Module 2: The International System Movie Narration Slide 1. Image: a photo of the night sky The International System: Consider the sky above Arizona. Depending on the season, the wind, the time of day, or the weather, the sky we see above us will look different. In fact, the formation of clouds is never static, but it always changing. Slide 2. Image: a photo of blue sky with clouds Today’s slide show is about the international system, and in many respects we can say the international system is like the sky above us. It has changed over the centuries, sometimes being made up of certain actors, and at other times being dominated by different actors. And, the international system never stays the same, but is always shifting and changing. When we talk about the international system, we are talking about the configuration of major powers in the world at certain points of time. Today we are going to glance at a few different times in history, to try to understand what types of international systems have existed in the past. We’ll also talk about what type of international system we have today, and even spend a few minutes speculating about what type of international system will appear in the future. So, let’s begin. Slide 3. Image: a mosaic of Alexander the Great The first type of system we want to consider is called an Imperial system, also known as an empire. This mosaic shows the leader of one of the great empires in Europe, Alexander the Great. In the 300 BCs, he expanded the kingdom of his father, Philip of Macedon, out from northern Greece all the way into Persia. Slide 4. Image: a map of Alexander the Great’s empire This map shows the enormous extent of Alexander the Great’s empire. As big as it was, it didn’t last long beyond Alexander’s death in 323 BC. Perhaps the most important, and much longer-lasting empire followed shortly….the Roman Empire. Slide 5. Image: a map of the Roman Empire The Roman Empire got rolling around 27 BC and lasted until around 400 AD. As you can see, it started in Rome, and spread both east and west, reaching north to the British Isle, south into Northern Africa, and east into Syria. Slide 6. Image: a painting called “Thumbs Down” showing a Roman gladiator in the arena The Roman Empire would hold spectacles, where conquered soldiers and civilians and even animals were paraded before the Roman populace, and then sometimes forced to fight one another. For Rome, this was a way to showing the power and glory of the empire. (This art work is housed in the Phoenix Art Museum and is called “Thumbs Down. Can you guess why and what that means?) Slide 7. Image: a photo of a Roman aqueduct Imperial powers also built infrastructure in the places they conquered. This enabled trade, the movement of people and goods, and made communication around the empire much easier. They built roads, forts, aqueducts to carry water, huge buildings, and temples. Slide 8. Image: a painting ...

1. Module 2: The International System
Movie Narration
Slide 1. Image: a photo of the night sky
The International System:
Consider the sky above Arizona. Depending on the season, the
wind, the time of day, or the weather, the sky we see above us
will look different. In fact, the formation of clouds is never
static, but it always changing.
Slide 2. Image: a photo of blue sky with clouds
Today’s slide show is about the international system, and in
many respects we can say the international system is like the
sky above us. It has changed over the centuries, sometimes
being made up of certain actors, and at other times being
dominated by different actors. And, the international system
never stays the same, but is always shifting and changing.
When we talk about the international system, we are talking
about the configuration of major powers in the world at certain
points of time. Today we are going to glance at a few different
times in history, to try to understand what types of international
systems have existed in the past. We’ll also talk about what
type of international system we have today, and even spend a
few minutes speculating about what type of international system
will appear in the future. So, let’s begin.
Slide 3. Image: a mosaic of Alexander the Great
The first type of system we want to consider is called an
Imperial system, also known as an empire. This mosaic shows
the leader of one of the great empires in Europe, Alexander the

2. Great. In the 300 BCs, he expanded the kingdom of his father,
Philip of Macedon, out from northern Greece all the way into
Persia.
Slide 4. Image: a map of Alexander the Great’s empire
This map shows the enormous extent of Alexander the Great’s
empire. As big as it was, it didn’t last long beyond Alexander’s
death in 323 BC. Perhaps the most important, and much longer-
lasting empire followed shortly….the Roman Empire.
Slide 5. Image: a map of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire got rolling around 27 BC and lasted until
around 400 AD. As you can see, it started in Rome, and spread
both east and west, reaching north to the British Isle, south into
Northern Africa, and east into Syria.
Slide 6. Image: a painting called “Thumbs Down” showing a
Roman gladiator in the arena
The Roman Empire would hold spectacles, where conquered
soldiers and civilians and even animals were paraded before the
Roman populace, and then sometimes forced to fight one
another. For Rome, this was a way to showing the power and
glory of the empire.
(This art work is housed in the Phoenix Art Museum and is
called “Thumbs Down. Can you guess why and what that
means?)
Slide 7. Image: a photo of a Roman aqueduct
Imperial powers also built infrastructure in the places they
conquered. This enabled trade, the movement of people and

