Systemic Wars and the Evolution of Territorial Orders

Abstract

Abstract Just as different territorial orders can lead to different motives and methods for armed conflict over territory, wars themselves can also transform territorial orders. Monolithic territorial order is the aspirational and ideational hegemon in the present day. The question then becomes: How can we explain the relationship between wars, especially systemic wars, and the emergence of monolithic territoriality as the aspirational hegemon? Systemic wars and postwar settlements usually tilt the balance in favor of one territorial order at the expense of others. These wars have differential impacts in anarchical and hierarchical settings. In anarchical (or symmetrical) settings, the transformation will be driven by the interests and priorities of great powers, and will usually take the form of collective “problem-solving.” In hierarchical (or asymmetrical) settings, the struggle between the center and periphery, in both the material and the ideational dimensions, plays a crucial role in shaping the impacts of systemic wars on territorial ideas. This chapter examines the impacts of four systemic wars—the Thirty Years’ War, the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II—on the transformation of territorial orders not only in the Western world, but also in the Global South. The analysis suggests that the legacies of Western imperialism and geographical racism lie at the heart of present-day territorial arrangements and imageries.