The Emergence of the Nation State System AKA “Westphalian System”

Political Organizations World history --- political orgs --- bands; tribes; chiefdoms; states; etc. Org vs. org = collaboration or competition Today’s leading political org is nation-state

Modern Nation-State System Began w/ Peace of Westphalia (1648) Ended Thirty Years’ War in what is now Germany Initially, religious conflict (Protestantism vs. Catholicism) Evolved into more general political (authority of H.R.E.)/ geographic/ complex conflict…

Effects/ Aftermath Consumed all of Europe Huge impact – disease, famine, destroyed crops, population loss Before: all in small medieval kingdoms as part of larger Christian community led by Pope After: system of autonomous states w/ no higher authority

Key ideas From Peace of Westphalia (1648) Sole jurisdiction over domestic affairs/ territory Each prince had right to decide public religion of own people States can/should engage in foreign relations w/ other states, BUT Should refrain from interfering in each other’s affairs (national sovereignty) No overarching institution had authority to regulate state conduct

How Do we Describe nation-States? State Nation Nation-State

State Organized political entity w/ permanent population, well defined territory, & a government

Nation A group of people who feel common identity due to shared language, culture, history Cultural/ethnic entity

Nation-State Specific geographic area containing a sovereign polity (meaning??) whose population identifies with that polity a sovereign state whose citizens or subjects are relatively homogeneous in factors such as language or common descent.  Is the US a nation-state?

What if the world’s not neat? Multi-state nation ---- ex: Kurds, Koreas Multinational state– ex: former Yugoslavia; Nigeria Stateless nations--- ex: Palestinians; Kurds; Basque Some states are ethnically homogeneous (ex: Iceland)