The current essay will address the changes in the international system and focus on four main historical The WritePass Journal

The current essay will address the changes in the international system and focus on four main historical Introduction The current essay will address the changes in the international system and focus on four main historical Introduction The current essay will address the changes in the international system and focus on four main historical issues such as: the very inception of IR Treaty of Westphalia, Congress of Vienna, the summit which gave the shift to collective security and cooperation between the European powers, Treaty of Versailles, provoking World War 2 and how the mankind created international organizations, such as the United Nations. The paper analyses the changing patterns of competition and cooperation in the International Relations. Evolution is an integral part of life and everyday existence, it shapes the world, inception, and thought touches every realm of life. One of the most challenging problems of today is the formation of a new system of international relations after the collapse of the bipolar model of the world. Most experts agree that at this moment there is no point to talk about a concrete structure, which fully replaces the format of international interactions, prevailed for nearly half a century ago. The new system is being developed and obviously some elements of the old scheme will be less or more likely borrowed to the emerging structure. In this context, it is extremely important to understand how the previous model of international life has evolved, arose and what stages has passed. The international system existing today is regarded as subsystem of the Westphalian regime, established in the1648 by the Westphalian Treaty. â€Å"The Peace of Westphalia, ended the Thirty Years War in 1648, is taken to mark the beginning of the modern international system as a universe composed of sovereign states, each with exclusive authority within its own geographic boundaries. The Westphalian model, based on the principles of autonomy and territory, offers a simple, arresting, and hat sovereignty is now being altered because the principles of Westphalia are being transgresses satellites during the Cold War â€Å"(Krasner, pp. 115-151). The Holy Roman Empire of the German nation became a conglomeration of independent states (about 300). Peace of Westphalia recognized the religious rights and freedoms for the Lutherans and Calvinists. Exactly then were laid the main principles of forming a new political organization of the world, which then were spread across the planet and existed until today. It was the first time, in the frames of the Westphalian system, that sovereignty became an attribute of the state, not a monarch, therefore recognition of the independence of the German princip alities deprived Germany of its former dominance in foreign policy, France and Sweden became new world leaders and thereby were laid first foundations of balance of power in the world politics of that time. The Treaty of Westphalia has originated the formation of a new system of international relations, so-called later the â€Å"state-centric† model of the world. This became possible through the recognition of the principle of national sovereignty, as one of the main means of international communication. The second significant event for international relations and political realm was the Congress of Vienna, when â€Å" Successes of one group of countries turned into the failures of others, however the peace was accepted by the actors rather than imposed â€Å"(Kissinger 1956 264).   The successful diplomacy is the political art of the synthesis of power and justice and the bias to any single of them could cause the catastrophe (Morgenthau 1946 1080).   It was a structure of international relations in Europe, established after the wars of Napoleon I (1799-1814; 1815) and lasted until the dramatic changes of the First World War. The play started back in 1789, when the French Revolution offered new challenges to the European balance of power (Metternich quoted in Kissinger 1999 41).   When the Napoleonic wars, ended in defeat for France in Moscow (1812) and Waterloo (1815), the Congress of Vienna summarized these battles, and affirmed once again the importance of, disturbed in t heir course of actions, the principle of national sovereignty. The result of Napoleon’s campaign involving almost whole Europe and Russia was the Russian Tsar Alexander’s march to Paris accompanied by his regiments in 1814 (Chapman 1998 18). The alliance included four great powers of that time: Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The main aim of the meeting was, to remake the map, which was completely remodeled by Napoleon. So, in Europe a new order of relations between states begun to line up, known as the Vienna system of international relations (concert of Europe). The leading countries of the continent have tried to find grounds for cooperation, preventing thereby possible feeble efforts of resolving interstate conflicts by military means. The settlement secured the equilibrium where hegemony was impossible and balance of forces implied prevention of the aggression of an either of an actor (Kissinger 1956 266).   Solutions of the Congress of Vienna lasted until 1914, but after First World War, world should have faced a new system of relations in Europe. By the beginning of the XX century configuration of the leading powers on the world stage have changed again. The U.S. has achieved economic dominance, as well as Japan, Germany and Italy. Since that time, Europe has ceased to be the only continent with generated country-leaders.   German did not initiate the WW1 and was not an arrogant aggressor. Many countries wanted to solve their problems, accumulating military sources, but nobody wanted to look like an aggressor. Everyone was waiting for a justifiable reason for the war to start and soon enough it has turned up.   Everything started in summer 1914 in Sarajevo when the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was assassinated. Shortly, Austria had declared the War against Serbia, gradually involving all other countries in the crisis, which lasted for 4 years and cost Europe 10 million lives, economic devastation and destruction. There was nothing left of prosperous pre-war Germany since 1918. Chaos and ruins were eve rywhere and after the November Revolution of 1918 when Kaiser Wilhelm fled the country, the monarchy was overthrown. The second Reich ceased to exist. That summer held a momentous event in the history, that generations of Germans will be consider as betrayal and curse those, who on 28 of June 1919 signed the Treaty of Versailles. The terms of this agreement struck German delegation, as they didn’t anticipate that conditions will be so severe and harsh. Under this agreement, Germany had no right to have a fleet (like surface with exception of some older battleships and submarines), aviation, armor, artillery, troops and ground forces must be reduced to 100 000 soldiers and officers and 15 000 sailors, the rest 5 million soldiers must be demobilized.   