Political science need it in 7hrs
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script_for_module_2_lecutre.docxModule 2: The International System
Movie Narration
Slide 1. Image: a photo of the night sky
The International System:
Consider the sky above Arizona. Depending on the season, the wind, the time of day, or the weather, the sky we see above us will look different. In fact, the formation of clouds is never static, but it always changing.
Slide 2. Image: a photo of blue sky with clouds
Today’s slide show is about the international system, and in many respects we can say the international system is like the sky above us. It has changed over the centuries, sometimes being made up of certain actors, and at other times being dominated by different actors. And, the international system never stays the same, but is always shifting and changing. When we talk about the international system, we are talking about the configuration of major powers in the world at certain points of time. Today we are going to glance at a few different times in history, to try to understand what types of international systems have existed in the past. We’ll also talk about what type of international system we have today, and even spend a few minutes speculating about what type of international system will appear in the future. So, let’s begin.
Slide 3. Image: a mosaic of Alexander the Great
The first type of system we want to consider is called an Imperial system, also known as an empire. This mosaic shows the leader of one of the great empires in Europe, Alexander the Great. In the 300 BCs, he expanded the kingdom of his father, Philip of Macedon, out from northern Greece all the way into Persia.
Slide 4. Image: a map of Alexander the Great’s empire
This map shows the enormous extent of Alexander the Great’s empire. As big as it was, it didn’t last long beyond Alexander’s death in 323 BC. Perhaps the most important, and much longer-lasting empire followed shortly….the Roman Empire.
Slide 5. Image: a map of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire got rolling around 27 BC and lasted until around 400 AD. As you can see, it started in Rome, and spread both east and west, reaching north to the British Isle, south into Northern Africa, and east into Syria.
Slide 6. Image: a painting called “Thumbs Down” showing a Roman gladiator in the arena
The Roman Empire would hold spectacles, where conquered soldiers and civilians and even animals were paraded before the Roman populace, and then sometimes forced to fight one another. For Rome, this was a way to showing the power and glory of the empire.
(This art work is housed in the Phoenix Art Museum and is called “Thumbs Down. Can you guess why and what that means?)
Slide 7. Image: a photo of a Roman aqueduct
Imperial powers also built infrastructure in the places they conquered. This enabled trade, the movement of people and goods, and made communication around the empire much easier. They built roads, forts, aqueducts to carry water, huge buildings, and temples.
Slide 8. Image: a painting of a medieval castle
Empires were only one type of international system. The Feudal System is the next type we are going to consider. When you think of Feudalism, you should think of kings and queens and castles. This system existed in Europe in the mid 1000’s AD. This type of system was very different from an Imperial system. In the first place, power was not concentrated in one central location that ruled the surrounding areas. Instead, power in a Feudal system was divided and spread out over many small kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms ran their own small area, and were not closely tied to one another. In fact, under European feudalism, trade and travel and the exchange of ideas kind of dried up. With the collapse of the Roman Empire, the roads and armies and trade that had tied this enormous area together also collapsed, and the system became dominated by these separate kingdoms that didn’t have a lot to do with one another. In a Feudal system, power was in the hands of the kings and lords. These small groups of people in turn ruled over a huge number of serfs, people with essentially no power and no rights who were tied to the land.
Slide 9. Image: a painting of a medieval scene with serfs planting crops
These serfs existed to work the land, even though they didn’t own what they produced. Instead, there was a sort of bargain, where they worked for the lord, who took everything they created, and in turn the lord offered them protection, housing, and enough food to eat. There was no chance of working their way up, or breaking out of this life for the serf, or their children, or for any of their descendants. As you can imagine, this left many feeling dissatisfied.
Slide 10. Image: soldiers fighting one another in the Thirty Years War
The Feudal system, however, lasted for hundreds of years. It wasn’t until 1648 that things changed in Europe. A war known as the Thirty Years War was being fought between Catholics and Protestants. The Thirty Years' War marked the last major religious war in mainland Europe, ending the large-scale religious bloodshed accompanying the Reformation, which began over a century before.
So now we can describe the rise of the Modern State System, with states interacting with one another, sometimes peacefully, and sometimes in conflict with one another.
Slide 11. Image: a painting showing the signing of the Treaty of Vienna
This international system was formalized with a meeting in 1814 called the Treaty of Vienna. State leaders of Great Britain, France, Austria, Russia and Prussia) met to try to hammer out some rules that would help them all get along. These rules settled the many issues arising from the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire to ensure future disputes would be settled in a manner that would avoid these terrible wars of the previous twenty years. Although the Congress of Vienna preserved the balance of power in Europe, it could not check the spread of revolutionary movements across the continent.
The end result was a small group of the most powerful states agreeing to try to get along, and a larger group of less powerful states hoping to benefit from this peace. And, it worked. Things remained pretty peaceful in Europe for almost 100 years. This type of international system has become known as a Multipolar System.
