Origins of Modern Politics: European State System | History Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Introduction

Before the 1500s, Europe did not have the nation-state system we know today. Most people identified more with their local region or lord than with a larger nation. People lived in small villages, paid tithes to feudal landlords, rarely traveled, and were mostly unaware of the wider world. Rulers often had limited control over their territories, relying on the goodwill of powerful local feudal lords. Laws and practices varied widely from one region to another. During the early modern period, some monarchs began to consolidate power by weakening feudal lords and aligning with the emerging commercial classes. This process was often violent and took a long time. As kings and queens worked to unify their territories under a single rule, the idea of nationalism emerged. Monarchs encouraged loyalty to the newly formed nations. By the 19th century, the modern integrated nation-state was firmly established across most of Europe.

Elements of the early modern European state system

War

• War was seen as a legitimate way to uphold royal or national honor. Over time, the ideas of chivalry and war evolved to support the early concepts of state formation. The chivalric desire to defend Europe against non-Christians shifted towards a focus on defending and glorifying one’s own country.

Economic Warfare

• Although war remained a dominant aspect of early modern European politics, commerce was increasingly recognized as vital in international relations. Commerce and finance not only influenced the outcomes of wars but also became important tools in their own right.
• Economic pressure was an effective means of influencing other countries' behavior, especially since domestic unrest could be easily triggered by rising bread prices.
• While economic warfare could exert significant international pressure, it was often challenging to enforce and control.
• The concept of economic warfare was unfamiliar to most early modern Europeans. Few countries had the bureaucratic capacity to implement such measures, and many lacked the resilience to endure the impacts of financial warfare on their own economies. By the late sixteenth century, financial warfare started to become more effective.

Balance of Power

• The evolution of the modern European state system was sparked and supported by the nascent concept of the balance of power.
• The balance of power gained traction for various reasons, partly as a development of the medieval idea of alliances.
• Italy was the first to exemplify an early modern balance of power, with its states establishing diplomatic relations and surveillance among each other.
• This system gradually spread north from Italy as other nations recognized its effectiveness in monitoring rivals.
• By the early seventeenth century, the majority of Western European countries regarded the balance of power as the natural order of Europe.

Examples of formation of European State System

England's Early Nation-State Building

• English monarchs, particularly from the Tudor dynasty (1485-1603), made early efforts to build a nation-state through a centralized system of government.
• In 1485, Henry VII won the War of the Roses, marking the start of the Tudor dynasty and the development of the English nation-state.
• Parliament, with a continuous history since 1275 A.D., became the key institution for securing collaboration with the upper classes for centralization.
• England evolved into a political society where a centralized monarchy coexisted with local interests represented through Parliament.
• The 16th century witnessed the integration of English towns into a single unit, facilitated by economic regulations of the State and the concentration of power in the crown.
• England's smaller surface area aided in centralization, and the expansion of the urban market created a unified market across the kingdom.
• London emerged as a unifying force, driving food demand, pressuring agricultural production, and encouraging commercialization and capital investments in the countryside.
• The progress of the Reformation was another crucial factor, subordinating the national church to the king and villages to towns, reflecting a rising spirit against foreign Papal authority.
• During Elizabeth's reign, a surge in literature, religious sentiments, the rise of new social classes, and evolving political ideas contributed to the rise of the English nation-state.
• The Anglican Church strengthened the state, with clergy helping to fulfill the vision of leading missionaries by training people to be obedient subjects and patriots.
• Bishops commemorated state events with special services and reminded families of their duty to obey the King and accept the State.

France

• The shift from medieval to absolute monarchy in France was accelerated by various crises such as the Hundred Years War, religious wars, and the Fronde uprisings.
• Louis XIV (1638–1715) established an absolute monarchy and positioned France as the leading power in Europe.
• He promoted the idea of himself as the Sun King, embodying the principle of "one king, one law, one faith."
• Louis XIV's absolutism was characterized by four main aspects:
  • Construction of Versailles to control the nobility,
  • Development of a strong military,
  • Enhancement of France's economy, and
  • Suppression of religious toleration.
• Key features of French absolutism included a standing army, a developed fiscal system, a bureaucracy, specialized state departments, and royal officials with extensive administrative powers.
• The French government was heavily involved in economic activities, surpassing the protective legislation seen in Britain.
• There was a lack of alternative institutions for organizing opposition to the crown.
• Despite achieving a degree of political centralization, France was not a fully developed nation by the time of the 1789 Revolution.
• French society was marked by diversity in culture, family structure, social beliefs, and economic activities.
• France remained a continental power with diverse regions, poor communications, and transport links.
• The stark contrast between urban and rural life, along with regional economic differences, hindered France from becoming an economic unit until the late 19th century.
• As late as the 1870s, standard French was a foreign language for nearly half the population, who spoke local languages.
• The French language only became dominant towards the end of the 19th century.
• Many culturally distinct regions had strong ties with neighboring states across the border.
• Diversity was not limited to language; there was no official standard time for the entire country until 1891.
• The French Revolution of 1789 aimed to transform the political state into a nation-state, laying the foundation for modern France and inspiring nationalism across Europe.

