TREATY OF WESTPHALIA

Sovereignty: Treaty of Westphalia

Why was the Treaty of Westphalia so important for the development of the modern international system?

Answer

Introduction

It is often argued that the appearance of state sovereignty was cemented by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), which established the so-called 'Westphalian system' (Moeller 1986, p72, 73). The Treaty formalized the modern notion of sovereign statehood. Modern Europe emerged from the convulsions of the 30 Years war in 1648 with the signing of the 'Peace of Westphalia' (Moeller 1986, p72, 73). The principles of international order that emerged in Europe after the conclusion of this peace treaty have become the foundation of the modern international system (Moeller 1986, p72, 73). The up to date international scheme is based upon the values of state sovereignty and worldwide law. Law is a standard governing activity or procedure. Law suggests the existence of a sovereign administration and the obligation of obedience of all subject to that authority. Abody of regulation purposes inside a jurisdiction. Jurisdiction mentions to the limits or territory inside which the regulation applies. We distinguish between domestic or national law and international law. We furthermore distinguish between two major parts of legal systems, Roman regulation and Common law. Roman or Continental law is based on a codified body of principles of law. Common regulation, or English widespread regulation, is founded in part on codified statues and in part on judicial interpretation of preceding practice. The rudimentary values of international relations in the Westphalian system are usually regarded to be: sovereignty of the state; sovereign equality of states; the right of non-interference in household affairs of the sovereign state; territorial integrity of the state; the obligation to abide by international agreements; the standard of the tranquil settlement of disputes; and the obligation to enlist in worldwide collaboration consistent with nationwide interests (Moeller 1986, p78).

Treaty of Westphalia

The 1648 Westphalia calm only did well because of an economic policy of protection and administered public credit—dirigism—aimed to conceive sovereign nation-states, and conceived by France's Cardinal Jules Mazarin and his large protégé Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Colbert's dirigist principle of fair trade was the most effective tool for fighting against the liberal free trade principle of centered banking maritime forces of the British and Dutch oligarchies.

Similarly, it is only with a return to the Peace of Westphalia's principle of "forgiving the sins of the past," and of mutually beneficial economic development that the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be solved on the basis of two mutually-recognized sovereign states.

In the calm of Westphalia, Mazarin's and Colbert's common-good principle of the "Advantage of the other" triumphed over the imperial designs of both France's Louis XIV himself, and the Venetian-controlled Hapsburg Empire. In the 18th Century, the identical standard conveyed the posthumous triumph of Gottfrield Leibniz over John Locke in shaping the American republic's origin documents, the triumph of "the pursuit of joyfulness" and the standard of the general welfare, over Locke's "life, liberty, and property."

Today, that principle has conceived the Eurasian Land-Bridge policy, as conceived by ...