19th Century Transformation of International Systems: The Case of East Asia

• In Event: Poster Session: Politics and History & International History and Politics
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: International History and Politics (IHAP)

Abstract

The main focus of this paper is the nineteenth-century transformation of international systems. While traditional International Relations (IR) theories are modeled on the European experience focusing on the balance of force among the great powers, revisionist scholars draw mostly from European imperialism outside of the continent. However, this bifurcation was a historical contingence, which came to an end at the fin de siècle. Both schools neglect geographic, technological, and institutional milieu under which each system operated, thereby failing to connect the two. In particular, they cannot explain the East Asian system whose modus operandi was neither balance-of-power nor economic dependence.

An examination of geographic, technological, and territorial changes of the nineteenth century sheds light on heretofore neglected spatial aspects of international system. Forest-clearing and the construction of transportation networks opened up new routes and frontiers; the Industrial Revolution ushered in a new age of coal, steel, and steam power, altering economic and strategic geography; territoriality of different places changed in accordance with the shifting balance of power among nations. In Asia, the defeat of the Qing Dynasty in the Sino-Japanese War catalyzed the collapse of the Sino-centric order, thereby creating a security vacuum along the peripheries of the empire. All this allowed for the introduction of both established powers as well as newly emerging nations to the East Asian system.

The implication is that IR scholars should look beyond the distribution of capabilities or economic relations. They should examine spatial context—influenced by geography, technology, and territoriality—upon which both traditional and revisionist IR theories are predicated.

Author

• Jaehan Park, Johns Hopkins University