Other Events Leading to the Formation of the European State System

• 1492: Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella complete the Reconquista, reclaiming all of Spain from Muslim rule. This marks the beginning of Spain's era as a global power.
• 1547–1584: Ivan the Terrible rules Russia, unifying the government and establishing the first Russian nation-state. During the medieval period, the region that became Russia was a minor principality centered around Moscow. When Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) became czar in 1547, he weakened the nobility through secret police and gained the loyalty of commercial classes by appointing them to a new state bureaucracy.
• 1648: The Peace of Westphalia solidifies the legal status of the nation-state as sovereign.
• 1871: Italy and Germany achieve unification.
• 1919: The Treaty of Versailles concludes World War I, dismantling several multinational empires and creating numerous new nation-states.

The Catholic Church And The Rise Of The Nation-State

• In the 16th and 17th centuries, newly formed nation-states had a complicated relationship with the powerful Catholic Church.
• Sometimes, these partial nation-states were helpful to the Church. For example, countries like France and Spain were invited by the Pope to intervene in Italy.
• However, some monarchs wanted absolute power over their national churches. In England, this desire led Henry VIII to break away from the Pope in the 1530s and establish an independent Protestant church.
• This break with the Catholic Church helped unite the English people and foster loyalty towards the English nation-state.
• At the same time, some devoted Catholics in England refused to convert, leading to repression and eventually civil war.

The Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia

• The Thirty Years’ War, fought from 1618 to 1648 across central Europe between Protestants and Catholics, established the legal basis for the nation-state.
• Involved various European nations including small German states, the Austrian Empire, Sweden, France, and Spain.
• Despite the war's brutality, Catholics could not defeat Protestantism.
• The Peace of Westphalia marked the end of the war, asserting that the sovereign ruler of a state had authority over all aspects of the nation and state, including religion, thus birthing the modern concept of a sovereign state.

Centralization

• Centralization of power was crucial in the development of nation-states.
• Final authority resided with the central government, ensuring more uniform laws and practices across the country.
• A single centralized authority enabled quicker economic development by eliminating diverse local regulations.
• Merchants benefited from uniform regulations, allowing trade without concerns about local taxes.
• Centralized rulers could establish national armies independent of the nobility, ensuring consistent training and coordination.
• In eighteenth-century Poland, the nobility wielded most power, rendering the monarch weak.
• This weakness prevented Poland from resisting its strong neighbors: Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
• These three centralized nation-states partitioned Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795, effectively erasing it until the formation of a new Republic of Poland in 1918.

The Importance of Napoleon in Shaping the Nation-State

• Napoleon Bonaparte played a crucial role in the development of the nation-state concept.
• During the turbulent period of the French Revolution in the late 18th century, he helped replace outdated medieval and feudal laws with a unified national law code.
• Napoleon also contributed to the establishment of a national military.
• France's status as a nation-state, partly due to Napoleon's efforts, enabled it to dominate feudal neighbors in Italy and Germany.
• His military successes not only strengthened France but also inspired the formation of nation-states across Europe, as people united to resist Napoleon's conquests.

Rise of the Nation-State System

• The nation-state system in international relations began to take shape around 1648 with the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War in Europe, marked by the Treaty of Westphalia.
• This treaty was significant because it acknowledged the diminishing authority of Rome over the states and limited the Pope's interference in state affairs.
• The state emerged as the supreme authority within its territory, holding power over its people in both secular and temporal matters.
• The concept of state sovereignty was fully recognized, leading to relations among nations being conducted by sovereign states to secure their interests.
• During the era of imperialism, the use of state power to dominate other states was also recognized as a right of the state.
• In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the rise of nationalism as a core principle of the nation-state gained global acceptance.
• The emergence of the modern nation-state in England, where nationalism was aligned with individual liberties and public participation, along with the American Revolution in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789, bolstered the concept of the nation-state.
• Napoleon Bonaparte, despite initially transforming nationalist sentiments into an expansionist ideology and achieving numerous victories in Europe and the Middle East, was ultimately defeated in 1815 by the very forces of nationalism he had helped to ignite.
• The unification of Germany in 1871 further strengthened the idea of nationalism as central to the state.
• The philosophical foundations of the nation-state were reinforced by the ideas of Hegel(1770-1831), a German philosopher.
• The events of the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly the Industrial Revolution, invigorated the consolidation of the nation-state as the fundamental unit of protection.
• As this development progressed, the resulting ease of economic and social interactions within nation-states, along with the relative isolation of their populations from neighboring states, contributed to the solidification of distinct cultures, institutions, and linguistic and religious patterns associated with each nation-state.
• Eventually, the state evolved into a sovereign, territorial nation-state, and international relations transformed into interactions among these nation-states.

Features of the Sovereign Nation-state System

The nation-state became well-established in the 20th century, identified by four essential elements:

• Population
• Territory
• Government
• Sovereignty

In the realm of international relations, the nation-state was recognized by four basic credentials:

• Nationalism
• Territorial Integrity or Territorial Impermeability
• Sovereignty
• Legal Equality or Sovereign Equality of all nation-states