contemporary world

• Global Interstate System


  The world is composed of many states having different forms of government. It has been one of the major subjects of scholars of political disciplines because it is viewed as the institution that sets policies for the country.
• The study of international relations is becoming more imperative since it is an attempt to explain behavior that occurs across the boundaries of states, the broader relationships of which such behavior is a part, and the institutions (private, state, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental) that oversee those interactions.
• Some events occurred


  400 years ago
• The origins of the present-day concept of Sovereignty can be traced back to the Treaty of Westphalia, which was a set of agreements signed in 1648 to end the thirty years' war between the major continental powers of Europe.
• The Westphalian system provided stability for the nations of Europe, until it faced its major challenge by Napoleon Bonaparte.
• Napoleon believed in spreading the principles of the French Revolution - liberty, equality and fraternity to the rest of Europe.
• Despite the challenge of Napoleon to the Westphalian system and the eventual collapse of the Concert of Europe after World War I, present-day international system has traces of this history.
• State sovereignty


  The government, a group of people who have the ultimate authority to act on behalf of a state. Each state has its own right to self-determination and that other country should not intervene in the affairs of that state unless there are extraordinary reasons to do so.
• Globalization


  • Imposes a forced choice upon nation-states to conform to the neo-liberal ideas and free-market principles of deregulation, privatization, and free trade or run the risk of being left behind in terms of development
  • Leads to the establishment of economic and political integrations like the European Union (EU) and the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
  • Leads to the establishment of international laws and principles
  • Leads to the rise of transnational activism (TNA)
• Global governance


  Domestic institutions and governments on how large-scale problems and public-policy issues are being resolved on a global level. It involves a range of actors including states, national and regional bodies that have the eagerness and commitment to deal with a particular challenge.
• Six organs of the United Nations (UN)


  • General Assembly
  • Security Council
  • Economic and Social Council
  • Trusteeship Council
  • International Court of Justice
  • Secretariat
• Roles and functions of the United Nations (UN)


  • Maintaining international peace and security
  • Protecting human rights
  • Delivering humanitarian aid
  • Promoting sustainable development
  • Upholding international law
• The United Nations (UN) utilizes good offices, diplomacy, and mediation. It does peacekeeping processes in countries with domestic conflicts and peace-building tasks in countries freed from conflict, lessening the risk of reversing into conflict and setting the ground work for sustainable peace and development.
• Challenges confronting the United Nations (UN)


  • Underappreciated regarding how its convening capacity and mobilizing power are utilized to help funnel and consolidate knowledge from outside and ensure its discussion and dissemination among governments
  • Contrasting moral structures of social behavior in different member-states complicate the formulation of a normative standard that can be applicable to all
  • Problems occur when only the member-states are heard, UN belittles the helping hand of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the global public opinion, sometimes recommendations are not executed
  • Institutions can also be places where ideas are cornered and left behind, the modality and processes for enforcing compliance with international norms and laws are not present, some UN staff members violate, cheat, and challenge them
• Despite the establishment of global norms and international laws that nation-states should follow, the nation-states are still relevant for there will be no intergovernmental organization without them. Also, international and multinational agreements are designed by the states and propelled by the initiatives that they undertake.
• Cooperation among nation-states is the only way to reform and advance the roles and functions of interstate relationships despite real challenges being faced by United Nations.
• Nationalism


  A multi-faceted phenomenon, expressing both claims for recognition and for superiority, marked by an intrinsic moral ambivalence. Politically, its emergence has coincided with the affirmation of liberal and democratic ideas, and in particular the notion of popular sovereignty. It expresses the political identification of citizens with their state, and the policies of governments to reinforce such identification.
• National identity


  Based on the existence of shared historical, cultural, language or religious bonds.
• Nationalism is an intrinsic part of the international system, the emergence of nationalism transformed the international system from a body of states governed by dynastic sovereigns to a body of nation-states.
• Right to self-determination


  The right by which peoples freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development, undoubtedly occupies a key position in some of the most prominent international instruments.
• The right of self-determination for all peoples was first enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. It has however been the subject of extensive debate and controversy. Both the content of the right as well as who can assert it continue to be debated.
• Nation


  A community of citizens, based on a shared sense of belonging and solidarity, a national identity that creates loyalty to the state, a social pact that cannot easily be dissolved
• The growing impact of supra-national organizations and of forms of global governance have undoubtedly limited the sovereignty of nation-states, but this process has as yet not led to a decline of the relevance of national identities and of nationalism
• Right to self-determination


  The right by which peoples freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development
• The right of self-determination for all peoples was first enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations
• The right to self-determination is closely associated with the doctrine of nationalism
• According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all peoples have the right of self-determination
• The right to self-determination is a collective right, that is, only a 'people', not an individual, can exercise the right
• The right to self-determination initially belonged to the population, or people, of a fixed territorial entity, specifically peoples oppressed by a colonial power
• The right of colonial peoples to external self-determination is well established in international law
• Indigenous communities, peoples and nations


  Those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems
• Minority rights have been marginalized in international conflict prevention, and conflicts that have minority rights at their center are not being understood as such
• When minority rights are enshrined in constitutions, and implemented through electoral, justice and education systems before a conflict has the chance to fester, there is a chance that conflict might not occur at all
• Global North


  Developed European, North American, Australian societies, including South Africa and Israel
• Global South


  Societies with agrarian economies like Africa, India, China, Latin America, which do not have stable economy and politics compared to the Global North
• The North-South divide is the socio-economic and political division that exists between the wealthy developed countries, known collectively as "the North", and the poorer developing countries (least developed countries), or "the South"
• The idea of categorizing countries by their economic and developmental status began during the Cold War with the classifications of East and West
• The gap between developed North and developing South parts of the world is widening, due to the negative impact of colonialism on local populations in the South
• Wealth accumulation depends on the meeting of basic human needs such as access to food, water, education, shelter, and health care, which LEDCs have had mixed success in meeting
• War has been a major impediment to meeting basic needs, and to wealth accumulation generally in poor countries