Notes de cours
Samenvatting History of International Relations 1-10
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- Universiteit Antwerpen (UA)
Lecture notes of 88 pages for the course History of International Relations at UA (-)
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RINGMAR CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTIONThe traditional European version of world history is no longer valid.
Europe and North America play a far less important role in world politics than in the past century, and in the
future this role is likely to becme less important still.
COMPARATIVE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS
An international system = a system which is made up of political entities (states) which act independently of
each other at the same time as they are forced to consider the actions of all other entities in the system.
- Logic is expressed in insitutions, ruled and norms
- Today: only one international system – European rules, norms and insitutions
This system originated in Europe around the 16th century and spread to the rest of the world as a result of
European colonialism in the 19th century.
INSTITUTIONS, RULES AND NORMS
This system takes the state as its basic unit.
- States that do things – war, peace treaties, foreign trade etc
- States have been thought of as sovereign.
A sovereign state is a state which exercise supreme authority within a given territory. A sovereign state
determines its own affairs in accordance with its own interests and aspirations. Sovereignty is a basic
institution of the European international system, it implies a number of social practices and
administrative arrangements.
- All states have a right to self-determination.
- No common authority in this kind of international system.
problem: no one takes responsibility for the system as a whole. (anarchy)
o Permanently insecure and war is a constant threat
- Violent international system
Other international systems:
- Other political actors (not states): empires played a prominent role
- Territory was defined differently borders have a different meaning
- Sovereignty was not so important as the European system
- Political entities are not functionally equal to each other
- The system is not anarchial in the same way as the European system, mostly hierarchical and helf
together by means of a common culture and a shared set of values
STATELESS SOCIETIES
World history is not equal to the history of the state, nor the history of stateless people.
Hunters and gatherers were constantly on the move, so it was difficult for political authorities to exercise
control over them. As a result, hunters and gatherers lived in ‘stateless’ societies.
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,Pastoralists are people who keep animals such as sheep, cows, horses, and reindeers. Their animals graze the
land, and when they run out of food in one place, their owners move in order to find new pastures. As a result
pastoralists are difficult to taks and have little respect for borders.
WALLS AND BRIDGES
Nomadic people periodically swpet into China, India and Europe looted, killed and distroyed. The nomads
besieged cities and destroyed city walls. Moreover, they were notorious destroyers of culture. (Culture refers
to cultivation, ‘the tilling of the land’). Yet, it might be unfair to call Mongols and other nomadic tribes
‘barbarian’. Better to say that they have a different outlook on life.
The international system is isolated from external influences, but it is also independent and self-sufficient.
(China, Japan and Europe). But there are other international systems that were outward-looking and expansive
and seek to connect different parts of the world with each other. (Mongols, Arabs and the Indian Ocean).
Civilization spreads through exchange: the circulation of goods, people, ideas, faiths and ways of life. When our
society is connected to other societies, we are connected to other people and we can compare things and
judge them in relation to each other. Civilization provides us with the means to escape.
HIR: CHINA AND EAST ASIA LES 2
We’ll be focusing how international order took shape in distant places, such as China and East-Asia. For each of
these regions, we will explain that there was always more than one polity, and these multiple state coexisting,
they developed rules of co-existence, diplomatic practices.
INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS CHINA?
What is China? And what does it mean to identify a ‘Chinese’ international system? We need to be careful to
use the words ‘China’ and ‘Chinese’ in a non-analystical way.
What is China?
China is a sovereign State since 1911: this is correct in reference to China today. But historically the
notion of sovereignty did not exist in the international system.
World power: interesting formulation to use, we cannot agree or disagree. Until the unification of the
world by the European powers (15-16 th century), before that time there was no global world. So, it was
impossible for a strong power to establish themselves as world power. At the same time, it is clear
that China was indeed a dominant power in the region. In the world that was known to China, it tried
to assert itself as the dominant power. China got to define the rules of international order.
China is not a nation-state/ sovereign state . There was no great coherence nor a strong nationality
feeling. There are hundreds of ethnicities, along those, there were a great amount of languages. Only
a set of shared ritual practices! China was a region of imperial dynasties with pretense of being the
‘middle kingdom’ (zhongguo). China today did not call itself China, but zhongguo with the pretense of
being a world-power. The Chinese empresses were children of Heaven, ruling with a mandate or
blessing of heaven. The attempt to make China a nation-state did not begin until the 20 th century.
China was a civilizational zone sharing in a set of ritual practices : all of these countries identify
themselves as belonging to that civilizational zone, but they were distant polities. So, they had a
degree of independence from China. They shared a set of ritual practices, writing system, seasonal
celebrations… (Japan belonged to the civilizational zone, but nonetheless had its own authority).
