CHAPTER 1 What Shaped Our World Lecture Notes I Mercantilist Era 1492 1648 a Use of military power to enrich imperial government b State monopolies c Controls on colonial trade II Modern State System 1648 a Thirty Years War b 1648 Peace of Westphalia c System of Sovereign States III Concert of Europe 1815 1830 a Holy Alliance Prussia Russia and Austria b Quadruple Alliance Holy Alliance Britain c Major Powers Consult on diplomatic affairs d France is reintegrated back into the system e Pax Britannica among Europe Balance of Power and Free Trade 1830 1914 IV a France rehabilitated Britain becomes balancer within Europe b System of free trade i Britain is industrializing needs a market for its products ii Corn Laws c Peace and economic openness largely prevail until WWI V Interwar Period 1919 1945 a WWI destroys the balance of power b Free trade collapses in the 1920s especially with the Great Depression c WWII breaks out in 1939 US enters in 1941 VI The Cold War 1945 1989 a Attempt to build a global concert with the United Nations b Breakdown in relations between the US and the Soviet Union c Two separate spheres US Allies vs USSR Allies VII US Activity during Cold War i The British Peace Britain is a leader in Europe and is leading the effort to create peace a Rebuilds Western Europe and lays foundation for the European Union i Marshall Plan money to western Europe countries to spread democracy hold elections b Security guarantee to Europe and Northeast Asia make war obsolete c Creates Bretton Woods institutions leading to free trade VIII The End of the Cold War a One view US pushes the Soviet Union off the precipice b Another view Soviet Union collapses from internal decay c US is left as sole superpower i 2009 2010 ii 45 of world s military expenditures iii 20 of World s GDP IX US power since 2008 financial crisis a US s percentage of GDP dropped b China and Brazil s GDP grows X What can we learn from history a The hegemon doesn t reign forever b Can you think about how the hegemon fell in each time period a Share of Global Power as of 2007 China surpasses US b Composite index 1 KEY TERMS INR2002 1 Mercantilism an economic doctrine based on a belief that military power and economic influence were complements applied especially to colonial empires in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries Mercantilist policies favored the mother country over its colonies and over its competitors 2 Peace of Westphalia The settlement that ended the Thirty Years War in 1648 often said to have created the modern state system because it included a general recognition of the principles of sovereignty and nonintervention 3 Sovereignty the expectation that states have legal and political supremacy or ultimate authority within their territorial boundaries 4 Hegemony the predominance of one nation state over others 5 Pax Britaniica British Peace a century long period beginning with Napoleon s defeat at Waterloo in 1815 and ending with the outbreak of WWI in 1914 during which Britain s economic and diplomatic influence contributed to economic openness and relative peace 6 Gold standard the monetary system that prevailed between 1870 and 1914 In which countries tied their currencies to gold at a legally fixed price 7 Treaty of Versailles the peace treaty between the Allies and Germany that formally ended WWI on June 28 1919 8 League of Nations A permanent international security organization formed in the aftermath of WWI The League was supplanted by the United Nations after WWII and was dissolved in 1946 9 North Alliance Treaty Organization NATO A military alliance created in 1949 to bring together many western European nations the United States and Canada forming the foundation of the American led military bloc during the Cold War Today NATO s role includes handling regional problems and developing a rapid reaction force 10 Bretton Woods System the economic order negotiated among allied nations at Bretton Woods New Hampshire in 1944 which led to a series of cooperative arrangements involving a commitment to relatively low barriers to international trade and investment 11 Warsaw Pact A military alliance formed in 1955 to bring together the Soviet Union and its Cold War allies in Eastern Europe and elsewhere dissolved on March 31 1991 as the Cold War ended 12 Decolonization the process of shedding colonial possessions especially the rapid end of the European empires in Africa Asia and the Caribbean between the 1940s and the 1960s Page 1 INR2002 1 TEXTBOOK CHAPTER REVIEW i i ii i 1 Predominant interests interactions and the institutional environment during the periods of colonization 2 The brief historical survey on the topic lays the foundation for using the three Is to analyze current struggles in economic development and possible ways forward The brief historical tour offered can identify prevailing interests interactions and institutions of the eleven puzzles that are listed in the Introduction and that form the themes of subsequent chapters 3 The century from roughly 1815 to 1914 was one of relative peace and incredible prosperity 4 With a few notable exceptions war among the Great Powers was absent Global economic integration became an accepted norm in stark contrast to the isolation that was common before the Industrial Revolutions Economic growth reflected in national accounts and standards of living in the West grew more quickly than they had before or would after 5 In contrast to this golden age of peace and prosperity the next century produced devastating military conflict and economic volatility Quite quickly values in the West shifted from acceptance of globalization and laissez faire competition to nationalism that rejected international economic structures and sought to regulate domestic conflict both economic and political 6 The data on war related death and financial catastrophe presented in The Thirty Years Crisis section contrasts the social condition under the Pax Britannica 7 Five major historical periods are reviewed to show the changing interests interactions and institutions of world politics i First the Mercantilist Era was led largely by Western states intent on securing power and markets Although the Western economies did engage in limited trade monopoly power over colonies forced them into exclusionary economic relations with the metropole The newly solidified international norm of state sovereignty combined with expansionist ambitions to produce bellicose relations among the
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