's
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territory became a colonial possession
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of one European power or another and
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that is really significant right why is
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it significant
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well establishes a hierarchy on the
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global level in international politics
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between the countries that had vast
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expansive colonial empires and those
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that did not it also serves as a source
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of resource and labor extraction that
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fuels a really unprecedented period of
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economic expansion and in and we could
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say the Industrial Revolution right that
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the Industrial Revolution would not have
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happened without the the resources and
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the labor provided by colonial expansion
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and then lastly these European powers
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are going to draw borders right so you
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look at you know the contemporary
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territorial borders of the world and
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many of these territorial borders were
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drawn at the time of European
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colonialism and that has implications
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that persists to this day you have some
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some countries that really did not
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emerge organically they emerged as a
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result of external forces and there
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wasn't careful attention devoted to what
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is the religious makeup of these
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countries what languages do they speak
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what ethnic groups exist here and so you
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have some countries that are kind of
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they don't make a lot of sense in terms
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of what is contained within their
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borders but they made perfect sense to
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the European powers that were drawing
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those colonial borders
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we can see a bit of this in the the maps
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of European colonialism from the you
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know 1500s up until the contemporary
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period you had various powers that had
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different colonial footprints right so
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you had
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you know the French have a significant
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footprint in Africa you have British
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colonies extending over to the United
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States down into into southern Africa
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over into the Middle East all the way
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down to Australia you have the Dutch you
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have the Germans you had minor powers
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like the Italians right they had a
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colonial presence in the Horn of Africa
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and so in some places you still see like
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you know Libya and Eritrea and Ethiopia
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you still see elements of of that that
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it's Hallion presence in in northern
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Africa right but the the bottom line is
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that the the territorial borders today
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bear a strong resemblance to the
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colonial borders that were drawn and
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those colonial borders that were drawn
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were largely artificial and so some of
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the most tense difficult neighborhoods
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that exist in the world today
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geographically speaking are really a
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product in a lot of ways of that period
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of European colonialism jumping ahead to
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the next major historical event the
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world wars of the 20th century the 20th
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century really marks a period in which
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total war right intense and global
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interstate violence that basically
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encapsulates the entire world becomes a
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serious issue right becomes something
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that changes our perceptions of what war
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really is so we have this increased
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technological sophistication in the
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weapons deployed we start to see you
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know chemical and biological weapons
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developed the the Second World War would