3. goods, and made communication around the empire much easier.
They built roads, forts, aqueducts to carry water, huge
buildings, and temples.
Slide 8. Image: a painting of a medieval castle
Empires were only one type of international system. The
Feudal System is the next type we are going to consider. When
you think of Feudalism, you should think of kings and queens
and castles. This system existed in Europe in the mid 1000’s
AD. This type of system was very different from an Imperial
system. In the first place, power was not concentrated in one
central location that ruled the surrounding areas. Instead,
power in a Feudal system was divided and spread out over many
small kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms ran their own small
area, and were not closely tied to one another. In fact, under
European feudalism, trade and travel and the exchange of ideas
kind of dried up. With the collapse of the Roman Empire, the
roads and armies and trade that had tied this enormous area
together also collapsed, and the system became dominated by
these separate kingdoms that didn’t have a lot to do with one
another. In a Feudal system, power was in the hands of the
kings and lords. These small groups of people in turn ruled
over a huge number of serfs, people with essentially no power
and no rights who were tied to the land.
Slide 9. Image: a painting of a medieval scene with serfs
planting crops
These serfs existed to work the land, even though they didn’t
own what they produced. Instead, there was a sort of bargain,
where they worked for the lord, who took everything they
created, and in turn the lord offered them protection, housing,
and enough food to eat. There was no chance of working their
way up, or breaking out of this life for the serf, or their
children, or for any of their descendants. As you can imagine,

4. this left many feeling dissatisfied.
Slide 10. Image: soldiers fighting one another in the Thirty
Years War
The Feudal system, however, lasted for hundreds of years. It
wasn’t until 1648 that things changed in Europe. A war known
as the Thirty Years War was being fought between Catholics
and Protestants. The Thirty Years' War marked the last major
religious war in mainland Europe, ending the large-scale
religious bloodshed accompanying the Reformation, which
began over a century before.
The war was resolved with the Peace (or Treaty) of Westphalia.
The reason that this treaty matters is that it set the stage for a
new type of international system. The treaty was significant
because it recognized the power of states to rule over people.
Instead of empires or kingdoms, political power was centralized
around this thing called a state, which had recognized borders
and territory. And, this introduced the idea of state
sovereignty, which said the state was the highest possible
political entity. Nothing else (no church, no kingdom, no other
state) was higher than it, or could tell it what to do. States,
therefore, were the highest authority in charge of their people,
territory, resources etc. That meant that states were supposed to
respect each other’s sovereignty.
So now we can describe the rise of the Modern State System,
with states interacting with one another, sometimes peacefully,
and sometimes in conflict with one another.
Slide 11. Image: a painting showing the signing of the Treaty
of Vienna
This international system was formalized with a meeting in
1814 called the Treaty of Vienna. State leaders of Great
Britain, France, Austria, Russia and Prussia) met to try to

5. hammer out some rules that would help them all get along.
These rules settled the many issues arising from the French
Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the
Holy Roman Empire to ensure future disputes would be settled
in a manner that would avoid these terrible wars of the previous
twenty years. Although the Congress of Vienna preserved the
balance of power in Europe, it could not check the spread of
revolutionary movements across the continent.
The end result was a small group of the most powerful states
agreeing to try to get along, and a larger group of less powerful
states hoping to benefit from this peace. And, it worked.
Things remained pretty peaceful in Europe for almost 100 years.
This type of international system has become known as a
Multipolar System.
Slide 12. Image: a photo of an American flag being raised
during a blizzard at the North Pole
It might be useful for us to clarify the use of the word “pole.”
Think about pole as it relates to the South Pole or the North
Pole. The word “pole” actually means “opposite” and refers to
things in opposition to one another. So, when we talk about the
term pole with respect to states, we are talking about states in
some degree of opposition to one another, who sort of balance
each other out.
Slide 13. Image: a map of Europe under the Congress of
Vienna
So, Europe after the Treaty of Vienna was a Multipolar system,
with a few states (and a few aging empires) holding most of the
power, and the other states in a much less powerful position. A
multipolar system exists when most of the power is held in the
hands of 3 or more states. They balance each other, compete
with each other, and are in opposition to each other.

