I. Identify and discuss in a page or two TWO of the following questions.
1) What was the Treaty of Westphalia? In what ways did it define the European concept of state sovereignty How many political units did Europe have before 1500? How many did it have by 1800? How can we explain this radical reduction in the number of states in Europe? Which modern international relations theory reflect this historical episode of inter-state anarchy, similar that of the Italian state system of the Renaissance or the classic Greek city states of the Hellenic era?
2) How does the modern state system of International relations differ from the earlier Chinese "Middle Kingdom", the Islamic Califate or Mongol "world systems" that were based in the empires of the Mid-East, Central and Far East Asia? Or the European system of multiple overlapping forms of authority that we call Feudalism? What peculiarity of the European "world" allowed it to modernize first and then impose its version of the territorial state and capitalism on the rest of the world? When did the European States (and their overseas offspring) achieve true global dominance over their Eurasian rivals and how long did that dominance really last? Why should care what the Chinese or Islamists remember about their earlier primacies?