Things You Absolutely Must Know from the First Section of the Course

There will be questions about these on the second exam.

Treaty of Westphalia: The Thirty Years War, 1618-1648, fought between the Holy Roman Empire (and its supporters) vs. Protestant and Nationalist forces in Europe, ended the Holy Roman Empire’s dominance of European politics. The new system, enshrined in the Treaty of Westphalia, 1648, divided Europe into sovereign nation-states. Over 300 sovereign nation-states existed in the defeat of the HRE. They recognized their own governments and not the empire. They rejected any empire or European-wide authority. The government of their nation-state, no matter how small that nation-state was, recognized no higher authority than its own government. A nation-state is the entity you see on the map. Since the Treaty of Westphalia, the world has been organized into nation-states who don’t recognize any world or regional governments or any empires to rule over them. Of course, there are exceptions. First, nation-states sometimes lose wars and then get eaten up by other nation-states. The powerful devour the weak. Second, colonialism was just that. Powerful nation-states gobbling up weaker ones. Third, the European Union created a semi-merger of nation-states who voluntarily gave up some of their sovereignty to European-wide organizations. We’ll get to that in a few weeks.

Sovereignty: Nation-states have sovereignty. They don’t recognize any authority other than their own government. When it comes to international law for instance or the United Nations, nation-states only cooperate or follow international law or UN decisions, if they choose to do so (or if forced to do so by another nation-state). There is no world government.

Realism: The international system is about power. Period. Morality is irrelevant. International law is irrelevant. Culture is irrelevant. Nation-states seek to increase their power and decrease the power of their rivals.

Idealism: The world is about more than power; values, morality, international law, cooperation, mutual interests all matter.

Constructivism: Nation-states have identity. They have history, culture, tradition, and unique characteristics that define the way they act in international affairs.

US vs. China: Right now, most scholars assume that in the future the US and China will be rivals. That may be a new cold war. India could play a big role in this rivalry, but the key players most scholars assume will be the US and China.

China Reforms: Impact and Character: Very important. The reforms that began in China in 1978 turned China from an economically backward nation into the fastest growing nation in the world. From the 1980s to today, the Chinese economy represents the largest generation of wealth in world history. That’s why people see China as a rival to the US. The US economy is still growing very well, but China’s economy is catching up. Very important: China moved from an economy controlled by the government (a command economy or a socialist economy) to a more capitalist economy. It still has lots of government intervention, but the purpose of that intervention is to create wealth. China, however, has seen relatively little political reform. It is still a dictatorship. The Communist Party still runs the country. No other parties are allowed. Criticizing the leader of the nation, Xi Jinping, will land you in jail or worse.