6. However, as we know from our discussion of clouds and from
our look at history, international systems never remain the
same. The multipolar system in Europe cam crashing down in a
big way with the start of World War I.
Slide 14. Image: four photos of World War I, showing soldiers
fighting in the trenches, airplanes bombing soldiers on the
ground, tanks, and soldiers marching
World War I, from 1914-1918, was horrible. Fueled by the
inventions and developments of the Industrial Revolution,
humans had figured out ways to kill each other in more efficient
and terrible ways. At the end of the war, the hope was that a
multipolar system could be recreated that would once again lead
to long-lasting peace. This peace occurred in part, because of
the work of US President Woodrow Wilson and his effort to
create the League of Nations. However, the peace lasted barely
20 years, as there was not enough support for League in the US,
because of a Republican Congress that did not ratify the treaty
due to an interest in isolationism. Isolationism means that,
because of the cost of war for the state, leaders will choose to
focus on domestic politics and reconstruction of infrastructure
instead of concerning themselves with foreign policy.
Consequently, leaders such as Adolph Hitler in Germany and
Benito Mussolini in Italy came to power and, as bad as WWI
was, WWII was even worse.
Slide 15. Image: a photo of Dresden, Germany after being
bombed
World War II brought even more killing and destruction. New
weapons meant that entire cities, such as Dresden, Germany,
could be firebombed in one night.
Slide 16. Image: two photos showing mushroom clouds from a

7. nuclear bomb explosion
The development of atomic weapons meant that a single bomb
could do damage that was almost beyond the scope of
imagination.
Slide 17. Image: a photo of Hiroshima, Japan after being
bombed with an atomic weapon
Hiroshima, Japan, after the bombing.
Slide 18. Image: a photo of emaciated prisoners in a Nazi
concentration camp
And, the war showed what a state could do if it was determined
to exterminate an entire group of people, as Nazi Germany did
during the Holocaust.
Slide 19. Image: the flags of the Soviet Union and the United
States
Once WWII ended and Japan and Germany were defeated, a new
type of international system arose. Power had shifted away
from Europe, which had now endured two devastating wars in
less than 30 years. Now power was concentrated in only two
states: the United States of America, and the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (the USSR). These 2 states had much more
power than any of the other states. This type of system was
known as a Bipolar International system. The two major powers
were very different from one another and had different political,
economic, and cultural systems. It is not surprising that they
saw each other as polar opposites. From about 1945-1991, their
relationship became known as the Cold War.
Slide 20. Image: a cartoon showing the Soviet and American

8. leaders arm wrestling while seated on atomic weapons
Their “war” was Cold because the two sides never actually
fought each other. But it was a war in the sense that they
viewed each other as the enemy, they built massive amounts of
deadly weapons to point at the other, and they both tried to
persuade/cajole the other countries of the world (known as
proxies) to join “their” side.
Slide 21. Image: a map of the Soviet Union
This Cold War ended in 1991, when one of the two poles, the
Soviet Union, actually collapsed and ceased to exist. What had
been one enormous country split into 15 separate states. That
meant that the international system, once again, changed as
well. With the collapse of one pole, there was only one polar
power left standing: the US.
Slide 22. Image: a photo of an American aircraft carrier
That meant that we had a new system, a Unipolar System. This
one state was so powerful that it was the dominant power in the
entire international system. From 1991 on, the US saw itself as
the dominant actor in the world system, and therefore acted to
carry out its interests.
Slide 23. Image: an artistic image containing parts of flags
Now, finally, we look toward the future. We know that
international systems never remain the same, so we have to ask,
what type of international system will come next? Which states
will grow in power to challenge the US? Of course we don’t
know the answer, but we can speculate, based upon changes we
see taking place in the world.
Slide 24. Image: a map of the world with Brazil, Russia, India

9. and China highlighted
One possible answer lies with the BRIC states. This acronym
refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Why
them? They are growing economically, they are gaining in
power, and they are asserting themselves in world politics. Will
we see them gain more power and lead to a new Multipolar
System? We don’t know the answer, but we can only watch and
see what happens.
Slide 25. Image: a photo of clouds and lightening at night
The international system has gone through enormous change and
upheaval throughout history. During our life times, we may see
it shift and change again.