Production of small arms and everything related to military activities, should have been discontinued too. Additionally, they lost 13.5 per cent of territory including Alsace-Lorraine (returned to France), almost 7 million people and all overseas possessions (firstworldwar.com). Country-winners, obliged Germany to pay off reparation of approximately 130 billion Deutsch Mark, to each country affected by the actions of German troops. June 28, 1919, can be considered the date when the count-down of inevitable outbreak of the Second World War started. On tha t date, the war-revenge was inescapable.   As Catherine Lu notes it was an â€Å"apparent failure† and a morally defective reaction to the war.   The primary telos – goal of the Allies was to bring enduring peace, however there were two pillars of approach.   The US delegation headed by President Wilson had more idealistic proposal about peaceful settlement, on the other hand French prime-minister Georges Clemenceau expressed more hardliner position.   He opened the conference on May 7, 1919 saying: â€Å"it is neither time nor place for superfluous words†¦we must settle our account† (Lu 2002 7).   The Treaty of Versailles (and other similar acts) included statute of the League of Nations an international intergovernmental organization with the main objectives of development and cooperation among nations, guarantying peace and security. Initially, was signed by the 44 States. (United States didn’t ratified the treaty, consequently not join ing the League.) League did not become a worldwide organization, because not all of the great powers became its member (such as Germany and Japan vacated from its membership in 1934), so it wasn’t able to stop numerous aggressions in the prewar period (due to inability to organize collective action) and prevent the WW2. It virtually ceased to exist since 1939 (formally disbanded in 1946), but many elements of its structure, procedures and objectives were, later, perceived by the UN. The formation of a system of International Relations after the First World War ended up at the Washington conference of 1921-1922 convened at the initiative of USA and designed to consolidate the new alignment of forces in the Pacific region. This very world order between the two world wars was named as Versailles-Washington system of international relations. U.S. refusal to participate in the functioning of the Versailles system, the isolation of Russia and the anti-German direction had made it unbalanced and non- generic, which increased the potential for future world conflict. International relations after World War II were complex and contradictory. Creation of the United Nations (1945), the development of its principles (including multilateral diplomacy) laid the fundamentals of the modern international law and the development of the mechanism of its action. UN for more than half a century effectively contributes to international peace and security with the help of special methods of resolving conflicts of interests on the world arena. This supports to the conclusion of multilateral and bilateral international agreements on cooperation. One of the important events was the signing (in 1975 at the Helsinki) of a Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, containing the standings on enhanced interactions of the participating countries in economy, science and technology, ecology, culture, education, human rights, freedom of information and contacts between people (the so-called third basket). So was formed the CSCE (later OSCE). However, there was a new type of confrontation, emerged in the post-war period – The Cold War, when world became split into two blocks, the rivalry of which often lead to a situation, on the edge, of the global conflict. One of the most dangerous was The Cuban Missile Crisis(1962), when the United states and Soviet Union seriously considered the possibility of a nuclear exchange what lead us to the point, when opposing superpowers resolved their conflicts and created military alliances – NATO and Warsaw Pact. Those where general stages of evolution of the Westphalian model of the world, which existed in various versions, over 350 years. Many of politicians and scholars of the XX century are predicting the collapse of this system of world order. Today international governmental and private actors have implications on the evolution of the international system, thus it is impossible to make unilateral decisions. The future is no way going to be easier than the past (Kennan 1984 73). BIBLIOGRAPHY: Compromising Westphalia Stephen D. Krasner International Security, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Winter, 1995-1996), pp.115-151 The Peace of Westphalia, 1648-1948 Leo Gross The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 1948), pp. 20-41 Power Transitions and Great Power War from Westphalia to Waterloo Woosang Kim World Politics, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Oct., 1992), pp. 153-172 Chapman T. 1998. The Congress of Vienna. London and New York: Routledge Kissinger H. 1999. A World Restored. London: Weidenfeld Nicolson Ltd. The Congress of Vienna: A Reappraisal Henry A. Kissinger World Politics, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Jan., 1956), pp. 264-280 Europes borders after 1919 and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. SPIEGEL Obama Is Like a Chess Player. 2009. Der Spiegel; spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,grossbild-1578550-634400,00.html Lu C. 2002. Justice and Moral Regeneration: Lessons from the Treaty of Versailles. Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The International Studies Association jstor.org/stable/3186461 Tranchtenberg M. 1982. Versailles after Sixty Years. Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 17, No 3. Sage Publication Ltd jstor.org/stable/260557 Treaty of Versailles. 1919.   firstworldwar.com/source/versailles.htm Kennan G. 1984. American Diplomacy.   3rd ed. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press.