Slide 12. Image: a photo of an American flag being raised during a blizzard at the North Pole
It might be useful for us to clarify the use of the word “pole.” Think about pole as it relates to the South Pole or the North Pole. The word “pole” actually means “opposite” and refers to things in opposition to one another. So, when we talk about the term pole with respect to states, we are talking about states in some degree of opposition to one another, who sort of balance each other out.
Slide 13. Image: a map of Europe under the Congress of Vienna
So, Europe after the Treaty of Vienna was a Multipolar system, with a few states (and a few aging empires) holding most of the power, and the other states in a much less powerful position. A multipolar system exists when most of the power is held in the hands of 3 or more states. They balance each other, compete with each other, and are in opposition to each other.
However, as we know from our discussion of clouds and from our look at history, international systems never remain the same. The multipolar system in Europe cam crashing down in a big way with the start of World War I.
Slide 14. Image: four photos of World War I, showing soldiers fighting in the trenches, airplanes bombing soldiers on the ground, tanks, and soldiers marching
World War I, from 1914-1918, was horrible. Fueled by the inventions and developments of the Industrial Revolution, humans had figured out ways to kill each other in more efficient and terrible ways. At the end of the war, the hope was that a multipolar system could be recreated that would once again lead to long-lasting peace. This peace occurred in part, because of the work of US President Woodrow Wilson and his effort to create the League of Nations. However, the peace lasted barely 20 years, as there was not enough support for League in the US, because of a Republican Congress that did not ratify the treaty due to an interest in isolationism. Isolationism means that, because of the cost of war for the state, leaders will choose to focus on domestic politics and reconstruction of infrastructure instead of concerning themselves with foreign policy. Consequently, leaders such as Adolph Hitler in Germany and Benito Mussolini in Italy came to power and, as bad as WWI was, WWII was even worse.
Slide 15. Image: a photo of Dresden, Germany after being bombed
World War II brought even more killing and destruction. New weapons meant that entire cities, such as Dresden, Germany, could be firebombed in one night.
Slide 16. Image: two photos showing mushroom clouds from a nuclear bomb explosion
The development of atomic weapons meant that a single bomb could do damage that was almost beyond the scope of imagination.
Slide 17. Image: a photo of Hiroshima, Japan after being bombed with an atomic weapon
Hiroshima, Japan, after the bombing.
Slide 18. Image: a photo of emaciated prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp
And, the war showed what a state could do if it was determined to exterminate an entire group of people, as Nazi Germany did during the Holocaust.
Slide 19. Image: the flags of the Soviet Union and the United States
Once WWII ended and Japan and Germany were defeated, a new type of international system arose. Power had shifted away from Europe, which had now endured two devastating wars in less than 30 years. Now power was concentrated in only two states: the United States of America, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the USSR). These 2 states had much more power than any of the other states. This type of system was known as a Bipolar International system. The two major powers were very different from one another and had different political, economic, and cultural systems. It is not surprising that they saw each other as polar opposites. From about 1945-1991, their relationship became known as the Cold War.
Slide 20. Image: a cartoon showing the Soviet and American leaders arm wrestling while seated on atomic weapons
Their “war” was Cold because the two sides never actually fought each other. But it was a war in the sense that they viewed each other as the enemy, they built massive amounts of deadly weapons to point at the other, and they both tried to persuade/cajole the other countries of the world (known as proxies) to join “their” side.
Slide 21. Image: a map of the Soviet Union
This Cold War ended in 1991, when one of the two poles, the Soviet Union, actually collapsed and ceased to exist. What had been one enormous country split into 15 separate states. That meant that the international system, once again, changed as well. With the collapse of one pole, there was only one polar power left standing: the US.
Slide 22. Image: a photo of an American aircraft carrier
That meant that we had a new system, a Unipolar System. This one state was so powerful that it was the dominant power in the entire international system. From 1991 on, the US saw itself as the dominant actor in the world system, and therefore acted to carry out its interests.
Slide 23. Image: an artistic image containing parts of flags
Now, finally, we look toward the future. We know that international systems never remain the same, so we have to ask, what type of international system will come next? Which states will grow in power to challenge the US? Of course we don’t know the answer, but we can speculate, based upon changes we see taking place in the world.
Slide 24. Image: a map of the world with Brazil, Russia, India and China highlighted
One possible answer lies with the BRIC states. This acronym refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Why them? They are growing economically, they are gaining in power, and they are asserting themselves in world politics. Will we see them gain more power and lead to a new Multipolar System? We don’t know the answer, but we can only watch and see what happens.
Slide 25. Image: a photo of clouds and lightening at night
The international system has gone through enormous change and upheaval throughout history. During our life times, we may see it shift and change again.
