2025-‘26
HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Introduction
Why?
Why is it useful for social scientists to study history: to recognize tendencies and patterns from the
past for prevention of future conflicts and to understand why
- To know what decisions people are making in the future
- You cannot understand conflicts if you don’t understand the history about them
Historical legacies: present international relations are burdened by the past. Eg:
- Post-communist societies: this will linger in the present and in the future.
- Communist societies: a lot of distrust, and this lingered into the post-communist period.
- Post-colonial relations: the hierarchical relation between colonizer and colonized often lingers.
Former colonizer has a hard time to shake of their sense of authority and the other way
around too.
The politics of historical memories: there is no direct legacy. The past is mobilized by political
entrepreneurs, there is no direct influence, the influence is mediated through entrepreneurs. They
make attention to what happened in the past. Estonia has at least 2 historical legacies like post-
communism and post-imperialism. The historical memories are also changing in Estonia, the historical
memory is subjective and created collectively.
The contingency of moral ideas and social arrangements: it is not natural to exist but it does,
study of history acquaint you with other possible ways of how (international) societies function. It does
not mean it is easy or desirable to change things. See for example gender equality, sovereignty.
What?
“IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’ -> so in the recent past (after the 19th century)”
“IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘Eurocentric’ -> mostly focusing on European history”
Is this a problem? No, because the more you focus on a certain period and region, you can go
more into detail (than it’s broader but it can become more superficial). This course takes the broader
view though
- Non-western powers are re-asserting themselves (there powers is not the same as it was
‘assigned’ in the beginning)
o Historical legacies -> they carry their past with them (so this is the reason why it is
politically useful to study these societies)
o Historical memory
What is an ‘international system’? What is the logic of this system?
- Basic unit: state, sovereign state
- Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
- Rules & norms: sovereign equality
- Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence
The assumption is that in each of these regions of the world some kind of international society
developed. There was regular interaction of various kinds (conflict, trade, exchange, …) between
these regions that were aware of each other’s existence. So to organize their co-existence there were
institutions created. What these institutions are, is various in different places and different moments in
history.
1
, 2025-‘26
2. China
Introduction: what is China
China has evolved to be a nationstate: the Chinese people identify as Chinese, when there is
resistance not to identify as Chinese, the Chinese government will make an effort to make it as such.
A Chinese international system:
- Communities first develop by rivers -> these small polities expand and they become China
proper.
- An international system cannot consist of 1 polity only. For the case of China, there were also
surrounding polities which gain independence and China grew relations with these
independent polities and organizing institutions to keep them as happy as possible. 1 of these
institutions was hierarchy (was said to be hierarchy). China was in a superior position.
What China was not: a nation state. It was in the region what we call China today (they didn’t refer to
themselves as China) there was a succession of imperial dynasties who all claimed to be the status of
the middle kingdom.
In addition of these imperial dynasties: in this same space, polities, people, elite,… shared a number
of ideas or practices. You could call this a civilization zone:
- There was a shared practice of ancestor worship, a joint use of characters for the alphabet,
shared seasonal celebrations (ritual practices) and shared rhetoricals: ways to think about
politics.
- The most shared one: the rulers rule with a mandate from heaven and could name themselves
the sons of heaven. But this could not mean the ruler could not be contestant, replaced.
o If a rebellious contestant upset the ruler, push them off the throne, they could claim
authority easily because if they could so easily push the other ruler off, they
themselves were legit.
o The ruler was expected to govern properly and maintain political and social order. If a
dynasty governed badly, became corrupt, or was unable to maintain stability, this
could be interpreted as a sign that it had lost the Mandate of Heaven.
o This also made it possible to justify rebellion and dynastic change. If a challenger
successfully overthrew an existing ruler, this success could be interpreted as evidence
that the old dynasty had lost the Mandate and that the new ruler had received it.
o The Mandate of Heaven therefore created continuity despite dynastic change:
different dynasties could replace each other while continuing to use the same basic
idea to legitimize their authority.
o Significance: political legitimacy was connected to the ability of a ruler to govern
successfully. A dynasty could therefore be replaced without rejecting the broader
Chinese political order.
What does it not mean to identify a Chinese international system: it was not encompassing -> it
should not be assumed that China’s central system covered the whole of Asia. It expanded and
contracted at timed. It shouldn’t be assumed that it was unchangeable. This system cannot be
reduced to its Confucian. There were 2 simultaneously existing systems:
- Overland: imperial dynasty with polities to the north and west.
