PSC 116G Lecture 2: lecture 2
25 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Early states had limited reach (particularly on land) People also lived in social groupings that might not have qualified as states. City-states (athens, sparta, corinth) ordinarily a city that dominated the immediately adjacent areas through a combination of military strength and trade. Sometimes attempted to establish colonies, protectorates, and form empires. In the case of athens this led to war with sparta. Thucydides observed that international politics was governed by a balance of power and not by morality the strong do what they can and the weak do what they must . Because of the difficulties of land transport, ancient empires were relatively decentralized. The roman empire was the dominant force in the mediterranean world for hundreds of years. The mediterranean fostered empire-building because of the ease of water transport. Question: what did thucydides say about how international politics. The later roman empire mixed christianity and political power.
