9) The Westphalian system of states

Given the diverse yet overwhelmingly dynastic nature of the constitutive units of the Westphalian system, it featured a series of system ­defining phenomena that set it structurally apart from its modern successor. These phenomena were bound up with the persistence of political and geopolitical accumulation which blocked the emergence of modern sovereignty.

The idea that the Westphalian settlement marks the beginning of the modern states-system thus rests on an erroneous conflation of absolutist and capitalist forms of sovereignty. It was an anarchic system but this anarchy did not revolve around the security interests of states but around the competitive proprietary interests of kings.

10) International society - definition

An international society is a society of states in which states ‘conceive themselves to be bound by a common set of rules in their relations with one another, and share in the workings of common institutions’ (Bull, 1995, p.13).

11) Sovereignty and mutual recognition

The first rule (or rather complex of rules) of an international society is that of the mutual recognition of the sovereign claims among states. Domestic or internal sovereignty is claimed in relation to a given territory and population and can be asserted independently of other states. External or international sovereignty – the recognition of sovereignty claims by other states – can arise in one of two ways.

First, mutual recognition may arise simply as a result of a prudent calculation of interests: one state recognizes the external sovereignty of another because the domestic sovereignty of the latter is an accomplished fact – a fact that might be costly to ignore or try to reverse. ‘The existence of what is recognized,’ says Martin Wight, ‘determines the act of recognition, and not the other way round’ (1986, p.46).

Second, recognition may be a constitutive act: the mutual recognition of states as sovereign by one another may serve to empower each against other potential claimants for political authority. Recognition in this active sense is what complements and thereby completes a domestic claim to sovereign authority.

A claim to rule that is recognized by other states in this way is a vastly more efficient means of governing than one that has to be defended, by either force or fraud, against rival claimants for political power such as religious or economic organizations. In short, active mutual recognition between the members of the society of states can serve, in part, to create the sovereignty of those states (that is, it is constitutive) and can thus bring great benefits.

12) The balance of power - key features

The core of the balance of power theory is the idea that national security is enhanced when military capabilities are distributed so that no one state is strong enough to dominate all others. If one state gains inordinate power, the theory predicts that it will take advantage of its strength and attack weaker neighbors thereby providing an incentive for those threatened to unite in a defensive coalition.

Some realists maintain that this would be more stable as aggression would appear unattractive and would be averted if there was equilibrium of power between the rival coalitions.

When confronted by a significant external threat, states may balance. Balancing is defined as allying with others against the prevailing threat.

Feudalism:

No balance of power.

Absolutism:

Big powers eliminate smaller powers, while a compensatory equilibrium maintains a dynamic balance among the big powers.

Capitalism:

Active balancing by Britain on the continent combined with imperial dominance of the oceans, followed by an extended period of geopolitically mediated, uneven development of capitalism on a worldwide basis.