- Tribute: polities to the south and east.
They were organized in a different way. Because there were different polities and they had different
problems to different institutions did emerge.
The warring states period
475 – 221 BCE. There were multiple polities that each claimed independence. Each with their own
king or ruler and bureaucracy and army. They were in competition with one another, including military
2
, 2025-‘26
competition. They were in war with each other. Before this period there had been a number of imperial
dynasties and at a certain point this last dynasty this integrated and for 200 years no polity reasserted
itself as the middle kingdom. Until 251BCE when Qin achieved dominance.
Sunzi was a general of the army of one of these warring states. Underlines the importance of moving
sideways, deceiving the enemy. Warfare was a central preoccupation, warfare was theorized after this
book. There was no constant miliary competition though. -> this competition went hand in hand with
economic growth. They were economically and intellectually thriving.
How?
- The idea of total war is to destroy the enemy and to destroy their societies. Historically this is a
rare phenomenon. Only within the 19 th century with the emerge of the nation state this became
a thing, because then mobilizing people was possible. So war then was not total war.
- War spurs economic and intellectual development. Technological innovations are bound to
happen. The technological innovations need to be financed, and as the government there are
2 ways to increase the resources -> collect taxes and develop a functioning government to be
able to collect taxes efficiently.
- Policial competition spurred intellectual creativity: governments who are in conflict are eager to
organize their government and how to organize the state better so it works more efficient
In the warring state period: the need for advice, to share advice, there was a development of a number
of philosophical schools like Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism.
- Confucianism: rules and laws were considered less important than virtue and proper social
relationships. A stable society depended on people accepting that they were embedded in
relationships which were often hierarchical, such as father–son or ruler–subject. The ruler
should cultivate virtue and govern his subjects properly. rules, laws are less important than
virtue. Focus on cultivating virtue in yourself and in subjects. This means -> instruct people
that a social order will be most stable if people will accept they are imbedded in relations and
these relations are best organized hierarchically.
o Eg as a person you are only identified as a father or a son/ mother or daughter. This is
hierarchical, the father is above the son. This applies to personal and governmental
relationships. This was conservative.
- Daoism: more focused on spirituality. Source of rebellion, it was not conservative. focused
more strongly on spirituality, harmony and limiting artificial interference in the natural order.
Unlike Confucianism and Legalism, it could also provide ideas that were critical of established
political authority.
- Legalism: conservative in the way like Confucianism because it wants to preserve the ruler
and the stability of the imperial, kingdom rule. It downplays the importance of virtue and
upgrades the importance of rules. As a ruler, articulate clear rules. The rules are super
important except the ruler. He can make new rules or improve them. Also in conflicts ->
ruthless confront the enemy. placed much less emphasis on virtue and much more on clear
rules, strict enforcement and strong political authority. The ruler should establish laws that
subjects had to obey and should act ruthlessly when necessary to maintain order and defeat
enemies.
o Legalist ideas became particularly important to the Qin, who eventually defeated the
other Warring States and unified China in 221 BCE.
The development of the Chinese state
There was a succession of various imperials dynasties: Chinese history was not a harmonious history.
There were internal conflicts and also external conflicts so others against ‘China’. Not all of these
dynasties are of Chinese origin. Most of these dynasties came from the ritual zone: they shared the
rituals and habits and so on.
There were also dynasties who were explicitly not from Chinese order in the way that the themselves
understood they were not Chinese and the Chinese ones also saw this. There was a great deal of
continuity between these dynasties: in cultural terms -> Confucianism was the most shared between
3
, 2025-‘26
these dynasties, the writing system too and the mandate of heaven too. Also continuity in political
organization. A bureaucratic apparatus was created and this was maintained and expanded. Why? If
1 dynasty exceeds another one, there always is a sense of illegitimacy. How to solve this -> to rule and
to continue this.
Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE)
The dynasty before this adopted legalism and collapsed pretty quickly and thereout exists the Han
dynasty.
- It adopts Confucianism as a state philosophy. The state administration is inspired by these
ideas
o subjects are meant to be obedient and the ruler exist in order to take care of them
- It organizes the economy and society
o Roads and canals are being built and coins are being melted.
o Policies to create a thriving economy are being made.
o It establishes a number of monopolies for a number of key commodity (key commodity
is eg salt). Governments tried to monopolize the production of salt because then they
can have more resources for themselves. This was the case for salt and also liquor.
