THE MODERN STATE SYSTEM | MARTINS LIBRARY

The modern state system is an association among sovereign and equal powers. It was born with the peace treaty of Westphalia in 1648 which ended the thirty years war in Europe.  Scholars commonly designate 1648 as the time the state system began to take on its modern form.  Thereafter, European rulers refused to recognize the authority of the   Roman Catholic Church, replacing the previous system of papal government with geographically and politically separate state which recognized to authority above them. The treaty of  Westphalia came with notable changes-England France, Sweden,

Holland and Spain became  independent and national states.¹

The  newly independent  states were all given the same legal rights: territorial indivisibility;  freedom  to conduct foreign relations and   negotiate treaties with other states;  the authority to re-established  whatever form of government they thought  best to  rule their   own population.

In 1861, the state of Italy was proclaimed, while the Germans achieved unification in 1871.

In the Balkans, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire gave way to independence among slaves in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the Western hemisphere, America had gained independence in 1776. In 1822, Brazil declared here independence of Portugal.

In the Far East, Japan emerged from feudalism 1867-68 with the collapse of the Shogunate. When World War 1 fell outside the European continent.  After the war and the peace treaties with those defeated, only USA and Britain could be described as major powers, (Wittkpof 1978:74 )