peace and war

1. democratisation 2nd half 19th c

• 1830s, liberal revolutions: pushing for more guarantees to individual freedom

  • constitutions as a means for limiting the state’s power; protecting individual citizens against state domination; arbitrary exercise of power

• 1848, working class revolutions: pushing for socio-economic reform and equal political rights

  • suffrage as a means for tax reform, worker-friendly legislation, socio-economic redistribution

suffrage extension

2 central hypotheses

1. the revolutionary threat hypothesis

   • argument: suffrage extension results from crisis; elite calculation: the loss of income that suffrage extension would entail si estimated to be less severe than the loss of income resulting from a revolution

   • so…countries with highest income inequality were early adopters of suffrage extension?

     • no: the higher the degree of inequality, the greater is the loss of income suffered by suffrage extension — provokes elite resistance

   • revolutionary threat results from crisis

2. the political competition hypothesis

   • threat of revolution is but one of the drivers of democratisation

   • importance of elite competition against variance in decision-making powers of parliament

     • aristocracy: prefer weak parliament to retain control over decision-making via informal networks

     • middle-class: prefer strong parliament to gain control over decision-making

     • working-class: want suffrage and a strong parliament

   • aristocracy can weaken bourgeois powers by extending suffrage; weakens position of middle-class in parliament

     elites can weaken worker representatives by adopting social reforms and/or by restricting political freedoms

• survival analysis

  • survival = delay in adopting universal male suffrage

  • survival analysis reveals relation between suffrage extension and the level of parliamentary autonomy/effectiveness

  • suffrage extension not deterministic result of industrialization or a growing income gap; but it reflects elite calculations in a particular context

    • when parliament is weak, the aristocracy may introduce universal suffrage to discourage the middle-class from seeking an extension of the powers of parliament

    • as the result of universal male suffrage, the middle-class becomes a minority in parliament and finds it less advantageous for an extension of the powers of parliament

Germany

• most progressive franchise law of time

  • reichstag (1870): weak parliament

  • assumption that universal male suffrage would strengthen the conservative voice of the countryside

  • yet, facilitates growth socialist parties

• form of electoral authoritarianism

• by suffrage extension → more votes for Bismarck, weaken socialists

  = bad calculation

Pittaluga: a relation between suffrage extension, manipulation of civil rights/political freedoms and development of welfare programs

• suffrage → new electorate → increase in worker representatives in parliament → growing parliamentary pressures ofr social reform

• elitist reaction: weaken the electoral base of worker representatives

  • imposing heavy restrictions on political rights/freedoms

  • state-led social reform and welfare schemes

• Pittaluga study demonstrates how elites can use the multiple dimensions of democracy (suffrage, parliamentary autonomy and political liberties) to remain in power

  • early extension of suffrage is oftentimes evidence of parliamentary weaknesses

  • when suffrage extended, often attempts to restrain political liberties or weaken the electoral base of socialist parties (by state-led welfare reform)

  • explains:

    • why suffrage extension and strengthening of parliamentary autonomy rarely occurred at the same time

    • why suffrage extension sometimes didn’t translate into genuine social reform

2. congress of Vienna of International Relations (IR) (1815-1850s)

“the century of peace”

• warfare had been a way of life in Europe for centuries

• in contrast, period 1815-1914

  • only small number of wars; limited impact and duration; involving only a handful of European wars

  • mainly bilateral conflicts (example unification Germany and Italy)

  • mainly outside the European continent/colonies

congress of Vienna

• 1815, peace treaty

  • France + the great victors (Prussia, Russia, Austria, Britain)

  • delegations from Sweden, Spain, Portugal

• 2 main aims

  • restore international peace

    • create a new equilibrium among great European powers to prevent war

  • restore domestic stability

    • instrumentalisation of monarchic dynasties: divine right to rule + family ties across Europe (mutual support)

• why was France not punished more severely for the Napoleonic wars

  • control of French power

    • reduced to approximate size of before French revolution

    • creation 2 buffer states: Kingdom of The Netherlands and kingdom of Piedmont adn Sardinia

  • France = a reduced but major European power

    • fear that a punished France would seek revenge

    • break up of France could strengthen one country to such an extent that it would become threatening in turn

• final declaration was the result of two committees

  • committee of 5 great powers

  • committee of 8 great powers

• major diplomatic event

  • dozens of commissions collecting data and information, working on the abolition of slavery, the unification of German states…

  • many celebrations, festivities, re-enactments of battles (panorama) and concerts

• established a new international order, based on acting in concert

  • directory of the great powers: regular meetings devoted to the common European interest, the prosperity of peoples and the maintenance of peace

