Watson Notes

• Independence
• Hegemony
• Dominion
• Empire

Order -> peace / prosperity, less freedom

Rules expected to benefit all members of system

commitments to a collective security

Freedom of action in an independent states is limited by the pressures of interdependence in a system

Hegemony = Being able to exert a *law* above the operatings of the system

^ Sometimes though of as only one person

Broader: Hegemony = Being albe to determine the relations between the members of an international society

Suzerainty = One state hold total political power over another

shadowy overlord-ship

hegemony requires tacit acceptance

Dominion = Imperial authoirty determines the internal government of other communities, but retain their identity as seperate states and some control over their own affairs

Empire = direct administration of differnt communities from an imperial centre

=Continuum!=

Community bound by: - custom - ethnic descent - religion - language

^ the importance of these fluctuates drastically over time

Hegemony on one side, dominion on the other, swings between and over corrects.

• Suzerainty / Dominion?
  • UK's control over India
  • "the thing that happened with Russia a few years ago"
  • China with Tawain?
  • China with Hong Kong
• Empire
  • Differentiate from "bloated state" with
    • Core + periphery
      • Provinces with separate rights, but not independent on paper
  • Holy roman empire
    • Weird mix of empire + hegemony. Like feudalism

Are there patterns in world history?

Takeover -> split -> slow reforming

What is a state? > a state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory

Where do states come from?

Social contract theory: > The state rises from the cumulative experience of a populations…

Basically, the need for a leader / social contract arises with size.

Bellicist theory: with Charles Tilly > war makes states and states make war

With your group, brainstorm the following:
What hypotheses might you generate from the bellicist theory of the state? (i.e. “If I change variable X in a state’s history/situation/etc. the effect will be Y”)
Using history as your data, how might you test your hypothesis?
Bonus: Can you think of any specific examples in history (regions, events, states/empires) that might be good places to look for evidence for or against the bellicist theory?