- This dynasty existed between other dynasties and had troubles from nomadic polities from the
west. So this dynasty faced security problems.
o The main conflicting one was the Xiongnu. These nomadic polities clammed together
to engage in conflict.
- They traded a lot with other dynasties, typically through the silk road(s). It was not known as
the silk road back then, but it was a road for caravans: people which travelled together to
export luxury goods. The only goods which were traded internationally were luxury goods. The
merchants would leave with goods in 1 place, travel, other merchant would buy the goods in
that place and travel further. This is globalization in a way but rather lineal.
Significance: relations with the Xiongnu demonstrate that China did not always dominate the peoples
surrounding it. Relations with powerful nomadic polities required negotiation and compromise. This
would become an important characteristic of China's overland system.
Sogdian letters: along with goods, ideas travelled too.
- The Sogdians were important merchants from Central Asia who played a major role in trade
along the Silk Roads. The Sogdian Letters provide evidence of these long-distance
commercial networks
- The Silk Roads were not only used to transport goods. Merchants travelled over long
distances and therefore also facilitated the exchange of ideas, information, religions and
cultural practices between different regions.
- Long-distance trade required a certain degree of organization. Merchants needed resting
places along the routes, as well as shared or recognizable systems of measurement and
means of communication that made trade between different regions possible.
- Importantly, this system was not centrally managed by China. China participated in and
benefited from the Silk Roads, but it did not control the entire network.
- Sogdian merchants were among the most important intermediaries within this system.
Through their extensive trading networks, they connected different parts of Eurasia and
helped facilitate the movement of goods and ideas.
- Significance: the Sogdian Letters show that the Silk Roads should be understood as a
decentralized transregional network, rather than as a Chinese-controlled trading system.
Tang dynasty (618-907 CE)
They formalized the bureaucracy. If you want to be in the government in this dynasty: you have to take
an entrance exam which was mostly for seeing the understanding of the Confucian. At this time, China
starts to become a reference point in the region, they become a cultural attraction pole. Koreans and
Japanese wanted to be like the Chinese in that time, the Chinese had become a prestigious countries.
These countries adopted the procedures from China. So there was a cultural influence from China to
4
HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Introduction
Why?
Why is it useful for social scientists to study history: to recognize tendencies and patterns from the
past for prevention of future conflicts and to understand why
- To know what decisions people are making in the future
- You cannot understand conflicts if you don’t understand the history about them
Historical legacies: present international relations are burdened by the past. Eg:
- Post-communist societies: this will linger in the present and in the future.
- Communist societies: a lot of distrust, and this lingered into the post-communist period.
- Post-colonial relations: the hierarchical relation between colonizer and colonized often lingers.
Former colonizer has a hard time to shake of their sense of authority and the other way
around too.
The politics of historical memories: there is no direct legacy. The past is mobilized by political
entrepreneurs, there is no direct influence, the influence is mediated through entrepreneurs. They
make attention to what happened in the past. Estonia has at least 2 historical legacies like post-
communism and post-imperialism. The historical memories are also changing in Estonia, the historical
memory is subjective and created collectively.
The contingency of moral ideas and social arrangements: it is not natural to exist but it does,
study of history acquaint you with other possible ways of how (international) societies function. It does
not mean it is easy or desirable to change things. See for example gender equality, sovereignty.
What?
“IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’ -> so in the recent past (after the 19th century)”
“IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘Eurocentric’ -> mostly focusing on European history”
Is this a problem? No, because the more you focus on a certain period and region, you can go
more into detail (than it’s broader but it can become more superficial). This course takes the broader
view though
- Non-western powers are re-asserting themselves (there powers is not the same as it was
‘assigned’ in the beginning)
o Historical legacies -> they carry their past with them (so this is the reason why it is
politically useful to study these societies)
o Historical memory
What is an ‘international system’? What is the logic of this system?
- Basic unit: state, sovereign state
- Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
- Rules & norms: sovereign equality
- Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence
The assumption is that in each of these regions of the world some kind of international society
developed. There was regular interaction of various kinds (conflict, trade, exchange, …) between
these regions that were aware of each other’s existence. So to organize their co-existence there were
institutions created. What these institutions are, is various in different places and different moments in
history.
1
, 2025-‘26
2. China
Introduction: what is China
China has evolved to be a nationstate: the Chinese people identify as Chinese, when there is
resistance not to identify as Chinese, the Chinese government will make an effort to make it as such.
