ULUSLARARASI İLİŞKİLER TARİHİ - Deneme Sınavı - 6

Under the guidance of Gustav Adolph, Cardinal Richelieu, and Jules Mazarin, a peace was finally negotiated. The congresses of Münster and Osnabrück, the first of their kind, led to the signing of the Treaties of Westphalia, the first multilateral diplomatic gathering in Europe to end a regional war and build a new order. Among those present were “145 delegates representing 55 jurisdictions, including the Holy Roman Empire and all the major kingdoms except Great Britain, as well as significant duchies, margraves, landgraves, bishoprics, free cities, and imperial cities. The correct answer is A.

“The [Westphalian] model covers the period of international law from 1648 to 1945 (and some would say it still holds today). It depicts the emergence of a world community consisting of sovereign states which settle their differences
privately and often by force; which engage in diplomatic relations, but otherwise have minimal cooperation; which seek to place their own national interest above all others; and which accept the logic of the principle of effectiveness, that is,
the principle that might eventually makes right in the international world—where appropriation becomes legitimation” (Held, 1995: 86).

Hedley Bull explains international law as the body of binding rules between states and other actors in world politics (Bull, 2012: 122). However, without any sanctions or coercive power, international law is often suspected of not being effective. As Thomas Hobbes argued, “[w]here there is no common power, there is no law”

Diplomacy means the conduct of affairs between states by official agents through peaceful means with several ends in mind: • First, it facilitates communication between political leaders or states and other entities of world politics. • Second, it facilitates the negotiation of agreements. • Third, it serves to gather intelligence or information from host countries. • Fourth, it minimizes the effects of frictions in international relations. • Fifth, it symbolizes the concrete existence of international society.

The international system in the 17th and 18th centuries followed upon gains made in previous centuries. These were the increasing importance of state sovereignty and authority, the emergence of mechanisms such as the permanent
diplomatic representation, an increasing reference to international law, and the idea of striking a ‘balance of power’. In these centuries, the modern state system of today was being consolidated, and states tended not only to engage in conflicts but also to cooperate through increasing trade or by allying against common threats.

Mercantilism refers to an “economic theory and practice common in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century that promoted governmental regulation of a nation’s economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers”. As a policy, it was developed in Western Europe between the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution and holds that states should increase their exports and decrease their imports. It was closely related to the evolution of the state-system of Europe insofar as it advanced a state-centered structure of international relations.

The age of absolutism is generally between 1660 and 1789, starting with the restoration of the English monarchy after the English Civil War and the personal rule of Louis XIV of France until the French Revolution.

An absolute ruler or monarch in the 17th and 18th century could make “law, dispense justice, create and direct a bureaucracy, declare war, and levy taxation according to his or her own will, without needing the formal approval of any other governing authorities” . As French King Louis XIV (1643-1715), the symbolic figure of absolutism, famously put it, “I am the state.”

Mercantilism refers to an “economic theory and practice common in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century that promoted governmental regulation of a nation’s economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers” (“Mercantilism,” 2019). As a policy, it was developed in Western Europe between the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution and
holds that states should increase their exports and decrease their imports. It was closely related to the evolution of the state-system of Europe insofar as it
advanced a state-centered structure of international relations (Evans and Newnham, 1998: 321). Wallerstein argues that mercantilism in the 17th century was a policy of economic nationalism centered on strong trade balances and the acquisition of bullion (Wallerstein, 2011: 37-38). Implemented to establish strong and self-sufficient economies, the goal was to maximize exports and minimize the import of raw materials (Sander,2001: 94).

According to Fay, due to the French and Industrial Revolutions at the end of the 18th century, the social and behavioral structure of Europe greatly changed throughout the 19th century.

They were actors in a Hobbesian world where the anarchic nature of the European system allowed each unit to move without constraint or domination of one another.

While Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States (US), declared his Fourteen Points for a new world order in 1918, Vladimir Lenin’s socialist world vision emerged with the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917. Both alternatives greatly challenged the old Eurocentric balance of power politics.

After the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the dangerous situation in the Balkans had the potential to draw more than these two great empires into war, as German Chancellor Bismarck and British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone especially foretold.

However, the diplomatic crises pinpointed as the main reasons for the breakout of war in 1914 continued to erode the system. Bismarck’s resignation as chancellor in 1890 paved the way for ‘Weltpolitik’ (A world politics), the shift in Germany’s Europe-centered foreign policy to one that looked overseas, where it soon started clashing with Britain’s Pax Britannica.

While the Anglo-Japanese Alliance provided the Japanese much needed diplomatic and financial support in a possible war against Russia, it also enabled Britain to sustain the status quo in China without directly challenging Russia. Moreover, the Russians’ heavy defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 helped Britain halt the growing Russian influence in China, and removed the imminent Russian threat to Pax Britannica in the Far East.

After the First Morocco Crisis in 1905, the division in Europe became apparent, and alliance politics took precedence over the traditional congress system. This was made particularly clear with British fears of its own decline and the rise of Germany, particularly regarding the naval race. This opened the way for binding alliances both in Europe and abroad, starting with the Triple Entente, which caused a great fear of encirclement among German decision-makers.

It is most often associated with the tenets of Wilsonian internationalism and became a key driving force in the struggle to end imperialism.

The German pre-1914 plan for a pre-emptive military offensive against France, which would involve troops passing through neutral Belgium. It is named after the German army chief of staff, General Alfred von Schlieffen.

The 19th century is usually labelled as the ‘long’ 19th century, this era has significant characteristics to mention. First, while the world had been geographically integrated into a single map by the end of the 18th century, the center of the international system appeared to be Europe (Hobsbawm, 1962:7). In this sense the major actors of the system were all European powers. Second, there was a tension between rulers and ruled throughout most of the century, which led to numerous mass movements, uprisings, and revolutions. Third, the century witnessed the rise of ideologies such as liberalism, nationalism, and socialism that reshaped the geographical and political borders of the European system. Fourth, the gap between absolutism and constitutionalism was a constant rivalry that challenged governments’ sovereignty. According to these information, the correct answer is option B.

The cornerstones that the Industrial Revolution stood on can be summarized into three main topics: technological advance, improved production, and the redistribution of labor. Accordingly, the correct answer is option D.