History of International Relations
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 2
2. China and East Asia .................................................................................................................................................... 4
3. India and Indianization.............................................................................................................................................13
4. The Muslim Caliphates .............................................................................................................................................20
5. The Mongol Khanates ..............................................................................................................................................28
6. Africa ........................................................................................................................................................................35
7. The European Expansion..........................................................................................................................................43
8. Belgian Colonialism ..................................................................................................................................................53
9. Global Governance in the Nineteenth Century .......................................................................................................65
10. The League of Nations and its ‘failure’ ................................................................................................................73
11. The United Nations and decolonisation ..............................................................................................................80
12. Exam explanation .................................................................................................................................................89
1
,1. Introduction
1.1. History of International Relations: Why?
Why is it useful for social scientist to study history?
• To make yourself familiar with human behaviour → assumption: humans react often the same, their behaviour is unchanging
• If you want to know why something is happening, we have to take into account the last 70 years of history (important to solve a conflict,
e.g. Conflict in Gaza)
1. Understand a conflict
2. Solve a conflict (if possible)
• why institutions (like NATO, UN…) are formed and why people object to them → to study historical emergence (origin)
to understand how the world hangs together → the patterns
→ the past ≠ history
• history is a story about the past, finite, influenced by our own understanding and interpretation of the world (exclusion) →
vicious circle of thinking
1. Historical legacies
• Present behaviour is burdened by the past
• e.g., ‘post-communist societies’ = society that left communism behind (such as Poland…)
• Historical legacies (notion) suggests that it is not easy to shake off past influence (it lingers into present)
• Hierarchical relation between the coloniser (superiority) and colonised (inferiority) is hard to escape
→ the past is forming modern day interactions in a society
2. The politics of historical memories
• Mediators and political presence make us aware of history. They mediate and sometimes manipulate how we see
the past → feelings of nostalgia or try to mobilise the past (e.g., Kiev and Russian foreign policy claims)
o But historical memory is subjective, our interpretation of the past changes
• Propagated by ‘memory activists’
• Based on ‘selection and exclusion’
o Intentional exclusion and inclusion, not everything will be remembered
• Depends on the ‘efficiency of political pedagogy’
o Systematic, recourse heavy effort if you want to change the memory of the past
• Show a high degree of ‘homogeneity’
• Relies on symbols and rites that ‘enhance emotions of empathy and identification’
3. The contingency of moral ideas and social arrangements
• E.g. ‘gender equality’ or ‘natural slavery’ or ‘sovereignty’
• Things are not natural, they will be/could be different in the future
• Does not mean it is easy to change this
4. [Lessons from history]
• Maybe it is possible to learn from the past (‘It could make you a better political leader’) BUT:
o What were the conditions of the success?
o Who was it successful for?
→ explore critically
→ draw analogies, but no straight lessons
What do you expect to learn about in this class? What people, events, concepts or processes do you expect to
learn (more) about?
*Class discussion*
2
, 1.2. History of International Relations: What?
• IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’
o Our answers were examples of very recent history
• IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘Eurocentric’
o Western point of view (biased)
Is it a problem that IR as a discipline betrays a ‘presentist’ and a ‘Eurocentric bias’?
→ It could mean we can discuss more in detail (the broader, the more superficial)
• Non-Western powers are re-asserting themselves (China, Turkey, India…)
o [historical legacies]
o [historical memory]
• What is the logic of the international system?
o [contingency of present arrangements]
• What is an ‘international system’? What is ‘the logic’ of the international system?
o Basic unit: state, sovereign state
o Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
o Rules & norms: sovereign equality
o Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence
But this is an inadequate portrayal that generalizes too readily from European experience.
• Five sessions about non-European international societies, which functioned rather differently from the ideal-
typical portrayal of European international experience
o Differences within ‘non-European experience’ too
o Relatively little consideration for ‘stateless societies’
• Two sessions about how Europe came to rule the world
• Three sessions about the evolution of ‘European-Global international society’ since the nineteenth century
1.3. History of International Relations: How?
• Weekly sessions, maximum of 3 hours each; recorded but only briefly available
• Course syllabus (on blackboard) specifies the topic and the study material for each session
• Study material
o Textbook: Erik Ringmar. 2019. History of International Relations: A Non-European Perspective. Cambridge:
OpenBookPublishers.
o Additional readings: listed in course syllabus
o Your lecture notes
o [Recordings will be available for one week only]
→ Everything in the discussed chapters is to be learned for the exam (even if not mentioned in class)
→ The research articles are very detailed, but you have to understand the argument and covey it persuasively (that
is why you should probably know some of the empirical details)
1. Your grade will be based on how well you perform on a written exam (closed book)
a. Persons, concepts and events
i. Situate in historical time and indicate the historical significance
ii. What, when, why important?