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see the development of nuclear weapons
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and we have this tremendous capacity to
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inflict violence that had never existed
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before in human history and because of
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that because of this change in our
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capacities to inflict violence upon our
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adversaries
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there is a real push to
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find ways to limit and constrain war all
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right to find ways in which diplomacy
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would help helpfully negotiate us out of
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out of war war would not be viewed as a
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desirable option for major powers and
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really to figure out ways to utilize
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international law and to utilize
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international organizations to prevent
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war from happening and to mitigate some
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of its effects so we see these Wars
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basically push the international
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community towards an expanded realm of
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international law and to create settings
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that hadn't previously existed like
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standing locations where global
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diplomacy can happen there's a push for
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something called the League of Nations
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after World War one and eventually after
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World War two we had the creation of the
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United Nations which exists to this day
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the recognition that we now had
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technology that had the capability of
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killing hundreds of thousands if not
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millions of people with you know a
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single weapon also created this
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recognition of the gravity of of war
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right then if two nuclear-armed
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adversaries went to war with one another
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potentially the world could be over and
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so it really created a sense that you
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needed these institutions they needed to
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be made strong and there needed to be
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settings that the major powers would use
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World War two also leads to a massive
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wave of decolonization for a couple of
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different reasons so that big colonial
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empire that we just looked at starts to
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dismantle had already begun to dismantle
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in the wake of World War one but really
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rapidly begins to become dismantled
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after World War two and part of that was
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just the fact that many of the the most
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significant holders of colonial
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possessions were part of the the Allied
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powers right so at the same time they
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were talking about the horrors of the
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Nazis and how terrible it is to be
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engaged in expansion right taking over
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territory
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annexing territory and claiming it as
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your own they were in this this
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colonialism game in which it seemed that
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they were kind of doing the same thing
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right maybe not quite with the same
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ideology that the Nazis had but with a
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say a sense of you know a racial
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hierarchy and they were at the top and
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so there was this tremendous sense of
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hypocrisy that existed that fueled some
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of the anti colonial sentiment within
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those countries the other piece was that
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they could simply no longer to afford to
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to have these massive colonial empires
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they couldn't ensure that they would
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actually be able to maintain control
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there was anti-colonial movements in
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places like india and africa and it just
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became too costly and too difficult to
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maintain them so we see this massive
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wave of decolonization which results in
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a series of new countries with fledgling
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institutions and their borders didn't
