Westphalian system
Nation-state international order
The Westphalian system is the modern framework of international relations based on sovereign nation-states with exclusive authority over their territories.
Named for the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War, it establishes that states are legally equal and should not interfere in each other's internal affairs.
The Westphalian system is challenged by humanitarian interventions and supranational organizations.
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- state sovereigntySupreme political authority within borders
- treatyBinding pact between nations
- peace treatyFormal end to hostilities
- nation-stateSovereign political territory
nation states · balance of power · diplomacy · international relations · diplomatic recognition · borders · Peace of Westphalia · Thirty Years War · religious wars · international law · non-intervention · princes · great powers · Münster · recognition · legitimacy · realism · world order
- foreign policydiplomacy, diplomatic negotiations, sanctions, containment, deterrence
- diplomacyembassy, ambassador, ambassadors, treaty, treaties
- geopoliticsbalance of power, bipolarity, bloc, blocs, brinkmanship
Westphalian systemempire
Domain under unified control
world government · theocracy · papal supremacy · imperial system · Holy Roman Empire
Westphalian systemfeudal system
Medieval land-loyalty arrangement
Concert of Europe · Pax Romana · Mongol Empire · globalization
system, systems, systematic, systematize, systematically, systemic, systemically