HISTORY OF POLITICAL ORGANISATIONS
TERMS
NGO: non-governmental organisations
IGO: international governmental organisations
TCO: transnational operations
principle of jus sanguinis: law by blood
principle of jus solis: law by crowned territory
the age of the extremes: notion created by hobsbawn; different powerful ideologies present at the time
(communism, fascism) - a fight of ideologies from ww1 thill the end of communism
revanchism: the feeling (that hitler & other veterans had) after ww1 that germans have to get revenge on
other countries
functionalism: argues that there is a functional need for international organisations bc countries deal with
the same problems; apolitical integration without clear aims; need for a political agency for functionalism to
work; idea that institutions emerge as a result of logic circumstances by demonstrating their practical utility
concert of power / europe: a general consensus among the Great Powers (austria, france, the uk, russia,
prussia) of 19th-century Europe to maintain the European balance of power, political boundaries, and
spheres of influence; an extended period of relative peace and stability in Europe; became associated with
the idea of a conservative restoration across the continent, a restoration that would spy on radicals and inter-
vene by force if necessary to put down revolutionary insurrections whenever they challenged the principle of
monarchy; not an international organisation but more of an agreement, kind of a structure —> start of inter-
national cooperation
the end of the concert —> when? depends on how u look at it
• 1856 - end of crimean war
• 1878 - congress of berlin
• 1884 - the congo conference (scramble for africa)
• 1914 - 1918 - ww1
—> this idea of a long peace is a europocentric paradigm in historiography
concert of europe in relation to nationalism:
• congress of vienna: old europe, old relationship (nationalism suppressed by the secret services)
• 1800s, nationalism force in europe
• congress had ignored national groups
• national groups under control of large empires with different ethnic groups
• nationalism grew in opposition to these conditions
the eastern question: the problem of what to abt the inevitable disintegration of the turkish empire; turkey
became super weak so it should be modernized to 1) protect itself from russia and 2) to not fall bc that would
create a power vacuum & disturb the balance of power; a matter of not of diplomatic & military importance
but also of economic one; only the threat of war from the uk could prevent the steady increase of russian in-
fluence & the collapse of turkey (thats why this question was the most explosive issue in international affairs
after the napoleonic wars)
nationalism: identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or
detriment of the interests of other nations
> what are the criteria for a nation-state?
a territory with clear borders
independent government
governmental organisation / hierarchy / legislation (constitution, rule of law where the laws of the civilians
r regulated)
a population
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, the belief that the population is one nation —> common values, traditions and history + common language
and religion (a feeling of belonging and about loyalty that causes people to think of themselves as mem-
bers of a nation)
one currency
—> its not all necessary but they’re all important aspects of a nation-state
—> different types of nationalism: classical type (middle class, french revolution); proto-nationalism (peas-
antry tradition; conservative; eastern eu)
2 concepts of nation:
1. objective: (always there) [germany]
• criterions - language, descent, religion
• principle - jus sanguinis (law by blood)
• consequences - ethnic cleansing, wolga-germans vs gastabeiders
• —> belongs to the unification of germany
• germany wasn't a state so had to find a common sense of belonging for the ppl, the basis of the german ppl
(the blood relations, the language = sanguinis) has always been there - u dont have to live within the bor-
ders as long as u have blood relations; objective = always there = blood relations
• a immigrant in germany could never get a german identity - u cant belong to the german state bc u have no
german descent
2. subjective: (given by someone / something) [france]
• criterions - social contract, citizenship, identification
• principle - jus solis (law by crowned territory)
• consequences - laicism, no minorities
• —> belongs to the unification of france
• go back to the french revolution & ideas of nation-building & equal in front of the country / law; minorities
no more, u don't find them bc if born in france they’re french, if not they’re registered as foreigners —>
poses a problem
two options of a nation state:
1. state nation: nation and state are different dimensions of a single phenomena; the nation: demographical
part of statehood (france)
2. cultural nation: nation and state different phenomena; nation defined by cultural boundaries, the state by
political and territorial boundaries (germany)
presupposition of the national question:
nation and state understood as independent of one another
congruence - nation and state understood as desirable
only in the 19th c the principle of “nationality” political authority based on nationhood —> before that it
