The International Response The problem of conflict diamonds was first made public thanks to the efforts of several international NGOs, who bluntly denounced the links between the diamond trade and the wars in the African continent. This page is intended to serve as an unofficial, working history of the Incident Command System (ICS). Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5) and the subsequent release of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) have recently made the Incident Command System (ICS) a household concept among emergency management and incident. Title: Full Disclosure. Author: Susan Rating: PG-13. Disclaimer: I don’t own them, so please don’t sue. I’m just having a little fun with them, and I promise to put them back when I’m done.

States engage with one another in an environment known as the international system. All states are considered to be sovereign, and some states are more powerful than others. The system has a number of informal rules about how things should be done, but these rules are not binding. International relations have existed as long as states themselves. But the modern international system under which we live today is only a few centuries old. Significant events have marked the milestones in the development of the international system.

International relations scholarship prior to World War I was conducted primarily in two loosely organized branches of learning: diplomatic history and international law. Involving meticulous archival and other primary-source research, diplomatic history emphasized the uniqueness of international events and the methods of diplomacy as it was.

The Peace of Westphalia (1648)

International Responsemac's History Timeline

In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War between Catholic states and Protestant states in western and central Europe, established our modern international system. It declared that the sovereign leader of each nation-state could do as she or he wished within its borders and established the state as the main actor in global politics. From that point forward, the international system has consisted primarily of relations among nation-states.

Shifting Balances of Power (1600–1800)

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the nation-state emerged as the dominant political unit of the international system. A series of powerful states dominated Europe, with the great powers rising and falling. Weaker states often banded together to prevent the dominant power from becoming too strong, a practice known as preserving the balance of power. Frequent wars and economic competition marked this era. Some nations—notably France and England—were powerful through most of the modern age, but some—such as Spain and the Ottoman Empire—shrank in power over time.

Emergence of Nationalism (1800–1945)

The nineteenth century brought two major changes to the international system:

1. Nationalism emerged as a strong force, allowing nation-states to grow even more powerful.
2. Italy and Germany became unified countries, which altered the balance of military and economic power in Europe.

The problems raised by the unification of Germany contributed to World War I (1914–1918). In the aftermath of the war, the international system changed dramatically again. The major powers of Europe had suffered greatly, whereas the United States began to come out of its isolation and transform into a global power. At the same time, the end of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires created a series of new nations, and the rise of communism in Russia presented problems for other nations. These factors contributed to the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of Nazism and communism, and World War II (1939–1945).

New World Orders (1945–Present)

The end of World War II marked a decisive shift in the global system. After the war, only two great world powers remained: the United States and the Soviet Union. Although some other important states existed, almost all states were understood within the context of their relations with the two superpowers. This global system was called bipolar because the system centered on two great powers.

Since the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, the nature of the world has changed again. Only one superpower remains, leading some scholars to label the new international system unipolar. Others point to the increasing economic power of some European and Asian states and label the new system multipolar. To some extent, both terms are accurate. The United States has the world’s most powerful military, which supports the unipolar view, but the U.S. economy is not as powerful, relative to the rest of the world, lending credence to the multipolar view.

• Historical development
  • The later 20th century
    • Recent perspectives

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International Responsemac's History Definition

International Responsemac's History Museum

International relations, the study of the relations of states with each other and with international organizations and certain subnational entities (e.g., bureaucracies, political parties, and interest groups). It is related to a number of other academic disciplines, including political science, geography, history, economics, law, sociology, psychology, and philosophy.

International Responsemac's History Encyclopedia

Historical development

The field of international relations emerged at the beginning of the 20th century largely in the West and in particular in the United States as that country grew in power and influence. Whereas the study of international relations in the newly founded Soviet Union and later in communist China was stultified by officially imposed Marxist ideology, in the West the field flourished as the result of a number of factors: a growing demand to find less-dangerous and more-effective means of conducting relations between peoples, societies, governments, and economies; a surge of writing and research inspired by the belief that systematic observation and inquiry could dispel ignorance and serve human betterment; and the popularization of political affairs, including foreign affairs. The traditional view that foreign and military matters should remain the exclusive preserve of rulers and other elites yielded to the belief that such matters constituted an important concern and responsibility of all citizens. This increasing popularization of international relations reinforced the idea that general education should include instruction in foreign affairs and that knowledge should be advanced in the interests of greater public control and oversight of foreign and military policy.

This new perspective was articulated by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1913–21) in his program for relations between the Great Powers following a settlement of World War I. The first of his Fourteen Points, as his program came to be known, was a call for “open covenants of peace, openly arrived at” in place of the secret treaties that were believed to have contributed to the outbreak of the war. The extreme devastation caused by the war strengthened the conviction among political leaders that not enough was known about international relations and that universities should promote research and teaching on issues related to international cooperation and war and peace.

International relations scholarship prior to World War I was conducted primarily in two loosely organized branches of learning: diplomatic history and international law. Involving meticulous archival and other primary-source research, diplomatic history emphasized the uniqueness of international events and the methods of diplomacy as it was actually conducted. International law—especially the law of war—had a long history in international relations and was viewed as the source of fundamental normative standards of international conduct. The emergence of international relations was to broaden the scope of international law beyond this traditional focal point.