Download The evoloving world system (6 Mar 06)

Haileybury Politics Department- Notes According to Perrins
LVI –IB
THE EVOLVING WORLD SYSTEM
Early Development
Ancient Greece & Rome – time scales
 Greek city states (c.700BC to 300BC)
 The Roman Empire (c500BC to AD453)
Aspects of the systems
 The territorial state : territory defined the political entity (rather than
just tribal origins or allegiance to a ruler) and ownership of land and
the system required to regulate this promoted the concept of
citizenship.
 Sovereignty : the work of Aristotle advanced the concept of a system
of law and government based on principles rather than rulers or
religion – ultimate sovereignty indicates the existence of no higher
authority, which defines the state itself.
 Nationalism : Each city state (and the Roman Empire) engendered an
intense loyalty and sense of belonging, including a desire to protect
and defend it against outside threats.
 Democracy : Athenian principles of government recognized that the
people themselves were the source of authority, not the rulers of
religion. The early Roman system was likewise based on democratic
principles – although these were later throttled by military dictatorship.
Universal Authority in the Middle Ages (c 476 to 1700)
Religious authority
 The Roman Catholic Church served for centuries as the primary
force of universal authority (certainly in the Western world). The
Church provided a universal language (Latin) and a universal
doctrine of law.
 The battle for political authority between secular rulers and the Church
was a constant feature – Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne “Emperor
of the Romans” in 800 (Napoleon re-created this moment by being
crowned by Pope Pius VII in 1804), whilst Otto I was crowned the first
Holy Roman Emperor in 962 by Pope John XII – a post which remained
until the defeat of Austria at the end of the First World War in 1918.
 The principle was established that political authority flows from
religious ordination.
Secular authority
 Great secular empires developed over territorial swathes of land –
authority was enforced through military might and religious sanction,
ie the growing secular authority still relied on religious support,
although this relationship was often tempestuous and full of conflict.
 Examples include the Austro-Hungarian, Spanish, Dutch, French,
British and German Empires (in Europe), the Ottoman Empire in the
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
Middles East, the Chinese and Japanese Empires in the Far East and
the Russian Empire.
Most of the enormously diverse populations of these empires had little
or no cultural or historical relationship to the ruling classes – and in
many cases no religious link either – yet the twin pillars of authority
(religious and secular), backed up by military force, kept them going
for centuries.
Feudalism
 Local levels of authority were controlled through the feudal system,
which included land ownership, control over resources, legal authority,
protection and economic control.
 The type of systems that developed ranged from Principalities to
Dukedoms, Earldoms, Baronies and other types of “feudal fiefs” – most
of which were smaller in size than what would develop as modern
states.
 All owed allegiance, in turn, to an “Overlord” – a King or en Emperor
(sometimes both).
 Feudal authority included a symbiotic relationship between feudal lord
and his feudal vassals – in return for their service, taxes (either kind,
cash or service) and obedience, he would provide the focus of
protection against outside interference and aggression – feudal wars
were often localized affairs and armies were invariably raised by feudal
lords (even if they then joined an alliance under their overlord’s
overall, control).
 Feudal units of land were not always discrete and together – parcels of
land were often spread about, with different bits inbetween owned and
dominated by different lords. This led to much conflict and confusion.
 The Roman Catholic Church itself was a substantial feudal landlord.
Nearly all of its Bishoprics (or diocesan offices) were linked to feudal
lordship and the income and revenues that came with it – the Bishops’
Palaces still occupied by the Anglican Bishops (successors to the
Roman Catholic Church after the Reformation) and the spectacular
“cathedra” (or Bishop’s Throne) in cathedrals such as Durham or
Winchester are testimony to this era. Likewise, the monasteries and
abbeys of England, France and Germany (eg Fountains Abbey in
Yorkshire or Cluny Abbey in France) operated as vast feudal landlords
and sources of economic and political power and authority.
The decline of the feudal system
Underlying reasons
 Military technology : the development of gunpowder and the ability to
wage war on a much greater scale, with far more devastating
weapons, made the ability of local feudal lords to dominate and control
packages of territory less likely.
 Economic expansion : population growth, versatility of products and
improved trade undermined the feudal existence and the principle of
self-sustainability. Mass production of goods – initially foodstuffs and
cloth and garments changed the base economic means of operation,
thus weakening feudal lines of control and reliance.
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Manufacturing and industry and the Industrial Revolution: The decline
of individual craftsmen and the development of factory-based
production and the technological growth this engendered had
substantial political consequences, viz.
(a)
the creation of a wealthy and economically active and influential
commercial class;
(b)
the need to improve access to resources and markets to drive
the new economic reality forward undermined and eventually
destroyed the feudal structure of society;
(c)
this need for larger commercial systems led to increasing cooperation between the commercial (“middle”) classes and
emerging Kings or Rulers of larger, more geographically distinct
and defined “nation-states”.
Renaissance and Reformation
 The decline of the feudal system was matched by the decline of papal
authority and political control, reinforced by a period of cultural and
intellectual “re-birth” or “re-awakening”, known as the Renaissance.
 This occurred over a long period, from c. 1350 to 1650 and included
the development of free intellectual thought, scientific discovery and
greater individual freedom (form both religious dogma and political
control).
 The Protestant reformation of the early sixteenth century was sparked
by the decline of feudalism and the development of the Renaissance.
 The rejection of key Catholic doctrines by Martin Luther in Germany in
1517 and the break from Rome by the English Church under King
Henry VIII in 1536 touched off religious-political struggles all over
Europe.
The Treaty of Westphalia (1648)

Was the culmination of the struggle between the religious and imperial
authority of the Holy Roman Empire and its Papal ally and the
nationalist and Protestant ethnic groupings that evolved out of the
Reformation.
map 06/03/06
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