Transcript The Evolution of Political Units: Hunter

The Evolution of Political Units:
Hunter-Gatherers to City-States to
Regional Empires to Colonial Empire
to the Modern State System
Tomas Hopkins Primeau
Professor of International Relations
Two types of forces in nature and
world history: “things come
together” or “things fall apart.”
The same can be said of states
and empires.
Centripetal vs Centrifugal Forces in
States and Empires
• City-States to Empires: Centripetal
– Greek City States to Macedonian Empire
• Empires to Modern States: Centrifugal
– Breakup of Ottoman Empire-creation of modern day
Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, among others
• Western Imperialism/Colonization: PETAL
– Creation of British & French Empires in Africa/Asia
• UN Decolonization: FUGAL
– Breakup of French Empire in Africa-Algeria, Morocco,
Tunisia, Mauritania, Senegal, Madagascar
Current movements of
centripetal/centrifugal forces
• Breakup of large states centriFUGAL
–
–
–
–
Breakup of Soviet Union (1991)
Czechoslovakia (1993)
Yugoslavia (1994)
Sudan (2011)
• Expanding regional integration centriPETAL
– Creation of European Union (1995)
• Common Currency, internal migration, citizenship issues
– Expansion of European Union: 27 states (1999-2012)
– Creation of African Union (2002)
• Common security force
Evolution of Human Social Organization
NOMADIC
Blood relatives
Individual
Family
Kingdom
HEREDITARY,
FIXED & PERMANENT
Distant relatives
Band
Tribe
Chiefdom
MERIT-BASED,
SEMI-NOMADIC & TEMPORARY
Mesopotamian City-States c. 5000 BC
Later conquered and incorporated
into the Babylonian Empire
Greek CityStates
750-150
BCE
Conquered and incorporated into
Macedonian Empire
And still later conquered and
incorporated into Roman Empire
Breakup of the Roman Empire
Feudal Europe: a constantly
changing system of small kingdoms
The Westphalian “Peace”
Treaty of Westphalia (1648)
• Experts point to this as the beginning of
the modern state system
• Modern state system begins in Europe
• Recognition of state “sovereignty” over
issues like religion (Protestant
Reformation) diminished papal power
• State control over territory with well
defined borders
• Note that neither Germany nor Italy exists
• Series of “unified” small kingdoms
The State-Centric System
• The primary focus of world history and
international relations becomes states
• A network of international norms and laws
begins to develop between countries
• States are “sovereign” within their borders
• Laws of War, Laws of Trade, Laws of Sea
Travel, Laws of Territorial Acquisition
• Emergence of specialized IGO system
• Later the creation of League of Nations and UN
Small German Kingdoms prior to 1871
Unified into modern “Germany”
b.1871
Growth of Russian Empire
Transformation of the Regional
Empires into “modern states”
• Many former “empires” transform
themselves in to “Republics” i.e. “Peoples
Republic of China” or “United States of
America” or “Union of Socialist Soviet
Republics” or “Socialist Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia” HOWEVER….
• They were still considered “Empires” by
the various nations who lived within them
From “Russian Empire” & Czar to
the “Soviet Union” & Premier but…
Peoples Republic of China…but
Kingdom of Serbs,Croats,Slovenes
to “Yugoslav Socialist Republic” but
The onset of Western Colonialism
in Asia and Africa: 1492 to 1945
• Columbus “discovers” the Americas while
looking for trade route to the Indies
• Expansion and territorial takeover begins with
Portuguese in Goa (India) in 1510
• Later come waves of Dutch and the British
• British East India Company 1600
• Dutch East India Company 1602
• Business/trade contacts made with many small
Asian kingdoms turned into “protectorates”
18th & 19th Century Colonization of
Asia through “Protectorates”
Protectorates used by the Western
colonial powers
• “it is an autonomous territory that is
protected diplomatically or militarily
against third parties by a stronger [western
colonial] state or entity. However, it retains
formal sovereignty, and remains a state
under international law.”
565
Princely
States in
India at
Partition
And “Sultanates” as protectorates
And more protectorates and
sultanates that today are called
“states” like Indonesia, Saudi
Arabia, and Yemen
Onset of Western Colonialism: The
“Scramble for Africa” 1880-1914
Look at the political boundaries of
Europe: See any straight lines?
Now look at the political boundaries
of Africa: Who drew those lines?
• Africa cut up
just like a
cake by the
European
powers at
Berlin
Conference,
1884-85
Colonial Possessions, 1914
Fig. 8-4: By the outbreak of World War I, European states held colonies throughout the
world, especially throughout Africa and in much of Asia.