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make a lot of sense so you ended up with
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regions entire regions of the world that
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were relatively ill-equipped to be
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independent but all of a sudden
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nevertheless were independent the Cold
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War is another really important moment
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basically with the Cold War you have two
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major global powers so you have a
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bipolar system in which the United
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States is one pole and the Soviet Union
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is another Pole and really the whole
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global alliance structure revolves
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around those two major powers their
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relationship is hostile its openly
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hostile right and they generally
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distrust one another and that persists
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basically from the late 1940s right up
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until the late 1980s into the early
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1990s the other issue with this is that
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these are the two most sophisticated
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military powers in the world they're
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both you know by the late 1940s both of
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them have nuclear capabilities and they
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are maintaining an alliance structure
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through which numerous proxy wars are
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playing out so it might not be the case
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that the United States and the Soviet
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Union are openly at war with one another
00:22:22
but there are plenty of wars and civil
00:22:25
wars civil conflicts happening within
00:22:27
countries in which the United States is
00:22:29
backing one
00:22:30
sigh and the Soviet Union is backing
00:22:32
another and it's essentially you know
00:22:35
it's a very violent game of chess that's
00:22:37
playing out with the United States and
00:22:38
the Soviet Union moving the pieces it
00:22:41
also suggests that you know if you have
00:22:43
a proxy war it's very easy for a larger
00:22:45
global conflict to break out so it's a
00:22:48
really tense and uncertain period in the
00:22:50
world it's significant for a number of
00:22:52
reasons one is that the arms race
00:22:55
between these two powers help to fuel a
00:22:57
massive proliferation of weapons
00:22:59
globally and generally made the world a
00:23:01
more violent place the proxy wars and
00:23:05
interventions that happened in the
00:23:07
countries that each side was trying to
00:23:09
support shape the trajectories of those
00:23:11
countries in basically every region of
00:23:13
the world you go anywhere and you look
00:23:16
at you know politically turbulent events
00:23:17
that happened in the 1950s in the 1960s
00:23:20
and the Soviet Union was involved the
00:23:23
United States was involved often through
00:23:25
its it's CIA own interventions that were
00:23:27
occurring there and really all foreign
00:23:30
policy from the period from from the
00:23:33
1940s up until the 1990s was shaped by
00:23:37
what was happening with the Cold War
00:23:39
that was a constant consideration that
00:23:41
was the lens really through which
00:23:42
everything was viewed so the Cold War
00:23:45
you really can't underestimate its
00:23:47
impact and its importance for
00:23:49
understanding international relations in
00:23:52
that period and then lastly 9/11 and
00:23:56
terrorism so when the Soviet Union fell
00:23:58
and broke up into its constituent states
00:24:02
in the early 1990s there was this period
00:24:05
in which it was very unclear what should
00:24:07
drive the international system that lens
00:24:10
that you had right that was informing
00:24:13
foreign policy on both sides that was
00:24:15
the lens through which everyone
00:24:17
understood international relations all
00:24:20
of a sudden was gone and it wasn't clear
00:24:21
what would replace it and so the 1990s
00:24:24
you had this this kind of strange period
00:24:26
of uncertainty but also optimism that we
00:24:30
were as one scholar called it the end of
00:24:33
history right that liberal democracy had
00:24:35
won and the United States was the
00:24:36
unrivaled global superpower and so
00:24:40
conflict and foreign policy was going to
00:24:43
look
00:24:43
we different and then September 11
00:24:46
happened and September 11th kind of
00:24:49
created a new lens for understanding the
00:24:52
world combating international terrorism
00:24:56
became the central focus of the United
00:24:58
States and its allies it became for a
00:25:01
time really the dominant goal for the
00:25:02
international community and it also
00:25:05
created a justification for a
00:25:07
reinvigoration of the US military right
00:25:09
up until this point you had a lot of
00:25:11
people saying well why do we need such a
00:25:13
large such a well-funded military if our
00:25:16
main adversary the Soviet Union is gone
00:25:18
and most of the other major militaries
00:25:20
in the world belong to our allies and so
00:25:22
this created a just a justification for
00:25:25
a more hawkish foreign policy in the
00:25:28
United States and also just massive
00:25:30
increases in military and security
00:25:32
spending it's significant because it
00:25:35
provided the United States the impetus
00:25:36
for two protracted foreign wars in
00:25:39
Afghanistan and Iraq it also shifted the
00:25:42
international security focus our threats
00:25:45
were no longer superpowers it wasn't
00:25:48
simply you know what state that is not
00:25:50
friendly to US has the largest military
00:25:51
we also became really concerned about
00:25:54
failed States states in which law and
00:25:56
order had broken down states in which
00:25:58
international terrorist operations could
00:26:01
operate basically without any sort of
00:26:04
any sort of checks or any sort of
00:26:06
ability of the government to control
00:26:08
them or crack down on them and the
00:26:11
destabilization of the Middle East that
00:26:13
occurred through you know military
00:26:15
action by the United States set in
00:26:18
motion a series of ripple effects that
00:26:20
