Rise of The State and the Nature of State Centric International Politics

The Rise of the State is a development of the world that has taken centuries and is still a concern in modern politics. However, the beginning of this concept started back in the 1500's. To set the scene, life and politics in the 16th Century would be very different. There were no boundaries or maps drawn up and people were less connected and knew less about the outside world, it was not a matter of concern. The development of the State could said to be a result of globalisation and the issues it creates. But, in the 1500's there was less structure to a country, with no governments, the country relied on both the Feudal Lords and the Monarchy which led to major differences in practice of laws etc. throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

Firstly, a state is described as "a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government." while a nation state is of a similar description but emphasizes the "unity of the population by factors of the nation, for instance language or descent." The former began specifically in Europe where Henry VII was a notable figure in English history. His victory at the War of The Roses in 1485 and his role as King resulted in a development of the nation state as he looked towards the beginning of foreign policies and alliances, trade, and the separations of power so beginning the rise of the English nation state and changed the way states began and interacted. Furthermore, 7 years later in 1492 it followed that Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain expelled the Muslim's from the country and consolidated Spain as a state. The first Russian nation state was created by Ivan The Terrible by 1584, when an absolute monarchy was created in France in the late 17th to early 18th Century, a 'dominant power' was founded in Europe. By the late 19th Century, the states of both Italy and Germany emerged as new nation states.

In 1648, The Treaty of Westphalia was established developing one of the first maps of Europe, emphasizing the importance of sovereignty of state over internal affairs legally. This Treaty not only ended the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) within the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years War (1568-1648) between the Dutch Republic and Spain. Held in Osnabruck and Munster (modern day Germany) the treaty involved around 194 states including Kingdoms of France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and many other territories. As well as allowing the independence of Sweden from Austria and the Netherlands from Spain, the Treaty also noted the importance of a states authority and sovereignty over it's own territory and disallowed the interference of other states in internal matters, therefore, strengthening the idea of the nation state and propelling state centrality further towards the modern day.

A Treaty of Westphalia era map of Europe as sovereign
 states are created in 1648.

 This is the point where State-Centric Politics come into action as it is decided that a state has the ability to govern it's own people with legitimacy without state intervention from other nations. The term 'state centric' is based on an approach that identifies "International relations that the main participants in the international arena are states and that decision making processes are done by the states as the active actors."

As study of modern Politics became more established a number of theories and models were created to record and exemplify how states interact as they develop and grow as powers and nation states. For example, the 'Billiard Ball Model' founded in the 20th Century is supportive of 'global interdependence' and is a realist theory, it determines that the distribution of power among states is relative to a pattern of conflict and cooperation between nation states. The Billiard Balls translate as hard shells that do interlink only touching each other, with only leaders and officials as points of relation and contact. Despite there being common legalities and formalities between states, it has been noticed that some states are simply more powerful than others. This is called the billiard ball model due to the fact that balls collide and deflect with different effects. However, this idea is under pressure and is debated with the emergence of superpowers and globalisation, interdependence is prevalent as states begin to rely on each other increasingly, based on the influences of economic power and trade, nuclear weapons and military and the introduction of deadly diseases and sources of non-renewable energy in some cases.

The idea of interdependence and global groupings has also been highlighted as a viable and increasing approach to global politics, the 'Cobweb Model' is an important development that has put the 'Billiard Ball Model' on the back burner as outdated. The metaphorical cobweb indicated that nation states are closely connected and rely on links to one another to establish strength and power as a nation state. This is evident through global groupings, particularly that of the relationship between the state and intergovernmental organizations (IGO's)  and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) such as the UN, G7, EU, NATO which often revolve around international decision making and distribution of global wealth and power, this has becoming very important in a constantly developing world that changes in patterns of both these factors.



The evidence shown based on approach to global politics models and nation states and treaties throughout history are all contributing factors to how the world has moved forward politically and globally and how the development of nation states, leading up to how the interconnected states work today, is an engine for the globalized world we live in today. This is clear in the links between global powers, global patterns of co-operations and conflicts and the global ties and groupings affected by this.