A Chinese international system:
- Communities first develop by rivers -> these small polities expand and they become China
proper.
- An international system cannot consist of 1 polity only. For the case of China, there were also
surrounding polities which gain independence and China grew relations with these
independent polities and organizing institutions to keep them as happy as possible. 1 of these
institutions was hierarchy (was said to be hierarchy). China was in a superior position.
What China was not: a nation state. It was in the region what we call China today (they didn’t refer to
themselves as China) there was a succession of imperial dynasties who all claimed to be the status of
the middle kingdom.
In addition of these imperial dynasties: in this same space, polities, people, elite,… shared a number
of ideas or practices. You could call this a civilization zone:
- There was a shared practice of ancestor worship, a joint use of characters for the alphabet,
shared seasonal celebrations (ritual practices) and shared rhetoricals: ways to think about
politics.
- The most shared one: the rulers rule with a mandate from heaven and could name themselves
the sons of heaven. But this could not mean the ruler could not be contestant, replaced.
o If a rebellious contestant upset the ruler, push them off the throne, they could claim
authority easily because if they could so easily push the other ruler off, they
themselves were legit.
o The ruler was expected to govern properly and maintain political and social order. If a
dynasty governed badly, became corrupt, or was unable to maintain stability, this
could be interpreted as a sign that it had lost the Mandate of Heaven.
o This also made it possible to justify rebellion and dynastic change. If a challenger
successfully overthrew an existing ruler, this success could be interpreted as evidence
that the old dynasty had lost the Mandate and that the new ruler had received it.
o The Mandate of Heaven therefore created continuity despite dynastic change:
different dynasties could replace each other while continuing to use the same basic
idea to legitimize their authority.
o Significance: political legitimacy was connected to the ability of a ruler to govern
successfully. A dynasty could therefore be replaced without rejecting the broader
Chinese political order.
What does it not mean to identify a Chinese international system: it was not encompassing -> it
should not be assumed that China’s central system covered the whole of Asia. It expanded and
contracted at timed. It shouldn’t be assumed that it was unchangeable. This system cannot be
reduced to its Confucian. There were 2 simultaneously existing systems:
- Overland: imperial dynasty with polities to the north and west.
- Tribute: polities to the south and east.
They were organized in a different way. Because there were different polities and they had different
problems to different institutions did emerge.
The warring states period
475 – 221 BCE. There were multiple polities that each claimed independence. Each with their own
king or ruler and bureaucracy and army. They were in competition with one another, including military
2
, 2025-‘26
competition. They were in war with each other. Before this period there had been a number of imperial
dynasties and at a certain point this last dynasty this integrated and for 200 years no polity reasserted
itself as the middle kingdom. Until 251BCE when Qin achieved dominance.
Sunzi was a general of the army of one of these warring states. Underlines the importance of moving
sideways, deceiving the enemy. Warfare was a central preoccupation, warfare was theorized after this
book. There was no constant miliary competition though. -> this competition went hand in hand with
economic growth. They were economically and intellectually thriving.
How?
- The idea of total war is to destroy the enemy and to destroy their societies. Historically this is a
rare phenomenon. Only within the 19 th century with the emerge of the nation state this became
a thing, because then mobilizing people was possible. So war then was not total war.
- War spurs economic and intellectual development. Technological innovations are bound to
happen. The technological innovations need to be financed, and as the government there are
2 ways to increase the resources -> collect taxes and develop a functioning government to be
able to collect taxes efficiently.
- Policial competition spurred intellectual creativity: governments who are in conflict are eager to
organize their government and how to organize the state better so it works more efficient
In the warring state period: the need for advice, to share advice, there was a development of a number
of philosophical schools like Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism.
- Confucianism: rules and laws were considered less important than virtue and proper social
relationships. A stable society depended on people accepting that they were embedded in
relationships which were often hierarchical, such as father–son or ruler–subject. The ruler
should cultivate virtue and govern his subjects properly. rules, laws are less important than
virtue. Focus on cultivating virtue in yourself and in subjects. This means -> instruct people
that a social order will be most stable if people will accept they are imbedded in relations and
these relations are best organized hierarchically.
o Eg as a person you are only identified as a father or a son/ mother or daughter. This is
hierarchical, the father is above the son. This applies to personal and governmental
relationships. This was conservative.
