History of International Relations
1 Introduction
1.1 Why is it useful for social scientists to
study history?
1. Historical legacies
It has an considerate impact and influences present and future behaviour
eg “Poland is a post-communist society”
o when we make this claim, we mean that the experience of communism was so
important with such a big effect, that the way of doing things back then defines P today
o communist attitudes continue to linger today
eg “Belgian diplomatic relations with Congo are post-colonial relations”
o = matter of chronological facts & historical legacies that are lingering in this
relationships
o it’s important to bear in mind
danger of essentialism: attribute is an essense (that’s how it is, and it’s umpossible to
change) eg when Russia invaded Ukraine, people said that it’s rooted in their nature and
identity
2. The politics of historical memories
it’s important to know the other
all kind of actors care about their history and a lot of political behaviour is motivated by
historical memories (eg shame or pride from the past)
e.g., Kiev and Russian foreign policy claims: whe Putin justified the Russian aggression: it was
with reference to Kiev as historical origin of the russian state
you don’t know by what the other is motivated so historical motives are already a good start
Political memories are often the source of war
political memories:
o Propagated by ‘memory activists’
o they are always selective based on emotions (you may want to forget bad things)
o Based on ‘selection and exclusion’
o Depends on the ‘efficiency of political pedagogy’
o Show a high degree of ‘homogeneity’
o Relies on symbols and rites that ‘enhance emotions of empathy and identification’
3. [Lessons from history]
, most modern historians say that history DOESN’T repeat itself so that we shouldn’t take
lessons from it!!
eg … from Munich In 1938: the lessen would be: “never onderhandel with a dictator” but
we should now so…
that’s why it’s between brackets bc it’s almost impossible to not draw lessons from it
! do not look at only 1 example from history, but take multiple and bear in mind the context!
4. The contingency of moral ideas and social arrangements!!!!!
you aree confronted by different ways of thinking about life, political existence, … aka the
contingency of moral ideas and social arrangement
if something is contingent it means that it could have been different bc once upon a time
thay were different and we know that by having studied those
e.g., ‘gender equality’ or ‘natural slavery’ or ‘sovereignty’
1.2 What do we expect to learn?
IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’ & ‘eurocentric’
! Is it a problem that IR as a discipline betrays a ‘presentist’ and a ‘eurocentric bias’?
Yes, because:
Non-Western powers are re-asserting themselves
o [historical legacies] & [historical memory] we need the history
What is the logic of the international system? [contingency of present arrangements]
What is an ‘international system’? What is ‘the logic’ of the international system?
o Basic unit: state, sovereign state
o Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
o Rules & norms: sovereign equality
o Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence
But this is an inadequate portrayal that generalizes too readily from European experience.
2 China & East-Asia
2.1 What is China?
a chinese international system = an international system in which China is powerful and dominant
over other entities and bc of this, it gets to set the rules, principles and the sets of interaction in all
the domaines of extistence (political, cultural, ideological, economical, …)
,cultural is important bc here (more than in other nations), culture is very much incorporated in their
political policy what is this chinese culture = Confucianism
China was historically NOT a nation-state
o not until the eind of the 19th century (like any naitona)
o there wasn’t an idea within China that people had to identify with the Chinese nation
o rather there were multiple etnicities that spoke multiple languages
o no expectations that ordinairy people will identify with the nation (nationalism) even
today, Chinese national identiy is very much dependent of a political project/government
policv/ political teaching
o in the geographical space we now call china, there were a number of imperial dynasties,
that somehow claimed there was succession (not actually direct continuity) and all called
themselves the middle kingdom
o a civilization zone sharin in a set of ritual practices boundries btwn different civilasiation
zones are blurry, but people including the elite share a number of practives (eg season
celebratoins, calendar, characters as writing system, political vocabulary and way of thinking
about political authority)
o they ruled with a mandate of heaven and called themselves sons of heaven it means to
rule with divine blessing but nOT a claim to a divine RIGHT to rule remains a mandate
only so it can be withdrawn! they are blessed with the skills etc. but heaven could also take
it away from you was functional bc the imperial dynasty
identifying a chinese int system: encompassing, unchanging, unsuestionably Confucian
o overland system: to a small extend organised
o tribute system: to a big extend organised
Two main points:
it’s not persuasive historically speaking to try to identify an unchanging fully china dominated
system periods in which China (was) dominated, … (fluctuation instead of continously)
Confusianism did not impregnate these foreign relations to the extend that is often assumed it
did influence them as a major power, but not comprehensively
2.2 The warring states period
there was certainly also chinese international history before the warring states period BUT neither of
the two ruling dynasties could properly control the territory insuficient means to extert
international power ( = NOT imperial dynasties)
regional leaders could not be fully controlled by central authorities regional leaders would asert
their indepence and no longer accept obedience mulitple independent states
, 475-251 BCE
intense competition, including military competition: attempts to steal territory, alliances to
prevent hegemony of one of the state, recurrent warfare
Qin appear to achieve dominance, other “polities” think about how to respond? searching
allies against them or obey them or …
military commanders start writing military handbooks (eg: Sunzi, “the art of war” in which he
explains how a state should orgainse itself military to gain success while underlining the importance
of intelligence, subterfuge and dissimulation)
2.2.1 Economical & cultural flourishing
warred states period is often considered as one of the more flourishing periods (even though there is
intense warfare) bc of the economical and cultural developments/innovations contradiction!
2.2.1.1 Economical flourishing
if you’re engaged in military conflicts, you have to make sure you’re ahead of your opponent so
you need people devoted to science and innovation
if you need to develop new technology, you need financial resources (investments) raising
taxes more efficiently there is a push to organise your administration better
2.2.1.2 Cultural flourishing
cultural development = leaders/states wil typically be eager for imput on how to best organise
their societies space for creative thinking development of multiple intellectual schools
A. Kongzi/confusius developed a moral philosophical system (Confucianism):
o virtious behaviour is more important than the rules bc acting in accordance with the law is
dependant on virtues
o we should think about society not as individuals living side by side but as a set of hierarchical
relations (father & son) inferior actor needs to be obedient, superieur actor has
obligation to take care of the inferior one (ruler cannot rule arbitrarily but generously with
the wellbeing of the subjects in mind) virtuous ruling is for example maintaining the
seasonal calendar
B. Daoism = less emphasis on hierarchical relations, but spirituality in relation to nature
C. Fajia/legalism
o moral virtue is overestimated and gets you nothing
o you get social order by developing a strong legal framework with harsh laws & punishments
