The Historical and Political Relevance of Westphalian State System

1587 Words7 Pages
“What are the main elements of the Westphalian State System? What is their historical and political relevance?” History can be periodized according to different criteria, such as the elements that we want to analyze, or the perspective from which we look at the historical process. As far as International Relations are concerned, the conventional perspective to define historical periods is the Western European one, like in the traditional periodization (Ancient era, Middle Ages, etc.). And also in International Relations, like in Traditional periodization, a watershed year can be found: the 0 year in the history of Global Politics is 1648 AD, the year of the Treaties of Westphalia. Why is the Peace of Westphalia such an important event in World Politics? The year 1648 marked the beginning of the European State System, bringing to the end the so-called “Age of Empires” and laying the basis of modern international society. Indeed, the European State System has spread worldwide and has survived, to a certain extent, up to the XXI century. In 1648, Münster and Osnabrück were the venues of the peace treaties that ended the Thirty Years’ War among France and several Protestant States on the one side, and Spain and the Holy Roman Empire on the other. The Peace of Westphalia established the right of German States to conduct their own diplomatic relations and choose their own religion, and allowed all states to enjoy “an exact and reciprocal Equality” (Baylis-Smith-Owens, 42). Although Pope Innocent X denied any relevance of the Westphalian agreements, the treaties established five principles which can be regarded as the Five Pillars of modern International Relations: territoriality, sovereignty, autonomy, international law, and balance of power. The first three pillars define the
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