- Daoism: more focused on spirituality. Source of rebellion, it was not conservative. focused
more strongly on spirituality, harmony and limiting artificial interference in the natural order.
Unlike Confucianism and Legalism, it could also provide ideas that were critical of established
political authority.
- Legalism: conservative in the way like Confucianism because it wants to preserve the ruler
and the stability of the imperial, kingdom rule. It downplays the importance of virtue and
upgrades the importance of rules. As a ruler, articulate clear rules. The rules are super
important except the ruler. He can make new rules or improve them. Also in conflicts ->
ruthless confront the enemy. placed much less emphasis on virtue and much more on clear
rules, strict enforcement and strong political authority. The ruler should establish laws that
subjects had to obey and should act ruthlessly when necessary to maintain order and defeat
enemies.
o Legalist ideas became particularly important to the Qin, who eventually defeated the
other Warring States and unified China in 221 BCE.
The development of the Chinese state
There was a succession of various imperials dynasties: Chinese history was not a harmonious history.
There were internal conflicts and also external conflicts so others against ‘China’. Not all of these
dynasties are of Chinese origin. Most of these dynasties came from the ritual zone: they shared the
rituals and habits and so on.
There were also dynasties who were explicitly not from Chinese order in the way that the themselves
understood they were not Chinese and the Chinese ones also saw this. There was a great deal of
continuity between these dynasties: in cultural terms -> Confucianism was the most shared between
3
, 2025-‘26
these dynasties, the writing system too and the mandate of heaven too. Also continuity in political
organization. A bureaucratic apparatus was created and this was maintained and expanded. Why? If
1 dynasty exceeds another one, there always is a sense of illegitimacy. How to solve this -> to rule and
to continue this.
Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE)
The dynasty before this adopted legalism and collapsed pretty quickly and thereout exists the Han
dynasty.
- It adopts Confucianism as a state philosophy. The state administration is inspired by these
ideas
o subjects are meant to be obedient and the ruler exist in order to take care of them
- It organizes the economy and society
o Roads and canals are being built and coins are being melted.
o Policies to create a thriving economy are being made.
o It establishes a number of monopolies for a number of key commodity (key commodity
is eg salt). Governments tried to monopolize the production of salt because then they
can have more resources for themselves. This was the case for salt and also liquor.
- This dynasty existed between other dynasties and had troubles from nomadic polities from the
west. So this dynasty faced security problems.
o The main conflicting one was the Xiongnu. These nomadic polities clammed together
to engage in conflict.
- They traded a lot with other dynasties, typically through the silk road(s). It was not known as
the silk road back then, but it was a road for caravans: people which travelled together to
export luxury goods. The only goods which were traded internationally were luxury goods. The
merchants would leave with goods in 1 place, travel, other merchant would buy the goods in
that place and travel further. This is globalization in a way but rather lineal.
Significance: relations with the Xiongnu demonstrate that China did not always dominate the peoples
surrounding it. Relations with powerful nomadic polities required negotiation and compromise. This
would become an important characteristic of China's overland system.
Sogdian letters: along with goods, ideas travelled too.
- The Sogdians were important merchants from Central Asia who played a major role in trade
along the Silk Roads. The Sogdian Letters provide evidence of these long-distance
commercial networks
- The Silk Roads were not only used to transport goods. Merchants travelled over long
distances and therefore also facilitated the exchange of ideas, information, religions and
cultural practices between different regions.
- Long-distance trade required a certain degree of organization. Merchants needed resting
places along the routes, as well as shared or recognizable systems of measurement and
means of communication that made trade between different regions possible.
- Importantly, this system was not centrally managed by China. China participated in and
benefited from the Silk Roads, but it did not control the entire network.
- Sogdian merchants were among the most important intermediaries within this system.
Through their extensive trading networks, they connected different parts of Eurasia and
helped facilitate the movement of goods and ideas.
- Significance: the Sogdian Letters show that the Silk Roads should be understood as a
decentralized transregional network, rather than as a Chinese-controlled trading system.
Tang dynasty (618-907 CE)
They formalized the bureaucracy. If you want to be in the government in this dynasty: you have to take
an entrance exam which was mostly for seeing the understanding of the Confucian. At this time, China
starts to become a reference point in the region, they become a cultural attraction pole. Koreans and
Japanese wanted to be like the Chinese in that time, the Chinese had become a prestigious countries.
These countries adopted the procedures from China. So there was a cultural influence from China to
4
