19th Century International System PDF

# The 19th-Century International System: Changes in the Structure By Paul W. Schroeder ## Introduction This essay explores the question of peace and stability in 19th-century European international politics. While historians have largely considered this period as fundamentally solved, this essay...

# The 19th-Century International System: Changes in the Structure By Paul W. Schroeder ## Introduction This essay explores the question of peace and stability in 19th-century European international politics. While historians have largely considered this period as fundamentally solved, this essay argues that a new international system emerged after 1815, significantly different from the 18th-century norm. ## The Conventional View and its Flaws Most scholars agree that Europe was more stable from 1815 to 1854 than during any equivalent era in the 18th century, and that the 19th century was more peaceful than the 18th. Typically, the conventional explanations for this stability fall into one of three categories: 1. **A Return to the 18th-Century Balance of Power:** This view interprets the 1815 settlement as a restoration of the old equilibrium, focusing on the exhaustion from the Napoleonic Wars and the desire for peace among European powers. 2. **Temporary Stability:** This interpretation sees the post-1815 change as temporary, with a decline in stability and harmony beginning after 1820 and a return to pre-1815 normal political competition by 1830. 3. **Volitional and Dispositional Explanations:** This approach emphasizes the will and intention of statesmen, arguing that peace and stability were a result of their choices rather than structural constraints. This essay challenges these interpretations, arguing that systemic change played a crucial role in the stability of the 19th-century international system. The 1815 settlement did not represent a revival of the 18th-century, but rather a distinct shift in the character of European politics. ## Evidence of Systemic Change The essay identifies three main areas of change: 1. **A New Diplomatic Order:** Beyond the virtual absence of war, the 19th-century international system featured a remarkable array of positive results-problems settled and dangers averted by diplomacy. 2. **A New Approach to the European Balance:** The 1815 settlement established a new system of intermediary bodies, ranging from smaller states to buffer zones and spheres of influence, which separated the great powers and provided a new common ground for their interaction. 3. **The "Fencing Off" of Europe:** 19th-century European politics was largely separated from colonial, maritime, and commercial competion between European powers, due in no small part to Britain's dominant position and its control over the seas. ## Implications for Understanding 19th-Century International Politics The introduction of these three new elements in the 19th-century international system allowed European powers to resolve perennial problems that had defied solution in the 18th-century: 1. **Maintaining the Status Quo:** The treaty system of 1815 and the European Concert provided a system of guarantees for the great powers that, while stretched to their limits during the mid-century wars, helped to create a level of stability previously unknown. 2. **Insulating Europe from External Conflict:** The "fencing off" of Europe from extra-European conflicts helped to decouple imperial rivalry from the delicate balance of power among European nations. 3. **Reconciling the Interests of Great and Small Powers:** The system of intermediary bodies helped to mediate the needs of both great and small powers, allowing them to coexist and even to cooperate. The essay concludes by highlighting the importance of these changes for understanding the 19th-century international system and offering insights into the enduring challenges still confronting international politics today.