2. A set of more substantive questions
a. E.g., “What is the role of memory activists in fostering historical memories? Illustrate with an example.
3. An essay question
3
, 2. China and East Asia
2.1. What is China?
International system = organises the relations between polities, each of which can claim a certain amount of
independence (China established relations with those polities and respect their independence to a certain extent)
International relations = organisations of interaction of separate polities
What is China?
China today = A nation state (only in latter part of 19th century)
• The people of the nation state identify as Chinese
• China is multi-ethnic and multi-lingual but there is a shared identity of being Chinese
• When met with resistance, the Chinese government will put effort into keeping
the Chinese identity
China in history = An empire → not a nation-state
• China did not refer to itself as China
• Imperial dynasties with pretence of being the ‘middle kingdom’ (zhongguo)
o Polities by the Yangtze River, it was usual for polities to develop nearby a river
o An international system can't exist of 1 polity, it has to by multiple polities
o China was in a superior position; there was a hierarchy of polities (China = central polity)
• A civilizational zone sharing in a set of ritual practices
o Elites shared a number of practises/ideas → polities were a civilisation zone (ancestor worship)
o Shared writing system (common use of characters)
o Shared rhetorical tropes (how to organise politics and think about politics)
▪ The ruler ruled with a mandate of heaven
▪ They could name themselves 'sons of heaven'
▪ This mandate did not mean the ruler could not be replaced, a rebellious leader could overthrow
the leader, because the fact that he was able to overthrow the previous one means that he is
now in possession of the mandate of heaven
• China was dominant in East-Asia and the centre concerning external relations in the empire
• Suzerainty = a dominant state has control over the international affairs of a subservient state, while the latter
retains domestic autonomy
• China as a ‘solar system’: China is the sun around which other and far smaller political entities, located at
increasing distances from the centre, are circulating in their respective orbits
[And]
What does it mean to identify a 'Chinese' international system?
What is does not mean to identify a Chinese international system: encompassing, unchanging, unquestionably
Confucian
• It should not be assumed that the chino centric system should cover the whole of (East-) Asia, it expanded and
contracted from time to time, it was not static, it changed
• Confucian influence, but not unquestioned
• Two simultaneously existing systems
o Overland system: organised relations with societies/polities to the north and west
o Tribute system: organised relations with polities to the south and east
2.2. The 'warring state' period (475 – 251 BCE)
Multiple polities that each claimed independence (names are not important)
• Own king/ruler
• Own army
• Own bureaucracy …
4
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 2
2. China and East Asia .................................................................................................................................................... 4
3. India and Indianization.............................................................................................................................................13
4. The Muslim Caliphates .............................................................................................................................................20
5. The Mongol Khanates ..............................................................................................................................................28
6. Africa ........................................................................................................................................................................35
7. The European Expansion..........................................................................................................................................43
8. Belgian Colonialism ..................................................................................................................................................53
9. Global Governance in the Nineteenth Century .......................................................................................................65
10. The League of Nations and its ‘failure’ ................................................................................................................73
11. The United Nations and decolonisation ..............................................................................................................80
12. Exam explanation .................................................................................................................................................89
1
,1. Introduction
1.1. History of International Relations: Why?
Why is it useful for social scientist to study history?
• To make yourself familiar with human behaviour → assumption: humans react often the same, their behaviour is unchanging
• If you want to know why something is happening, we have to take into account the last 70 years of history (important to solve a conflict,
e.g. Conflict in Gaza)
1. Understand a conflict
2. Solve a conflict (if possible)
• why institutions (like NATO, UN…) are formed and why people object to them → to study historical emergence (origin)
to understand how the world hangs together → the patterns
→ the past ≠ history
• history is a story about the past, finite, influenced by our own understanding and interpretation of the world (exclusion) →
vicious circle of thinking
1. Historical legacies
• Present behaviour is burdened by the past
• e.g., ‘post-communist societies’ = society that left communism behind (such as Poland…)
• Historical legacies (notion) suggests that it is not easy to shake off past influence (it lingers into present)
• Hierarchical relation between the coloniser (superiority) and colonised (inferiority) is hard to escape
→ the past is forming modern day interactions in a society
2. The politics of historical memories
• Mediators and political presence make us aware of history. They mediate and sometimes manipulate how we see
the past → feelings of nostalgia or try to mobilise the past (e.g., Kiev and Russian foreign policy claims)
o But historical memory is subjective, our interpretation of the past changes
• Propagated by ‘memory activists’
• Based on ‘selection and exclusion’
o Intentional exclusion and inclusion, not everything will be remembered
• Depends on the ‘efficiency of political pedagogy’
o Systematic, recourse heavy effort if you want to change the memory of the past
• Show a high degree of ‘homogeneity’
• Relies on symbols and rites that ‘enhance emotions of empathy and identification’
3. The contingency of moral ideas and social arrangements
• E.g. ‘gender equality’ or ‘natural slavery’ or ‘sovereignty’
• Things are not natural, they will be/could be different in the future
• Does not mean it is easy to change this
4. [Lessons from history]
• Maybe it is possible to learn from the past (‘It could make you a better political leader’) BUT:
o What were the conditions of the success?
o Who was it successful for?