does not work bc there were multiple religions & ethnicities
result: cultural nationalism (proto-nationalism) became politicized and politics increasingly culturized:
ideal of nation-state gained ground, age of revolution
national question defined by burbaker: only there exists a proper relation between the immagined commu-
nity then a nation can exists, a completed nation-state
imagined community: a group of ppl all believe that they r a part of some bigger thing (germans r decent of
germans that have been living there for ages); feeling of belonging, cultural nation and the reality of the terri-
tory
internationalism: political principle that advocates greater political or economic cooperation among states
and nations
globalisation: the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments world-
wide; the growing movement towards seeing the earth as a single entity of which we must all be responsible;
the speedup of movements and exchanges (of human beings, goods, and services, capital, technologies or
cultural practices) all over the planet, one of the effects of globalization is that it promotes and increases in-
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, teractions between different regions and populations around the globe ALSO changes the way nations, busi-
nesses and people interact
eurafrica: refers to the originally german idea of strategic partnership between africa and europe; before
ww2 german supporters of european integration advocated a merger of african colonies as 1st step towards a
federal europe; played a crucial role in the early development of the eu but was forgotten afterwards
françafrique: france’s sphere of influence over former french and belgian colonies in sub-saharan africa; af-
ter the independence of african colonies beginning in 1959, france continued to maintain a sphere of influ-
ence over the new countries which was critical to then president de gaulle’s vision of france as a global
power & as a bulwark to british and american influence in a post-colonial world
relance: the conventional term for the resumption of deliberations concerning European integration after the
rejection of the EDC; gave expression to the hope and expectation of many contemporaries that, in spite of
that rejection, a kind of European unity was nevertheless in the making, even if it still was not certain in the
least in 1955
negative vs positive integration:
negative = we dont mind european project but we want to create our own boundaries —> integration but
only on some levels, the uk is an example, they kinda joined but not on all fronts
positive = agricloser union, social welfare —> full integration, acceptance of all conditions & fronts
eurosclerosis: this terms refers to the economic stagnation that can result from excessive regulation, labor
market rigidities and overly generous welfare policies; describes countries experiencing high rates of unem-
ployment, even during periods of economic growth, due to inflexible market conditions; refers to sluggish
economic performance and high unemployment, due to overly rigid labor markets and overregulation of the
economy in favor of established special interests
proxy conflict: no war in europe but elsewhere on the continent (european forces r fighting tho); used in
cold war
truman doctrine, 1947: american foreign policy that pledged american support for democracies against au-
thoritarian threats; established that the us would provide political, military n economic assistance to all
democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces; primary goal - containing so-
viet geopolitical expansion during the cold war; became the foundation of american foreign policy n led to
the formation of nato; historians sometimes say that this was the beginning of cold war
schuman plan: proposal created by french foreign minister robert schuman in 1950; for the creation of a sin-
gle authority to control the production of steel and coal [european coal and steel community] in france n west
germany to be opened for membership to other european countries; laid foundation for the establishment of
the european economic community in 1958
a policy of détente: “relaxation” in french; process of managing relation with a potentially hostile country in
order to preserve peace while maintaining vital interests
brezhnev doctrine, 1968: a soviet foreign policy that proclaimed any threat to socialist rule in any state of
the soviet bloc in central and eastern europe was a threat tot hem all & justified the intervention of fellow so-
cialist states; reiterated in a speech by brezhnev in 1968
ost politik: [eastern policy] the normalization of relations between the FRP (west germany) and eastern eu-
rope and GDP (east germany) beginning in 1969; it was an effort to break with the policies of the christian
democratic union; began with the soviet union - treaty of moscow & treaty of warsaw
westbindung: [western integration] german policy of integrating into the west sphere of influence, in partic-
ular during the cold war; german foreign policy pursues the country’s integration into nato and a strong co-
operation n collective security with its western partners
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