The Emergence of a Sovereign State

ABSTRACT

Throughout history, the economy has walked hand in hand with politics. However, in Colonialism, commerce was less than it is now. Local and international commerce has grown, and politicians may set up laws to establish order in commerce. In this article, we will analyze the specific moments of history that changed this practice forever and how the economy has improved and, nowadays, it is still changing thanks to it. Additionally, we will describe how not only politics are involved with it, attaching concepts like culture, society, technology, etc.

Keywords: Economy, Politics, Commerce, History, Culture, Society, Technolo

Historically, specifically in Medieval Europe, international politics consisted only of superposed jurisdictions and loyalty. That type of politics was precarious, and, over time,  we have been able to understand that commerce was only emerging, obviously, thanks to local politics, as there were different “types” of social levels, just as Barceló & Ferrer Maestro (2008)  state it:  social hierarchies were developed by the hand with the military order. Dean (2007) also describes the importance of politics by saying that they are present in every moment and are immeasurable currently.

The feudal lords had control of the kingdom’s lands, and the clergy was fundamental to the government because they had influence by spreading the word of God. De Córdova (2009) talks in deep about how religion worked hand-by-hand with politics at that time (Dawson, 2010) to empower this idea, bringing together the king and the Christian society, claiming that the king was a servitor of God. Likewise, Fernandez (2009) stated that they were an essential part of the Roman empire, making their importance and role clear in the medieval era.

Brotherhoods were essential parts of the kingdoms. (Guglielmi (2011) states that they were not simply groups of people; they had their political ideas. However, at the time, the institutions intending to establish relations in the continent were the church, the supreme authority based on spirituality and, therefore, one of the biggest brotherhoods at the time. Milan (2019) clarifies the contributions and actions of brotherhoods throughout this era. Dawson (2010) further reveals the consequences of the power obtained by brotherhoods, which stills affect today’s society.

The fall of the Church started and with it fell the dream of an unified Europe, thanks to the reform of the XVI century. Mitre (2014) narrates the frustration of the institution and, as a consequence, new religious movements emerged in Europe. Press (2001) describes the discontent that was generated within the Catholic brotherhood and lists the states linked to those new churches, who protested against the Roman traditional church. Ast (2009) describes the events that transcended and how a new ideology against the society at the time was structured.  

It is well known that modern Europe was the point of a break for the economy; in a few words, the golden age attached to the politic, as stated by (Rodríguez, 2011), who implied that a system was developing for commerce, in which the economy was considered as a form of governing that states could manipulate as they wished. This development was helpful at wars, and Aparicio (2010) describes how this was working at the time and explains how war companies worked in Spain.

The Westphalia System

The emergence of the European states occurred between wars, one of the most important ones was the Thirty Years’ War. Usunáriz (2014) let us know its emerge and causes. Schmidt  describes the Spanish point of view since the beginning until the end of the war. Usunáriz (2019) also deepens in the behaviors of the society and kingdoms against it and how they acted as response to the war that kept being relevant day by day.

The Thirty Years’ War was also a religious conflict because Protestants and Catholics were involved (De Córdova, 2009), and this is evidence of the importance and power of religion in the development of the war. The central countries participating in the war were France and Austria, two Catholic states, and Switzerland, a Protestant state. Parker (2017) details the development of the events intervened by France; in the end, no dominant power was given before the monarchy.

The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties, Osnabruck and Münster, signed in October 24^th, 1648, in the region of Westphalia, ending the Thirty Year’s War. Aceves (2006) explains the process behind the treaties and describes its context, in which international politics were based on the relations of the states and how they worked without another politics units. Dino (2011) claims that every state was sovereign and intended to vindicate its exclusive law to reign their own lands across Europe.

Sovereignty and the formal equality between states lead to a problem called anarchy. Anarchy is a system in which power is decentralized. Eco (2016) tell us that fiefs were organized at the 15^th Century and states were obligated to depend on the resources they produced. The balances of power between states were not stable, acquiring new lands was risky, therefore, states were obligated to be frequently at war to get more resources.

Diplomacy started with the purpose of helping states to deal with everyday affairs. European states started meeting each other after each war to establish terms for their future interactions, open new politics, and give more opportunities to society while taking significant steps to develop the economy. Aparicio (2010) describes how the economy was at the time the essential element, and with it, mercantilism was the most relative influence in Europe, and so was its development.