→ explore critically
→ draw analogies, but no straight lessons
What do you expect to learn about in this class? What people, events, concepts or processes do you expect to
learn (more) about?
*Class discussion*
2
, 1.2. History of International Relations: What?
• IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’
o Our answers were examples of very recent history
• IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘Eurocentric’
o Western point of view (biased)
Is it a problem that IR as a discipline betrays a ‘presentist’ and a ‘Eurocentric bias’?
→ It could mean we can discuss more in detail (the broader, the more superficial)
• Non-Western powers are re-asserting themselves (China, Turkey, India…)
o [historical legacies]
o [historical memory]
• What is the logic of the international system?
o [contingency of present arrangements]
• What is an ‘international system’? What is ‘the logic’ of the international system?
o Basic unit: state, sovereign state
o Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
o Rules & norms: sovereign equality
o Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence
But this is an inadequate portrayal that generalizes too readily from European experience.
• Five sessions about non-European international societies, which functioned rather differently from the ideal-
typical portrayal of European international experience
o Differences within ‘non-European experience’ too
o Relatively little consideration for ‘stateless societies’
• Two sessions about how Europe came to rule the world
• Three sessions about the evolution of ‘European-Global international society’ since the nineteenth century
1.3. History of International Relations: How?
• Weekly sessions, maximum of 3 hours each; recorded but only briefly available
• Course syllabus (on blackboard) specifies the topic and the study material for each session
• Study material
o Textbook: Erik Ringmar. 2019. History of International Relations: A Non-European Perspective. Cambridge:
OpenBookPublishers.
o Additional readings: listed in course syllabus
o Your lecture notes
o [Recordings will be available for one week only]
→ Everything in the discussed chapters is to be learned for the exam (even if not mentioned in class)
→ The research articles are very detailed, but you have to understand the argument and covey it persuasively (that
is why you should probably know some of the empirical details)
1. Your grade will be based on how well you perform on a written exam (closed book)
a. Persons, concepts and events
i. Situate in historical time and indicate the historical significance
ii. What, when, why important?
2. A set of more substantive questions
a. E.g., “What is the role of memory activists in fostering historical memories? Illustrate with an example.
3. An essay question
3
, 2. China and East Asia
2.1. What is China?
International system = organises the relations between polities, each of which can claim a certain amount of
independence (China established relations with those polities and respect their independence to a certain extent)
International relations = organisations of interaction of separate polities
What is China?
China today = A nation state (only in latter part of 19th century)
• The people of the nation state identify as Chinese
• China is multi-ethnic and multi-lingual but there is a shared identity of being Chinese
• When met with resistance, the Chinese government will put effort into keeping
the Chinese identity
China in history = An empire → not a nation-state
• China did not refer to itself as China
• Imperial dynasties with pretence of being the ‘middle kingdom’ (zhongguo)
o Polities by the Yangtze River, it was usual for polities to develop nearby a river
o An international system can't exist of 1 polity, it has to by multiple polities
o China was in a superior position; there was a hierarchy of polities (China = central polity)
• A civilizational zone sharing in a set of ritual practices
o Elites shared a number of practises/ideas → polities were a civilisation zone (ancestor worship)
o Shared writing system (common use of characters)
o Shared rhetorical tropes (how to organise politics and think about politics)
▪ The ruler ruled with a mandate of heaven
▪ They could name themselves 'sons of heaven'
▪ This mandate did not mean the ruler could not be replaced, a rebellious leader could overthrow
the leader, because the fact that he was able to overthrow the previous one means that he is
now in possession of the mandate of heaven
• China was dominant in East-Asia and the centre concerning external relations in the empire
• Suzerainty = a dominant state has control over the international affairs of a subservient state, while the latter
retains domestic autonomy
• China as a ‘solar system’: China is the sun around which other and far smaller political entities, located at
increasing distances from the centre, are circulating in their respective orbits
[And]
What does it mean to identify a 'Chinese' international system?
What is does not mean to identify a Chinese international system: encompassing, unchanging, unquestionably
Confucian
• It should not be assumed that the chino centric system should cover the whole of (East-) Asia, it expanded and
contracted from time to time, it was not static, it changed
• Confucian influence, but not unquestioned
• Two simultaneously existing systems
o Overland system: organised relations with societies/polities to the north and west
o Tribute system: organised relations with polities to the south and east
2.2. The 'warring state' period (475 – 251 BCE)
Multiple polities that each claimed independence (names are not important)
• Own king/ruler
• Own army
• Own bureaucracy …
4
