Political Science 1020E Lecture 2: Politics and the state
26 Sep 2018
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Document Summary
State: structure of rule and authority within a particular geographic area. Sovereignty: supreme political authority unlimited by other power. State sovereignty means that other states should not intervene or criticize the political matters of another state. Very problematic because states intervene all the time. Medieval state system was feudalism with a king and lords as their subordinate. Treaty of westphalia signed in west germany and brought an end to 30 years war (1616: and fought between catholics and protestants. Is paramount and they have a fundamental right to self determination. Treaty was meant to apply to all of europe, not just dominate states. Rejected all papal authority (pope as a political figure) Finally treated states as equal regardless of size. Removes dominance of powerful countries over smaller states. Significance: we would not have the government system or state equality that we do today in canada. The treaty established a model of a state.