  • treaty of the Holy Alliance: Russia, Austria and Prussia

Vienna: an IR system of acting in concert

1. recognition of international boundaries and state sovereignty

   • recognition of international boundaries; multilateral agreements

   • earlier: king’s death, all his international treaties had to be renewed; now a system of international rights is established

2. regulated war as instrument for peace

   • stakes of competition changed: spheres of influence (↔ territorial enlargement)

   • mutual protection clause (against revolutions) + limitations on military interventions

3. creation of eaqually powerful countries

4. compliance ensured by dual hegemony

   • Great Britain (Pax Brittanica): economic, military and colonial dominance; strong naval fleet

   • Russia: enormous land mass in the North and large population size (standing army); balancing British dominance via holy alliance

what made Vienna system work?

1. fear of domestic revolutions — a willingness to work together

   • replacing traditional rivalries between royal houses

2. end of British-French rivalry — British hegemony

   • Napoleonic wars and the defeat of the French

   • France’s population growth stagnated; weaker in size

3. some states’ energy went to nation-building (↔ expansionism)

4. industrialisation — new doctrines of imperialism and colonialism

   • European nations could outsource their territorial and economic expansion away from their native continent

3. break-down of the Vienna system (1850s-1870s)

• main cause: Vienna system was essentially built on a negative conception of international relations

  • a defensive system; aimed at preventing dominance from one state over others

    • although war became and instrument for peace, expansionist wars were not considered inevitable

    • throughout the 19th c, a constant military race; after 1900s, the speed of militarisation doubled (industrialisation)

    • 1870s great depression weakened economics and industries; heightened colonial rivalries

  • conflict management rather than genuine conflict resolution

• causes

  • 40 years of peace; relative territorial stability

  • European powers divided over Troppau mutual support protocol

    • Holy Alliance in favour; to protect monarchistic regimes

    • France and Britain feared it would serve as an excuse for meddling in the internal affairs of independent states

  • seeds of nationalism: Vienna ignored nationalist sentiments and reduced Poland, Italy and Germany to instruments for retaining status quo

    • break-up of Poland

    • Austria: tolerance towards nascent cultural and linguistic movements: seeds for later antionalist movements

    • Italy: foreign rule (Austria) and weak German confederation

    • no international body to which people could turn to revise boundaries

• final pushes

  1. the weakening of the Ottoman empire

     • ottoman empire = sick man of Europe (poor economy, weakening political control over territory)

     • Ottoman empire = multinational empire organised according to millet system: each confessional community ruled itself based on its own laws

       • Orthodox christian subjects enjoyed some autonomy but were legally subordinate to Muslims

       • competing powers: wealthy landlords and bandit warlords

     • Ottoman empire increasingly lost its control over Eastern Europe/the Balkans:

       • Great European powers feared that Russia would cease this opportunity and enlarge its territory towards the Mediterranean sea

     • Greek war of independence (became international conflict)

     • outcome: peace treaty of Paris: impact = broken balance between great powers

  2. unification of Italian and German states — rise of Germany as a super-power

     • Italian risorgimento: wars of independence against Austria + French-Italian treaty against Austria

     • German unification: 3 wars of unification (Denmark, Austria, France)

4. a balancing of antagonisms system (1870-1914)

• restoration of European power balance with German empire as the dominant power (replacing Austria)

• main architect = Otto von Bismarck

• von Bismarck iron and blood speech before parliament

  • return of power politics on European continent

  • main ambition: strengthening Prussia’s power not German unification

• Von Bismarck: iron chancellor

  • international realpolitik: exploited political opportunities; provoked war but did not instigate war himself

  • powerful domestic rule: pacification

    • universal amle suffrage but weak parliament; ruled via powerful bureacracy

    • created the first welfare state in the modern world (incorporation of the working-class)

• Bismarck = a system of balancing (and creating) antagonisms:

  • renewal of a politics of secret alliances

  • creating antagonisms (isolating France)

  • secret reinsurance Treaty with Russia (1887)

5. conclusions

• congress of Vienna: acting in concert

  • radically altered conceptions of peace and war

  • concert-style politics ensured 40 years of peace

  • main limitation: focussed on conflict management not prevention

• Bismarck: return of balancing alliances and antagonisms

  • frail IR system: complex web of (secret) alliances, counter-alliances and distrust

  • power vacuum after Bismarck; after his dismissal in 1890, only credible manager of Europe was detached, disinterested Britain

• rise of German empire disturbs the balance of power, brings colonial conflicts back into Europe, threatens British hegemony (fleet and economy)