Traditional Actors and Other Actors

1. Traditional Actors and Other Actors Lsns 7, 8, and 9

2. Agenda • Classical International System (1648-1789) • Transitional International System (1789-1945) • Post- World War II International System (1946-1991) • Post- Cold War International System (1992-present)

3. Classical International System (1648-1789) • Zealous efforts of the Catholic Church to stamp out Protestantism led to bitter religious wars in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries • The growing tensions erupted in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) which eventually involved every major European power and expanded from a religious to a political character Ferdinand II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

4. Classical International System (1648-1789) • The war was the most destructive European conflict prior to the 20th Century • Undisciplined soldiers committed acts of violence and brutality • Economic and social life was disrupted • One-third of the German population was killed • In an effort to avoid tearing their societies apart, the European powers ended the war with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648

5. Classical International System (1648-1789) • The Peace of Westphalia: • Laid the foundations for a system of independent, competing states • European states would henceforth regard each other as sovereign and equal • Each state had the right to organize its own domestic and religious affairs • Political and diplomatic affairs would be conducted by states acting in their own interests

6. Classical International System (1648-1789) • Sovereignty does not necessarily mean that the state is able to control all the actions of its members at all times • It does mean the state internally can claim a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force as a possible tool in seeking to compel obedience and externally can claim a monopoly right to act vis-à-vis other states Max Weber famously defined the state as that organization that claims a monopoly over the legitimate use of violence

7. Classical International System (1648-1789) • With the Peace of Westphalia, nation-states emerged as the world’s primary political organizations • Nation-states have a single central government exercising sovereignty over a relatively fixed population within a relatively defined territory • A “nation” refers to a a cultural or social entity whose members have some sense of a shared historical experience as well as shared destiny • “State” and “nation-state” have come to be used interchangeably The former state of Yugoslavia has divided into several new states that reflect the national identities of their members

8. Classical International System (1648-1789) • During the classical era of international relations there were a relatively small number of actors involved in international politics • Royal families of the European nation-states along with their aristocratic elites King Louis XIV is credited with saying, “L'État, c'est moi” (“I am the State”).

9. Classical International System (1648-1789) • While other nation-states existed, international politics was essentially European politics • Power distributed among England, France, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Turkey, and later Prussia and Russia • Aggressively minded states were deterred from seeking hegemony by the “balance of power” represented by the prospect of coming up against a coalition of states having equal or superior power • France was often perceived as the major threat to the system’s stability with England serving as the chief “balancer”

10. Classical International System (1648-1789) • The first half of the 17th Century ushered in the age of absolutism in which ultimate authority rested in the hands of a monarch who claimed to rule by divine right and was therefore responsible only to God • The fact that decision-making rested in the hands of a few rulers who did not have any vast ideological cleavages (all were conservative and many were related by marriage) helped maintain stability • A “minimum number of minimally different nation-states”

11. Classical International System (1648-1789) • The combination of multiple power systems and flexibility of alignments made for a multipolar environment • The classical era was not an era of peace, but one in which the violent international conflicts that did occur were relatively small affairs between monarchs rather than the total wars between societies that would follow in subsequent eras

12. Case Study Seven Years’ War

13. Seven Years’ War: Causes • After the explorations of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries, the European powers protected their interests by building a series of fortified trading posts throughout the maritime regions • Boundaries in the new colonies were disputed • Commercial competition ultimately generated violence • In 1746 French forces seized the English trading post at Madras, India • In the Caribbean English pirates attacked Spanish vessels and French and English forces fought over the sugar islands • The violence culminated in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)

14. Seven Years’ War: Causes • A global war • In Europe, Britain and Prussia fought against France, Austria, and Russia • In India, British and French allied with local rulers and fought each other • In the Caribbean, the Spanish and French fought the British • In North America, the Seven Years’ War merged with the on-going French and Indian War (1754-1763) which pitted the British and French against each other

15. Seven Years’ War: Frederick the Great • Became king of Prussia in 1740 when he was 28 • Had spent much of his life training as a soldier, visiting battlefields, and studying political history and politics • Believed every man had an obligation to serve his state and that it was the king’s particular duty to develop policies that increased the power and standing of the state • Strong lust for military glory • His success lay in his purposeful use of authority and unwavering determination to make Prussia a European power

16. Seven Years’ War: Frederick the Great • Frederick used the period of peace after the War of Austrian Succession to prepare his country and army for another war • In August 1756, Frederick launched a preemptive attack against Saxony and Austria, hoping to force them to sue for peace before another country could intervene • Was unable to achieve a quick, decisive victory and was now faced with fighting a coalition of powerful states • French, Russian, and Austria forces began converging on Prussia

