Essay
Assess the claim that the Peace of Westphalia marks the beginning of the modern state system.
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Assess the claim that the Peace ofWestphalia marks the beginning of the
modern state system.
In this essay, I will argue that the Peace of Westphalia does not mark the beginning of the modern
state system. This essay will examine the main concepts that I believe make up the modern state
system: limited hierarchy, sovereignty with non-interventionism, and the recognition of human
rights. For each of these, I will present the views of Leo Gross, who advocates the significance of the
Peace of Westphalia in defining the modern state system, before challenging his claims with more
accurate arguments and historical information. I will conclude by stating that the arguments put
forward by the likes of Gross are incorrect, and how there needs to be an emphasis on historical
context in order to assess state systems throughout time.
Here, I will discuss the concept of hierarchy, and how the Peace of Westphalia can be interpreted
with regards to how it demonstrates this concept. Firstly, according to Gross, the Peace of
Westphalia marked a departure from a hierarchal society. The notion of hierarchy was embodied by
the ‘relationship between the existing political entities … and the Emperor’. In particular, the Peace
of Westphalia limited the control of the Pope and the Emperor, as it was a ‘public act of disregard
of the international authority of the Papacy’ (Gross 1948:28). From this point of view, it is argued
that the Peace of Westphalia has defining characteristics in terms of establishing new idea of
hierarchy. This shift in the power of the Pope and what this meant for states within the Holy Roman
Empire, in Goss’s view, represents contempt of hierarchy. However, I believe this is quite a stretch.
The Pope still existed during this time, and still had a significant amount of power, even if it was
limited in Gross’s view. From this, I consider Gross’s claims about hierarchal society to be
somewhat of an exaggeration.
Furthermore, there is also the idea of hierarchy among states. Gross argues how the Peace of
Westphalia led to a greater balance of power across states internationally. For instance, the
aggrandizement of France and Sweden, and the independence of the United Provinces and Swiss
Confederation, led to the freedom of states. This contrasted from the unbalanced power between
states. Moreover, Gross expresses how the balance of power that resulted from the Peace was
necessary for the development and functioning of the League of Nations (Gross 1948:25-27). From
, this information alone, it is easy to understand why someone would agree with Gross and deem the
Peace as establishing greater equality in terms of power. On the contrary, there are other views
regarding hierarchy among states, which are more historically accurate, such as those of Peter Stirk.
Stirk counters the idea that there was a greater equality of power among states, because it is
interpreted wrong. He uses the example of the delegates from smaller states, such as the Dutch
delegates, apparently wanting to gain greater equality on the international field (the French
delegates, however, disapproved of this as they viewed the Dutch delegates as similar to the
Venetian delegates). Stirk states from this that this is not an example of states striving towards
greater equality. It is, however, international hierarchy at play (Stirk 2012:644), which is a viewpoint
I agree with. The smaller states were not striving for equality, but for more power for themselves.
Similarly, the larger states did not disapprove of greater equality among states per say, but instead
did not want to lose any power they had. This exemplifies the hierarchal system at play on the
international level, and contradicts the claims made by Gross. Therefore, the Peace of Westphalia
did not mark the beginning of the modern state system with regards to hierarchy, because the
notion of hierarchy still persisted from after the Peace was established.
Now, I will consider the notion of sovereignty and how the Peace of Westphalia has influenced this
over the years. Again, Gross firmly believes that the Peace plays a defining role in how we view
sovereignty in modern society. He states that the Peace created a new system of ‘coexistence of a
multiplicity of states, each sovereign within a territory, equal to one another, and free from any
external authority’ (Gross 1948:29). It is worth emphasising how Gross explicitly states that the
sovereignty of states resulted from the Peace of Westphalia. However, I believe this has resulted
from his confusion over both what the conventional notion of sovereignty is, and how sovereignty
was defined in the early modern period, which I will go into more detail about now.
Glanville provides an alternative view of sovereignty and the Peace of Westphalia and sovereignty,
which I agree with. He stresses the importance of historical context when exploring the issue of
sovereignty, and challenges the idea that the Peace led to the conventional idea of sovereignty
used in modern society. This conventional idea is a non-interventionist form of sovereignty, which
is frequently argued to derive from Westphalia. Glanville explains that this is not the case. The
Westphalian myth, that traditional sovereignty has a fixation on non-intervention, is incorrect.
Instead, Glanville argues how the Peace was mainly to do with ‘Princes duties to exercise religious
tolerance within their own territories’, and how it was only in the 18 th century when there was a
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