Modern International System I or No Rock without a Flag

Abstract

What do I mean by the ‘modern international system’? As already stated in the previous chapter, it refers to the international system that originally emerged in Europe in the sixteenth century or so and spread worldwide through a process of expansion and globalization by the twentieth century.1 In other words, the modern international system embraces the whole world. It is an inter-civilizationally international system, including not only more than one civilization, but also all civilizations in the world as we know it at present. That the modern international system embraces the whole world means that there have occurred enough global interactions among the communities or societies all over the world, for people living in a particular community to be influenced by the events taking place in other communities of the world. Or, it could mean that there are some processes or characteristics which are inter-socially shared in the world or which are globally prevalent. The modern international system is thus not just intercivilizational, but trans-civilizational.KeywordsInternational RelationSeventeenth CenturyInternational SystemSixteenth CenturyModern PeriodThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.