PSC 1003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Nationstates, Reinsurance Treaty, Realpolitik
Document Summary
Balance of power- a system in which no one state becomes so powerful that it can dominate all others in the system. 18th century: war of spanish succession, war of the quadruple alliance, war of polish succession, war of austrian succession, se(cid:448)e(cid:374) years" war. Shared commitment to monarchy: as legitimate form of government, nationalism = threat to multinational empires. Primacy and unity of great powers: unanimity, commitment to balance of power. The concert in action: german confederation. End of power vacuum in central europe. But not strong enough to be threatening: buffer zones. Separate autocratic east from liberal west: restraint on eastern question- the balkans, this means war! Subordination of pursuit of power to shared norms: the breakdown. Emergence of germany, italy as unified nation-states. Rejects liberalism and shared norms of concert. Bis(cid:373)arck"s challe(cid:374)ges: france = permanent enemy, need to keep france and russia apart, do(cid:374)"t allo(cid:449) frie(cid:374)dship (cid:449)ith russia to alie(cid:374)ate britai(cid:374)
