International relations

:Foreign affairs redirects here. For other things named Foreign Affairs, see Foreign affairs (disambiguation).

History

The history of international relations is often traced back to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 where the modern states system was developed. The Westphalia settlement marked the start of a novel premise in international affairs: armed struggle was no longer defined as a contest between varieties of confessional truths, but rather, a dispute among secular "sovereigns". The final settlement of armed disputes, after Westphalia, was no longer the province of military contractors and theologians - but the termination of war fell within the purview of an identifiable coterie of a new class: Professional diplomats and warriors sworn to the service of a state.

Related Topics:
History of international relations - Peace of Westphalia

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Before the Westphalia settlement, there was no recognizable diplomatic profession. Spies, irregular envoys, and heralds citing scripture or handing out ringing declamations were the usual route that princes chose to alert one another to each other's demands and to sound the start of war. After Westphalia, the diplomatic craft was practiced by a kind of well-born guild, with members who were adept at melding reason, precedent, and law with quiet allusion to the implication of armed compunction.

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Before Westphalia, soldiers were led by contractors, private entrepreneurs who garnered pay from their won estates or from the lands they plundered. After Westphalia, soldiers were led by military bureaucrats who raised armies year-round and paid for their keep through levies and taxes. After Westphalia, diplomats and warriors began to share a kind of regulatory synergy. Both diplomat and warrior sought less "victory," and more, the achievement of a favorable peace. War, after Westphalia, as the great observer Carl von Clausewitz put it, came to be a "stronger form of diplomacy," and the battlefield an extension of the conference chamber.

Related Topics:
Diplomat - Carl von Clausewitz

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It was not until 1919 that the first university department devoted to 'international politics' was founded by David Davies at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. The first university to found an international relations department was Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, also in 1919.

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;Criticisms

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Critics of this interpretation of history argue that it is inherently eurocentric; some non-European territories recognized states in a manner resembling the Westphalian system before 1648 whereas others had wildly different systems. Others (such as Andrew Linklater) argues that today's system is post-Westphalian due to the expansion of the political community into supranational governance through projects such as the European Union.

Related Topics:
Eurocentric - Andrew Linklater

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