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Tomas Hopkins Primeau Professor of International Relations

The Evolution of Political Units: Hunter-Gatherers to City-States to Regional Empires to Colonial Empire to the Modern State System. Tomas Hopkins Primeau Professor of International Relations.

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Tomas Hopkins Primeau Professor of International Relations

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  1. The Evolution of Political Units: Hunter-Gatherers to City-States to Regional Empires to Colonial Empire to the Modern State System Tomas Hopkins Primeau Professor of International Relations

  2. Two types of forces in nature and world history: “things come together” or “things fall apart.” The same can be said of states and empires.

  3. Centripetal vs Centrifugal Forces in States and Empires • City-States to Empires: Centripetal • Greek City States to Macedonian Empire • Empires to Modern States: Centrifugal • Breakup of Ottoman Empire-creation of modern day Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, among others • Western Imperialism/Colonization: PETAL • Creation of British & French Empires in Africa/Asia • UN Decolonization: FUGAL • Breakup of French Empire in Africa-Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, Senegal, Madagascar

  4. Current movements of centripetal/centrifugal forces • Breakup of large states centriFUGAL • Breakup of Soviet Union (1991) • Czechoslovakia (1993) • Yugoslavia (1994) • Sudan (2011) • Expanding regional integration centriPETAL • Creation of European Union (1995) • Common Currency, internal migration, citizenship issues • Expansion of European Union: 27 states (1999-2012) • Creation of African Union (2002) • Common security force

  5. Evolution of Human Social Organization NOMADIC Blood relatives Individual Family Band Tribe Kingdom Chiefdom Distant relatives HEREDITARY, FIXED & PERMANENT MERIT-BASED, SEMI-NOMADIC & TEMPORARY

  6. Mesopotamian City-States c. 5000 BC

  7. Later conquered and incorporated into the Babylonian Empire

  8. Greek City-States750-150 BCE

  9. Conquered and incorporated into Macedonian Empire

  10. And still later conquered and incorporated into Roman Empire

  11. Breakup of the Roman Empire

  12. Feudal Europe: a constantly changing system of small kingdoms

  13. The Westphalian “Peace”

  14. Treaty of Westphalia (1648) • Experts point to this as the beginning of the modern state system • Modern state system begins in Europe • Recognition of state “sovereignty” over issues like religion (Protestant Reformation) diminished papal power • State control over territory with well defined borders • Note that neither Germany nor Italy exists • Series of “unified” small kingdoms

  15. The State-Centric System • The primary focus of world history and international relations becomes states • A network of international norms and laws begins to develop between countries • States are “sovereign” within their borders • Laws of War, Laws of Trade, Laws of Sea Travel, Laws of Territorial Acquisition • Emergence of specialized IGO system • Later the creation of League of Nations and UN

  16. Small German Kingdoms prior to 1871

  17. Unified into modern “Germany” b.1871

  18. Growth of Russian Empire

  19. Transformation of the Regional Empires into “modern states” • Many former “empires” transform themselves in to “Republics” i.e. “Peoples Republic of China” or “United States of America” or “Union of Socialist Soviet Republics” or “Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia” HOWEVER…. • They were still considered “Empires” by the various nations who lived within them

  20. From “Russian Empire” & Czar tothe “Soviet Union” & Premier but…

  21. Peoples Republic of China…but

  22. Kingdom of Serbs,Croats,Slovenes to “Yugoslav Socialist Republic” but

  23. The onset of Western Colonialism in Asia and Africa: 1492 to 1945 • Columbus “discovers” the Americas while looking for trade route to the Indies • Expansion and territorial takeover begins with Portuguese in Goa (India) in 1510 • Later come waves of Dutch and the British • British East India Company 1600 • Dutch East India Company 1602 • Business/trade contacts made with many small Asian kingdoms turned into “protectorates”

  24. 18th & 19th Century Colonization of Asia through “Protectorates”

  25. Protectorates used by the Western colonial powers • “it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger [western colonial] state or entity. However, it retains formal sovereignty, and remains a state under international law.”

  26. 565 Princely States in India at Partition

  27. And “Sultanates” as protectorates

  28. And more protectorates and sultanates that today are called

  29. “states” like Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen

  30. Onset of Western Colonialism: The “Scramble for Africa” 1880-1914

  31. Look at the political boundaries of Europe: See any straight lines?

  32. Now look at the political boundaries of Africa: Who drew those lines? • Africa cut up just like a cake by the European powers at Berlin Conference, 1884-85

  33. Colonial Possessions, 1914 Fig. 8-4: By the outbreak of World War I, European states held colonies throughout the world, especially throughout Africa and in much of Asia.

  34. Hitler and the Nazi Party’s Rise to Power in Germany • With the rise of the Nazi party to power in the 1930’s Adolf Hitler finds that the world has almost been completely colonized • Germany lost all of its African colonies in WWI • Hitler has a bright idea “let’s colonize Europe”

  35. Using the idea of Aryan racial superiority Hitler colonizes Europe through lebensraum “living space”

  36. Hitler/Nazi’s decide to colonize white people in the heart of Europe

  37. Questioning the legitimacy of Western colonization (Centrifugal) • World War II fought in part in the name of “self-determination of peoples” and defeat of attempt to create a racist Nazi Empire in the heart of Europe by colonizing white people • Perhaps if colonizing white people is wrong this applies to other colors of people as well? • Dutch, and especially French, learn nothing from this lesson and try to re-colonize Asia and Africa • Emergence of National Liberation Movements throughout the colonized world

  38. The Colonies of the World, 1945

  39. The UN and Decolonization • 1945 1/3 of world’s population are “non-self governing peoples” i.e. “colonized” • Article IX “sacred trust the obligation to promote” the “well-being” colonized people • And to “to develop self-government ” meaning eventual independence • 1960 Declaration of Rights of Colonized Peoples • 1962 Special Committee on Decolonization • Under UN direction 80 colonies become independent states/countries

  40. Types of Decolonization • Some colonies gained their independence through peaceful negotiation • British withdrawal from India/Pakistan 1947 • Others only achieved independence through long and bloody anti-colonial wars of “national liberation” • Indonesian Revolution(1949 Dutch) • Vietnamese Revolution (1954 French) • Mau Mau Rebellion Kenya (1960 British) • Algerian War of Independence (1962 French)

  41. National Liberation Movements in Vietnam and Algeria

  42. Asian Decolonization

  43. African Decolonization

  44. The World Today: A Consolidation of the State-Centric System?

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