would drive other outcomes I think it's
00:26:21
not too much of a stretch to say for
00:26:24
instance that the Arab Spring that we
00:26:26
saw just a few years ago was set in
00:26:29
motion by this this destabilization of
00:26:33
the Middle East we know for instance
00:26:34
that that Isis really emerged in the
00:26:37
power vacuum that was Iraq and Syria
00:26:41
after the United States invasion and in
00:26:44
addition the civil war in Syria right
00:26:46
the ongoing tragic civil war in Syria
00:26:50
has resulted in so many refugees so many
00:26:53
people killed
00:26:54
and really a an area much Isis for a
00:26:58
while was operating and pretty
00:27:00
effectively was was an outgrowth of this
00:27:04
destabilization of the region so really
00:27:07
significant if we want to look at
00:27:09
politics in the Middle East right now we
00:27:10
have to think about 911 we have to think
00:27:12
about our attempts to conduct this this
00:27:16
broader war on terror so what does
00:27:20
history teach us we've looked at some
00:27:22
important moments in history some some
00:27:26
critical junctures in which if things
00:27:28
hadn't played out the way that they did
00:27:30
you know we might have been talking
00:27:32
about a different world that we live in
00:27:34
i think the first thing that we can say
00:27:36
is the story of international relations
00:27:38
is one of progress but it's ambiguous
00:27:40
process progress it's we're moving
00:27:45
forward and things are happening and at
00:27:48
times they appear as if it's you know
00:27:50
it's it's a good thing but there's
00:27:52
always kind of another side to that
00:27:53
right so there's always another side to
00:27:56
any story right and international
00:27:59
relations is no exception you can also
00:28:02
look at history and say our greatest
00:28:04
achievements have often happened as a
00:28:06
result of our greatest failures and
00:28:08
tragedies so the fact that we had two
00:28:10
wars which killed millions of people in
00:28:14
the 20th century yes it helped us create
00:28:16
a system of international organizations
00:28:19
that it's a setting in which diplomacy
00:28:23
can occur it's a setting in which
00:28:24
international law can be written it's a
00:28:26
setting in which norms can be advanced
00:28:28
that hopefully make our world safer and
00:28:32
less volatile but it occurred out of
00:28:35
really one of the darkest chapters in
00:28:37
human history we can say that we have
00:28:42
certain expectations with regard to law
00:28:44
and rights and justice and fairness and
00:28:47
goodness and if we live in a
00:28:49
well-ordered society and if we live in a
00:28:52
stable society in which justice and rule
00:28:55
of law actually functions we come to
00:28:57
expect those things once we move up to
00:29:00
the international realm in which we're
00:29:02
dealing with interactions between states
00:29:04
it's much harder to achieve and realize
00:29:06
those things and the last thing that we
00:29:08
say is that it's impossible to fully
00:29:10
understand the identities and interests
00:29:12
and objectives of contemporary States
00:29:14
without delving into their history right
00:29:17
so if you want to understand why the
00:29:19
United States behaves in a certain way
00:29:21
right now why the Trump administration
00:29:24
takes a certain approach to foreign
00:29:27
policy or why the British government
00:29:30
defines its national interest in a
00:29:32
certain way you have to go back and you
00:29:34
have to understand the history of those
00:29:35
countries and where they are right now
00:29:38
what moments in the past have shaped
00:29:41
that contemporary perspective you can't
00:29:43
understand international relations
00:29:46
without some sense of history it's
00:29:48
really important the close of your
00:29:51
chapter has a good overview of some of
00:29:53
the dynamics of different regions so if
00:29:56
you want to kind of delve into different
00:29:57
regions of the world and where they are
00:29:59
right now you can review that also I'd
00:30:03
encourage you to just look at the global
00:30:05
section of a major national newspaper
00:30:07
right look at you know what are the
00:30:09
stories emerging out of the Middle East
00:30:11
what's happening in Southeast Asia and
00:30:13
try to understand not just you know
00:30:16
what's happening in the moment but also
00:30:18
the larger historical processes of which
00:30:21
the unfolding events are a part of right
00:30:25
it's really essential to kind of get
00:30:28
that that broader sense of history if
00:30:30
you're going to understand what's
00:30:31
happening at any given moment for next
00:30:34
time we're going to shift gears a little
00:30:35
bit so these first two classes one has
00:30:38
been an overview of international
00:30:39
relations and this lecture has been
00:30:42
talking about the emergence of the
00:30:44
international system and how history has
00:30:46
shaped what the international system
00:30:48
looks like today we're going to shift
00:30:50
gears in the next lecture to talking
00:30:52
about theory and why theory is important
00:30:55
in understanding international relations
00:30:58
so the core thing I would say is that
00:31:02
there are so much happening in
00:31:04
international relations at any given
00:31:06
moment that we need something to help us
00:31:09
make sense of the noise otherwise it
00:31:11
just looks like chaos right it just
00:31:13
looks like something that is
00:31:14
incomprehensible and overwhelming and so
00:31:16
I think the core value of fury is that
00:31:18
can help us make sense of
00:31:20
what's unfolding in international
00:31:23
relations so you have a couple readings
00:31:25
the first is sterling [ __ ] first
00:31:27
chapter and her appendix the first
00:31:30
chapter is just an overview of how to
00:31:33
make sense of ir 3 what is ir fury and
00:31:36
then the appendix is an extended review
00:31:39
of the case that will become really the
00:31:41
center point of her book the iraq war so
00:31:44
read the appendix get a sense of you
00:31:47
know what was happening with the iraq
00:31:49
war what transpired in the iraq war and
00:31:51
that will be an important basis for
00:31:52
understanding all of the different
00:31:54
interpretations using different theories
00:31:57
that follow in that text the selection
00:32:01
from Dresner is really the introduction
00:32:03
to his book talking about our theory and
00:32:07
and zombies right but giving you a sense
00:32:10
of like why why use something that seems
00:32:13
a little comical and a little ridiculous
00:32:15
as a means for understanding
00:32:17
international relations and ir theory so
00:32:20
I'll wrap up there hopefully this these
00:32:23
first two two classes have provided you
00:32:25
kind of a basis to understand what's
00:32:26
happening in international relations and
00:32:28
the role of history and next class will
00:32:30
shift gear into some of the theory and
00:32:32
how to utilize some of the theory so
00:32:34
thanks very much
00:32:38
[Music]
00:32:46
you
00:32:47
[Music]