Hitler and the Nazi Party’s Rise to
Power in Germany
• With the rise of the Nazi party to power in
the 1930’s Adolf Hitler finds that the world
has almost been completely colonized
– Germany lost all of its African colonies in WWI
• Hitler has a bright idea “let’s colonize
Europe”
Using the idea of Aryan racial
superiority Hitler colonizes Europe
through lebensraum “living space”
Hitler/Nazi’s decide to colonize
white people in the heart of Europe
Questioning the legitimacy of
Western colonization (Centrifugal)
• World War II fought in part in the name of “selfdetermination of peoples” and defeat of attempt
to create a racist Nazi Empire in the heart of
Europe by colonizing white people
• Perhaps if colonizing white people is wrong this
applies to other colors of people as well?
• Dutch, and especially French, learn nothing from
this lesson and try to re-colonize Asia and Africa
• Emergence of National Liberation Movements
throughout the colonized world
The Colonies of the World, 1945
The UN and Decolonization
• 1945 1/3 of world’s population are “non-self
governing peoples” i.e. “colonized”
• Article IX “sacred trust the obligation to promote”
the “well-being” colonized people
• And to “to develop self-government ” meaning
eventual independence
• 1960 Declaration of Rights of Colonized Peoples
• 1962 Special Committee on Decolonization
• Under UN direction 80 colonies become
independent states/countries
Types of Decolonization
• Some colonies gained their independence
through peaceful negotiation
– British withdrawal from India/Pakistan 1947
• Others only achieved independence
through long and bloody anti-colonial wars
of “national liberation”
• Indonesian Revolution (1949 Dutch)
• Vietnamese Revolution (1954 French)
• Mau Mau Rebellion Kenya (1960 British)
• Algerian War of Independence (1962
French)
National Liberation Movements in
Vietnam and Algeria
Asian Decolonization
African Decolonization
The World Today: A Consolidation
of the State-Centric System?
The World Today? Or is it? Sudan
breaks apart 2011
Canada and Nunavut (1999)
Demark gives autonomy to
Greenland (2008)
Fate of large multination states?
Soviet Union Born:1917 Died1991
What does the future hold for large
multi-nation states like Indonesia?
• Born: 1948-?
Or Nigeria? Born:1960-?
Or India? Born: 1947-? Or…..????
Peoples Republic of China b. 1948-?
Indigenous peoples were here long
before states, colonies, or empires
Indigenous and Colonized Peoples
Perspective of State-Centrism
• From the perspective of peoples like the
Kurds, Australian Aborigines, Mayans, San
Bushmen, Basques, and many others
• Who have lived in their territories for
thousands or tens of thousands of years
• The state-centric system seems quite
NEW in terms of time AND
• Quite TRANSITIORY and EPHEMERAL in
terms of human (not state) HISTORY.
The San of the Kalahari Desert
• World’s oldest culture 80,000 years old
• Living in newly created states of
• Botswana b. 1966 Namibia b. 1990
"Central Kalahari Game Reserve"
• In 1961 Botswana created a park called
the "Central Kalahari Game Reserve“
• In the mid-1990s a large diamond bearing
field was discovered on San land
• In 1997 Botswana declared that no human
would be allowed to live in the park
• Botswana began relocating the entire San
population to a concentration camp called
“New Xade”
New Xade 140 km from the San’s
traditional homeland
A 47 year old state is currently
destroying the world’s oldest culture
• The Botswana government argues that the
game reserve is for animals only
• No hunting is allowed though the San have
hunted these lands for 1000s of years
• The Botswana Board of Tourism encourages
eco-safaris to the park as a form of
tourist/foreign revenue
• Tourists are allowed in the park, but not the San
http://www.botswanatourism.co.bw/c
kgr.php
The Modern State System and
Indigenous Peoples
• Unfortunately when indigenous peoples
confront modern states like the San they
rarely win those confrontations
• Where the San are forced to live today
The Auto-Imperialist State
• After the United Nations creates states like
Botswana and Namibia…
• Their “job” is to go to territories like the San’s
and take their land away from them
• This is a state being imperialistic towards
indigenous peoples inside of their territory
• This is viewed as legitimate and lawful by the
state-centric system
• This is usually done in the name of “economic
development” or “modernization”
The Indigenous Response to the
Auto-Imperialistic State
• Some indigenous people have the ability
to resist A-I state attempts to steal their
land and actually defend themselves
• This can be seen in many places around
the world today, where indigenous peoples
are challenging the authority of A-I states
• Dinka, Fur, Nuba “Southern Sudan”
• Kurds of Northern Iraq/NE Syria
• Abkhaz in Western Georgia
• Chechens in Russia until genocide of 1999
Pockets of Indigenous Resistance
to the state-centric system