What role have great powers played in the making of the modern international

system?
Great powers have had a huge role in the making of the international system in various
ways. First of all, it may be fair to say that there are a few factors which come together in
order to create the perfect package for qualities which all great powers need to have in order
to live up to their name. For example, political, military, economic and ideological resources
may be required to qualify a state to be a 'Great Power'. Perhaps many states would not be
able to play a part in the making of the modern international system without these powerresources. These resources obviously vary from state to state as some states may be more
economically powerful than the other etc.

In 1648, an event took place which changed the face of international relations; The Peace of
Westphalia ended thirty years of conflict between catholic and protestant states in many
parts of Europe. The treaty introduced the concept of the sovereign state, that each state
can not be governed by another, consequently this led to the removal of political hierarchy in
Europe. Although this was a very significant event we must pay attention to the fact that this
is not the reason why statesmen became sovereign or modern. Rather, other factors such as
balancing of power determined whether or not states were sovereign, and how much power
these great powers really did have. In some situations where one power was dominant over
all others, the weaker powers would collate together to avert the greater powers from
conquering. Powers such as the Ottoman Empire didnt succeed, instead they lost their
power and authority.1

The Ottoman Empire which played the role of a great power in the 15th century was known
as a very powerful opponent of the Hasburg monarchy. In 1683, as they moved to the West
and occupied territory belonging to Bosnia and Hungary, they also invaded many other parts
1 1.SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on International Politics. SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC.
2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.

of Europe such as Serbia, Greece and Romania. Therefore they played a part in making the
modern international system.2Furthermore, the conquering of Byzantium is another
contribution to the making of the modern international system. This is partially a
consequence of the Ottoman Empires conquering because it had a domino effect on
following events. For example, disruption of trade and wealth of Italian city-states and
economic superiority of states bordering the Atlantic Ocean. In addition to this, there were
other events which followed on from this to cause havoc to many states.

The competition to remain a superpower has meant that modern states are willing to
increase their population. Modern states encourage reproduction in order to be militarily
powerful as they have a ready supply of army. This concept is known as Military Pronatalism and was evident at the time of Fascist Italy, where birth rates increase. 3

According to Paul W. Schroeder, many scholars would agree that Europe was more stable
from 1815 to 1845 than during any equivalent era in the 18th century and that the 18th
century was more disruptive than the 19th century. This is due to many events which took
place during the period 1787 to 1815 caused by a 'generation of war and upheaval.The 19th
century was much more peaceful in comparison to the 18th century partially because the
positioning and practices were particularly contrastive to the norms of the 18th century.4
Great powers such as the sovereign statesmen of European countries played a part in the
making of the modern international system because they altered the ways in which the
2 Thomas J. Kehoe, Harold E. Damerow, and Jose Marie Duvall, Exploring Western
Civilization: 1600 to the Present: A Worktext for the Active Student, Revised Edition.
(Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1999.)
3 J.R Mcneill. (2009). The International System, Great Powers, and Environmental. In: Facing Global
Environmental Change: Germany: Springer. p44-48(

4 Schroeder, P.W. (1986) The 19th-Century International System: Changes in the Structure . World
Politics. 39 (1),

countries were governed and arranged which had an impact on the modern international
system today. In order to prevent any state from achieving a position of hegemony, the
leaders of great powers usually met in congresses to discuss and debate a broad range of
issues.5

In conclusion, it is obvious that many great powers have played a fundamental role in
shaping what is the modern international system which is in place today. Although in different
ways, they have proved to hold many different attributes of what is known to be a great
power. Over time, they have occasionally worked together to shape our modern
international system or just played a small individual part. However, there are many new
concepts and treaties which have been introduced by great powers which have aided our
modern international system today.

5 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Vol.I From States Systems to a Society of States: The Evolution
of International Relations - K. J. Holsti