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,What does it mean to identify a ‘Chinese’ international system?
Because China was a dominant power, China ought to define the rules of other, less powerful
countries vis-à-vis China and how they had to behave itself. So, they could set the rules of
international order.
The power of China to set those rules was, however, not unlimited . There were periods in history
where the Mongols, Russians, … became equally or more powerful than China. China shows itself quite
pragmatic in the way it defines itself and grant the other powers a say in how the international order
should operate. The overland system: China was willing to subordinate itself vis-à-vis Mongol tribes
when necessary.
So the system was not comprehensive or unchanging, … there was an overland system (for the
relations with Mongols) and tribute system (relations with korea, …). The system was not
comprehensive, neither unchanging, neither unquestionably Confucian.
THE ‘WARRING STATES PERIOD’
475-251 BCE
China was not unified at all. (it had been before, but those dynasties dissipated)
China disintegrates and there were 7 competing centers of power, which did not accept each
others authority. => intense political and military competition.
Intense competition, including military competition
Each of these polities, who border each other, want to expand
This developed into military competition. For a long time these states were equal in power,
but at one point one of these polities (Qin) become the more dominant state. But the other
still do not accept the power of the state. The other states start to organize themselves, to
respond to Qin dominance, by developing political military strategies.
From this period (Chinese classical division):
Book ‘The Art of War’ Sunzi. Written by a general
of one these armies. He writes his advice to his
political rule about how to go to war.
o Security dilemma and balance of power
They try to develop the best military competition
Comparison with the balance of power in 19 th
century in Europe
Qin appear to achieve dominance, other ‘polities’ must
respond
The warring states period was a period of intense and often violent
political-military competition, and yet it was a period in which
china flourished. How is this possible?
Competition drives states to excel, but only if warfare is limited in nature (so no total warfare – like
20th century). States started to innovate.
Political competition spurred economic development: they have to develop weapon systems, which
can serve as a boost for the economy. they need to be become the better state, more performative,
more efficient, for which they need financial resources. So, they set up a functioning tax system, and
for that they need an advances administrative apparatus. Those taxes could then be used for the
military, which in turn boosted the economy.
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, Political (military) competition spurred intellectual creativity: in this period a number of new schools
of thought developed in China. The rulers of these 7 polities were desperate for advice. Scholars
started wandering about and went from court to court, offering his advice.
Kongzi/ Proper conduct within hierarchical, personal relations. Kongzi is seen as a
Confucianism wise philosopher and promoted his philosophy in various courts.
The leader needs to be morally virtuous.
Daoism
Fajia/ Legalism Ruthless pursuit of state interests; role of law therein, but ruler above law,
certainly in foreign affairs (adopted by Qin Shi Huang).
Very influential in that time: a doctrine which did not put the emphasis on
proper moral conduct (like Confucianism). You need to set up clear and
simple laws, doesn’t matter how the ruler behaves, as long as you have a
clear set of rules. If a person trespasses those rules, we need harsh
punishments. Legalism found a lot of support from the rulers and taken up
for example by Qin Shi Huang. He manages to establish a new imperial
dynasty, that unifies the polities.
Comparable to machiavelism in Europa: the end justifies the means.
Terracotta army: succession of imperial dynasties comes along the development of China. The superior
dynasties were not really superior, they held a degree of insecurity. They were at risk to be fought and they
were fought.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE STATE
- ‘China’ was ruled over by a succession of imperial dynasties
EXAM: You don’t need to know the strict order of the dynasties, but you have to know that a dynastie is a
‘family’, this means that there must have been plenty of struggle and contestation, otherwise there would not
have been a succession of dynasties.
Plenty of struggle and competition: all of these imperial dynasties created military capacity.
Not every dynasty was of Chinese origin
o Yuang dynastie and Qing dynastie (17 th century till 1911) where not Chinese they
were Mongol tribes that manage to concur and dominate China
o There were severe problems of legitimacy
Be sufficiently powerful so you could not push off the throne power
legitimize itself, being powerful leads people to accept the legitimacy
By adopting a discours of Confusianism (especially Ching) they accepted and
maintained existing institutions. When the Ming was defeated by the Ching,
the Ching did not erase the Chinese institutions, but they kept it in place
Yet also myriad elements of continuity
in cultural terms
o same ritual practices were performed over the dynasties: for example: emperor
would offer sacrificial gifts to the heaven.
o embrace of Confusianism as state philosophy, even if it was not always practiced.
You have to behave in accordance to Confusianism.
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