POL101Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Pax Britannica, Guerrilla Warfare, Mercantilism
Center of economic activity, used military powers
□
European expansion after 1492 - dominated globe
▪
Create / dominate monopoly
□
Mercantilism : used military power to enrich and use money to improve
military power
▪
Battle for possession, global predominance
□
Struggle for supremacy / competition : battled through markets
▪
Challenging of central organized systems
▪
Emergence of IR ; Mercantilist Era
○
More cooperative / common goals (economic integration)
□
Limited warfare led to peace
□
More interested in international trade / investment
▪
Convergence in interests --> suppressing revolution
□
British hegemony - stabilized, balanced powers
□
Hundred Years' Peace
▪
Desire to end mercantilist control, reduction of barriers
□
Industrial revolution : mercantilist hurt the economy
□
Britain ended first - everyone else followed suit
□
Free Trade
▪
Currency equivalent to gold at fixed rate
□
International world shared one currency - predictable, more world
trade, lending, investment, payments
□
More immigration, better flow
□
The Gold Standard
▪
Major powers wanted to dominate rest of world
□
As mercantilism ended, major powers became less interested in
colonies, burdensome
□
1870s : rise in nationalism, desire to expand
□
Europeans expanded --> almost rest of world
□
Colonial Imperialism
▪
Pax Britannica
○
Weak Eastern powers due to political instability, ethnic conflict
□
New powers - U.S. and Japan, Germany --> fears of expansion
□
Tension in Europe
▪
Longer and more bloody than expected
□
Collapse of several empires
□
Slow economic revival - hyperinflation, dissatisfied public, led to
extremist groups
□
Economic and military predominance of U.S.
□
WW1 and effects
▪
Conflict over division of borders, payments / debts
□
Interwar Instability
▪
Thirty Years' Crisis
○
Jeffrey Frieden, David Lake, and Kenneth Schultz. World Politics: Interests,
Interactions, Institutions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012.
(Introduction)
❖
Reading 2.6: International Relations & the
International System
February 13, 2017
12:00 PM
READINGS Page 125
Conflict over division of borders, payments / debts
□
Economic depression
□
Axis turned against global economy
□
Europe / Japan left in ruins, loss of life
□
WW2
▪
Most European powers diminished - only US and USSR left
▪
4 great powers victorious : US, USSR, Britain, France
□
International divide between West and East --> consolidate allies
□
Opposite economic interests
□
Interactions hostile, suspicious
□
Each creates separate economic blocs
□
Development of nuclear weapons --> threat of war
□
German occupation :West / East division and crisis
□
Would use military power to preserve / extend influence
□
Superpowers Emerge
▪
More focused on domestic than international, unwilling to engage in
trade --> developing dependent on each other
□
Rise in nationalism, dissatisfaction with colonial rule
□
Decolonization
▪
America anti-colonialism --> better for economy
▪
Declared independent from West/East bloc
□
Rise of 3rd World
▪
Cold War
○
U.S. in Vietnam, other interests
▪
Soviets enter Afghanistan, guerilla warfare
□
Reagan administration : increased military spending, anti-
Soviet --> Soviets increase military in response
□
USSR ends - only one superpower remaining
□
Cold War Ends
▪
Global debt crisis 1982
□
Removing barriers, opening up trade, common currency
□
Most people agreed national economic should be incorporated
globally
□
Worldwide economic developments
▪
Gulf Wars
□
UN has resolved some conflicts peacefully
□
More reliance on international institutions and less on unilateral
action
□
New Diplomatic Changes
▪
After the Cold War
○
Won't be ideological or economic, but cultural conflict
▪
Creation of nation states
□
Wars not between Kings, but between people
□
After Westphalia, were among princes, expanding
▪
Communism, Nazism, liberal democracy
□
Post WW1 / Russian revolution, conflict of ideologies
▪
After Cold War, focus on Western v. non-Western civilization
▪
The Next Pattern of Conflict
○
Defined by common object elements, such as language, history,
religion, customs, institutions, subjective self-identification
□
Civilization is highest cultural grouping of people and broadest level of
cultural identity
▪
Nature of Civilisations
○
Samuel P. Huntington. “The clash of civilizations?” Foreign Affairs 72.3 (1993):
22-49. 10
❖
READINGS Page 126
Document Summary
New york: w. w. norton & company, 2012. (introduction) Mercantilism : used military power to enrich and use money to improve military power. Struggle for supremacy / competition : battled through markets. Desire to end mercantilist control, reduction of barriers. Britain ended first - everyone else followed suit. International world shared one currency - predictable, more world trade, lending, investment, payments. Major powers wanted to dominate rest of world. As mercantilism ended, major powers became less interested in colonies, burdensome. 1870s : rise in nationalism, desire to expand. Weak eastern powers due to political instability, ethnic conflict. New powers - u. s. and japan, germany --> fears of expansion. Slow economic revival - hyperinflation, dissatisfied public, led to extremist groups. Conflict over division of borders, payments / debts. Europe / japan left in ruins, loss of life. Most european powers diminished - only us and ussr left. 4 great powers victorious : us, ussr, britain, france.