17. Seven Years’ War: Frederick the Great • Frederick used his central position to defeat French, German, and Austrian armies in his Nov-Dec 1757 Rossbach-Leuthen campaign, secure Prussia’s boundaries of 1756, and gain a satisfactory negotiated peace • In the process, he benefited greatly from Britain’s ability to support Prussia by defeating the French at sea and overseas

18. Seven Years’ War: British Navy • The British had the most powerful fleet and expeditionary forces of any of the combatants • Furthermore, the British could rely on the Prussian army to do most of the fighting on the continent • This allowed the British to bring overwhelming pressure against the French at sea

19. Seven Years’ War: British Navy • The British Navy blockaded the French ports to contain commerce raiders, intercept forces bound for the colonies, and forestall an invasion of England • They raided the French Atlantic coast to destroy shipping and stores and to divert French forces from Germany • They defeated the French Navy at Quiberon Bay which freed the British Navy to turn its attention to the French colonies The Battle of Quiberon Bay by Nicholas Pocock

20. Seven Years’ War: French and Indian War • The British, French, and Spanish all had colonial interests in North America and this competition led to war in 1754 • The French and Indian War merged with the Seven Years’ War

21. Seven Years’ War: French and Indian War • The French came to place greater emphasis on the war in Europe than in the colonies and the British developed a numerical advantage • The British Navy played an important role in blockading New France which was never a self-sufficient colony and could not survive without a steady stream of support from France • In September 1760, the British finally conquered all of Canada when the combined Anglo-American force overwhelmed the French at Montreal

22. Seven Years’ War: Results • The victory in Canada allowed the British to divert thousands of troops elsewhere and ultimately win the Seven Years’ War • Britain was now in a position to dominate world trade for the foreseeable future • The Seven Years’ War paved the way for the establishment of the British Empire of the 19th Century

23. Seven Years’ War • How does the Seven Years’ War represent the era of the classical international system in terms of: • States acting according to self-interest • European dominance • Absolute authority • Limited war • Balance of power • Multipolar

24. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • The American and French Revolutions ushered in a period of nationalism that gave the masses a greater voice in the political life of their country • Mass democracy meant that the government had to be more sensitive to public opinion in formulating foreign policy, but also that the government could count on the total military and economic capabilities of their societies in pursuing that policy During the French Revolution, the levee en masse was used to mobilize the French population and resources

25. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • Nationalism led to the appearance of new states • Freedom gained from colonial masters • Political unification of culturally similar groups • At the same time, nationalistic impulses touched off a new wave of European imperialism that subjugated people in Africa and elsewhere Simon Bolivar was one of the chief heroes in Latin America’s struggle for independence from Spain

26. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • Imperialism was effected not just through the force of arms, but also through trade, investment, and business activities that enabled the imperial powers to profit from subject societies and influence their affairs without going to the trouble of exercising direct political control • Conflict could be avoided only as long as there was enough colonial territory to go around Colonial disputes in Africa was one of the causes of World War I

27. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • After World War I there were additional pressures for national “self-determination” and by the end of the transitional period there were over 50 nation-states • In addition to increased nation-states, there were increasing numbers of people during this period • In 1830 the world population reached 1 billion • Just 100 years later it reached 2 billion

28. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • The increased industrialization that occurred in Europe and America during the 19th and early 20th Centuries contributed to a growing disparity in wealth between societies in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres • The transitional era marked increasing interdependence, especially in the economic sphere • The Global Depression of the 1920s and 1930s showed the dangers of this interdependence By the end of the 19th Century, the factory had become the predominant site of industrial production in Europe and America

29. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • The Industrial Revolution largely bypassed the Southern Hemisphere, creating an unprecedented “rich-poor gap” • The Industrial Revolution skewed not just the distribution of wealth in favor of certain states, but also the distribution of power • Economic advantage was easily converted to military advantage • Several states dominated the rest of the system, but Britain was considered “first among equals”

30. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • Two non-European states rose to power during this transitional era • The United States with its victory in the Spanish-American War (1898) • Japan with its victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1905) • The transitional era marked both the peak of the European-centered world and the beginning of its decline Retreat of Russian soldiers during the Russo-Japanese War

31. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • On Oct 24-25, 1917, the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace, seized control of Russia, and transitioned the country to a socialist government • After that Russia took on special significance in the international system as a communist power Vladimir Lenin headed the Bolsheviks, the radical wing of the Russian Social Democratic Party

32. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • Additional components of growing ideological conflict emerged during the transitional era with the rise of national socialism and fascism • The transitional era marked the first time competition between rival political philosophies would be injected into international relations and would foreshadow the extreme polarization of the post-World War II era In May 1939, Mussolini and Hitler signed a ten-year Pact of Steel between Italy and Germany

33. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • Still the international system of the transitional era was flexible enough to remain multipolar in that countries reached across ideological philosophies to form alliances • The British and American democracies joined forces with the communist Soviets against the fascist Germans and Italians in World War II Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin

34. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • The transitional era was marked by increases in total war • Total war describes a war in which nations use all of their resources to destroy another nation’s ability to engage in war. • French Revolution’s levee en masse • US Civil War and Sherman’s March to the Sea • World War I and the increased lethality that resulted from diverting advances in industrialization to military applications • World War II and the atomic bomb

35. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • Traditional nation-states have difficulties handling problems of a global magnitude • Nonstate actors began to appear • The first intergovernmental international organization, The Central Committee for the Navigation of the Rhine, was created in 1815 • The International Committee of the Red Cross was founded in 1863 • The League of Nations was formed in 1919 1919 British cartoon criticizing the failure of the United States to join the League of Nations

36. Transitional International System (1789-1945) • Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) • Established on a regional or global basis by member governments in response to problems that transcend national boundaries and seem to call for institutional responses • Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) • Formed among private groups of individuals sharing specialized interests across national borders

37. Case Study Global Depression

38. Global Depression • In the 1920s, the world economy was beginning to return to normal after World War I • Beneath the surface however there were some serious flaws • Tangled financial system • Second order effects of technological advances • Weakened agricultural base

39. Britain and France Repayment of war loans Reparations required by Versailles US Germany Austria Loans Tangled Financial System • The Treaty of Versailles imposed heavy reparation payments on Germany and Austria to France and Britain • Germany and Austria relied on US loans and investment capital to finance these reparations • The French and British, in turn, relied on these reparations to repay loans to the US taken out during World War I • By the summer of 1928, US lenders and investors started to withdraw capital from Europe which placed an intolerable strain on the system

40. Second Order Effects of Technological Advances • Improvements in industrial processes reduced demand for some raw resources, causing an increase in supplies and a drop in demand • Tires could now be made with reclaimed rubber which crippled the economies of the Dutch East Indies, Ceylon, and Malaysia which relied on exports of rubber • Increased use of oil reduced demand for coal • Synthetics reduced demand for cotton • Artificial nitrogen reduced demand for nitrates from Chile

41. Weakened Agricultural Base • Agricultural production in Europe declined significantly during World War I, so farmers in the US, Canada, Argentina, and Australia increased their production • After World War I, European farmers restored their production which created worldwide surpluses • The situation was exacerbated by above average global harvests between 1925 and 1929 • By 1929 the price of a bushel of wheat was its lowest in 400 years

42. Crash of 1929 • The US had enjoyed an economic boom after World War I • Many people began buying stock on margin (paying as little as 3% of the stock’s price in cash and borrowing the remainder) • By October 1929, indications of a worldwide economic slowdown and overvalued stock prices prompted investors to pull out of the market

44. Black Thursday (October 24) • Panic selling on the New York Stock Exchange caused stock prices to plummet • Thousands lost their lifesavings • By the end of the day, eleven financiers had committed suicide • When lenders called in their loans, investors were forced to sell their securities at any price

45. Economic Contraction Spreads • There was no longer consumer demand for all the goods businesses produced • Businesses cut back on production and laid off workers • A vicious downward spiral of business failures and unemployment followed • By 1932, industrial production was half of its 1929 level • National income was down approximately 50% • 44% of US banks had closed

46. Global Effects • Much of the world depended on the export of US capital and the strength of US imports, so the US economic contraction had worldwide impact • Germany and Japan were especially hard hit Toronto Stock Market after the day after the New York Stock Market crashes

47. Economic Nationalism • The Great Depression destroyed international economic cooperation and governments began practicing economic nationalism • Trade barriers, import quotas, import prohibitions • US passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930 raising duties on most manufactured products to prohibitive levels • Governments of other nations retaliated with their own tariffs on US products Congressman Willis Hawley

48. Economic Nationalism • The world economy was too interdependent for protectionism to work • Between 1929 and 1932, world production went down 38% and trade dropped over 66% • By 1933, unemployment in industrialized nations was five times higher than in 1929 Unemployed men vying for jobs at the American Legion Employment Bureau in Los Angeles during the Great Depression.

49. Global Depression • How does the Global Depression represent the era of the transitional international system in terms of: • Impact of industrialization • Increased interdependence • Shifting away from European dominance • Growth of nonstate actors

50. Post- World War II International System (1946-1991) • Following World War II, the international system became bipolar as the United States and the Soviet Union matched competing ideologies in the Cold War • The Cold War was a state of political tension and military rivalry that stopped short of full-scale war, but involved everything from the Olympics to the space race to indirect fighting through surrogates