Introduction
The emergence of international community is linked to the treaty of Westphalia of 1648 which was signed following the thirty year war and which created the modern states. Westphalia treaty relegated the position of the church in the society and helped in the disintegration of established European empires and led to creation of international system that based on plurality of states. Since then, there have been diplomatic and consular relations between states and also there been treaties for peace and alliances.
The composition of international community
The international community is composed of the dominant states, the capitulation system and colonialism. Though European states dominated international relations, various treaties were concluded with other states outside Europe like the Ottoman Empire and the Mogul empire in India. The international system consisted of the European states that were keen to spread western domination or European superiority, another group is the states proper which included empires like the Ottoman Empire and countries like Japan and China, the third group was those communities that lacked an organized or central authority which in some cases were tribal communities ruled by chiefs or council of elders. This type of communities was mainly found in Asia and Africa. Capitulation was an agreement concluded by western powers with Muslim leaders and Arab states.
Allocation of power in international community
The development of international community was based on equal footing where no single power dominated the other. There was however group of states who dominated the world, these were, Germany, France, Britain, Netherlands, Portugal Prussia, USA and Spain. The principle of collective security was crafted to protect power and maintain the law and it took root in 1789 following the French revolution where several states considered themselves potential threat for revolution, collective security was grounded on many treaties in 1815. The three main principles that governed the treaty were;
First is the declaration of principles: this was binding to all states except Britain and the Papal States. It was agreed that all parties to the treaty needed to conform to certain form of behavior both internally and in international relations.
The second was the principle of military alliance: The treaty of Paris resulted in a holy alliance. The treaty envisaged a system of collective security by the great powers which could deter Napoleonic kind of revolutions either in France or any party to the treaty. This was also aimed at protecting the tranquility and established order of Europe. This concert of Europe stipulated three fundamentals. First any state faced with revolution ceases being a member or the concert of Europe, also any state that was a product of revolution will not be recognized and lastly the holy alliance would intervene in stopping the revolution.
Third was new procedure in the settlement of political question: the concert of Europe treaty was interested in settling common issues of the might powers. It aimed at maintaining tranquility in Europe and preservation of peace. This led to development of a new system of diplomacy known as multilateral diplomacy that allowed periodical summit meetings. This mode of diplomacy materialized as it helped in accomplishing the demands of the treaty.
Main features of international law
The foundation of international law is linked to two historical arguments. First, the international rules and principles are regarded as products of western civilization and were considered Eurocentric and capitalistic in form. The capitalism nature of the law was of the idea that states are free to pursue their interests despite any economic or social imbalance that might exist between that states.
Consequently, the international norms and principles that existed that were framed by the great powers only suited them and their own interests. Examples of these norms are those that concerned force where it made no effort to stopping war or belligerent activity and also those that included privileges and immunities of judicial officers and diplomats abroad.
Efforts to refrain the great powers’ dominance
The Calvo and Drago doctrine
Efforts to curb the domination of great powers were first initiated by the Latin America who entered into concession contracts with foreign companies and individuals mainly covering the exploitation of its resources. This was advocated by an Argentine jurist C. Calvo. It was argued that in a case arising out of any contract, foreigners relinquished the right to request any diplomatic and judicial protection of their national state and have the dispute settled by local tribunals.
The argument of Calvo got the backing of Argentine foreign minister, Luis Maria Drago who argued that the great powers must not use their military force to seek payment of debts from poor countries.
From the first to the Second World War
There are two major events that are considered to have marked the beginning of new era in the international community. These are the First World War which though fought in Europe, involved the international community and the soviet revolution that opposed the capitalistic philosophy of the USA and Europe
The First World War
The First World War clearly demonstrated that Europe was no longer a force to reckon in the world and never played a crucial role in the international community. The erosion of the influence of Europe in the international community was largely due to various factors namely; the rise of USA, the emergence of 1917 Soviet Union and the end of colonial expansion.
The rise of Soviet Union and its impact on the international community
The Soviet Union in 1917 introduced an ideology and political philosophy that directly competed with market economy. This Ideology was called socialism or communism. This philosophy was radical in form, in the international community, USSR advocated for the following principles; self determination for people under colonial rule or those who suffered from any form of domination, substantive equality among states, socialist internationalism where they pledged to assist the political parties fighting for socialism. They also partly rejected the international law and they termed it as having capitalistic elements or bourgeoisie tendencies and contradicted socialist interests.
The League of Nations: an experiment in collective coordination of force
The League of Nations was established in 1919 after the WW I. Its aim was to prevent the occurrence of another war. Its membership was small and the absence of USA which was a major power greatly made it ineffective. That the League of Nations sanctioned the use of force as long as it was short of war. This opened Pandora’s Box since states were involving in wars by claiming it was coercion. The league faced many challenges: lack of cooperation among the member states, differences among states and institutional deficiencies together with the notion that the League of Nations was the instrument of France and Great Britain rendered it unable to discharge its functions as evidenced by its inability to stop the WW II.
Consequence of WW II
After the WW II, peace became the prime concern of the international community. This was due to the adverse effects witnessed in the WW II and the realization of man’s ability to wreck havoc in the world. The consequences of WW II were; the creation of UN and development of measures to curb other wars like the establishment of military tribunals to try perpetrators of war crimes. The WW II also led to collapse of major empires especially European powers.
The United Nations
The United Nation was established after WW II to prevent another war. It was also meant to pursue the policy of rapprochement between the two major powers. The charter of the UN banned any use of force and granted powers to sanction any use of force to the five permanent members of the security.
UN immediately faced numerous challenges upon establishment which include the breaking of cold war which divided the world straight in the middle which prevented the principle of collective security being applied.
Composition of international community after WW II
The composition of international community after WW II changed drastically. First, some European countries joined the socialist bloc and the USSR was never in isolation, two of those countries which were under colonial domination had gained independence. By 1960 majority of third world countries had joined the international community.
The international legal subject of international law also changed due to the development of other actors in the international relations called intergovernmental organizations like the UN.
Legal strategy of major international groupings
The western countries: whereas some states like UK and France favored status quo, the Scandinavian countries that were more responsive to the demands of the third world. The western countries called for two demands in the international laws. First the laws had to adhere to their self interest, and second was that the municipal law was to given priority over the international law.
Socialist state: These groups were largely motivated by their political interest and passionate pursuit of the following aims; strengthening socialism, averting interference from western powers, maintaining economic relations with the west and converting developing countries to socialism line.
Developing states: this is the category that has largest number of states. Their characteristics are; they inherited colonial culture and a totalitarian government, to them international law was only important if it protected them from interference by international powers. Third world countries were also expansionists. They also attempted to restructure the international economic system with sole aim of acquiring wealth.
The legal change in international community
The enlargement of international community had legal impact in the conduct of international affairs. The developing countries with assistance of socialist states introduced changes in the international affairs; these changes are development of new international economy order, enhance powers of the UN, change in principles governing international relations.
Cold war and the present
The collapse of USSR led to the elimination of the three categories of states. The defeat of USSR meant the collapse of socialist ideology and that USA was the only superpower and the rest followed the capitalistic ideology that was advocated by the USA.USA as the world superpower acted as the world policeman and the UN remained its puppet. This resulted to countries to forming alliances like the NATO or growth in the number of international and regional organizations to protect their interests.
In the present time both the western world and the developing counties have problems. Among the problems facing the western world are nuclear disarmament, free trade and terrorism. The developing world suffers from problems like poverty, backwardness and lack of access to favorable terms of trade.