IR and the Changing Contemporary World of States
(Robert Jackson & George Sorensen)
Muhammmad Alaydrus / 201310360311128
Many Important Questions in the study of IR are connected with the theory and practice of sovereign statehood.There are two perspectives about the proper scope of IR.At one extreme scholarly focus is exclusively on states and interstate relations; but another extreme IR includes almost everything that has to do with human relations across the world. So,it is very important to study about this two different prespectives if we hope to understand about the rounded and knowledge of IR.
The state system is the main point of reference both for traditional and for new approaches.There are debates about how we should conceptualize the state and different IR theories take somewhat different approaches.but,however the fact is that state and the state system remain at the center of academic analysis and discussion in IR. We Must be Alert to the fact that the sovereign state is a contested theoritical concept.there are many different answers about the question “What is the state?” ; “What is the state system?”. There are different answers is because depending on the theoritical approach adopted.None of the answers are stricktly speaking either correct or incorrect because the truth is, the state is a multifaceted and somewhat confusing entity.
The state is have two different dimensions.it is divided into two broad categories. The first dimensions is the state as a government versus the state as a country. The state is the national government. It means, it is the highest governing authority in a country,it posseses internal sovereignity.that is the Internal Aspect of the state.Internal Aspect concern state-society relations.And,from the external Aspect is,both the government and the domestic society make up the state.the state is not merely a government: its is a populated theority with a national government and society.in other words.it is a country.
The second dimensions of the state is talking about the divides external aspect of sovereign statehood into two broad categories and the recognized of independent state. The first category is the state viewed as a formal or legal institution in its relation with other states.That is the state as an entity which is ..

recognized as sovereign or independent,enjoys membership in international organizations,and posseses various international rights and responsibilities.Then,the first category was refer as juridical statehood. The relations between juridical statehood and recognition is,Recognition is an essential element of juridical statehood. Recognition qualifies states for membership of international society,including membership of the United Nations.The absence of recognition denies it.because not every country is recognized as independent.
There is some explanation about sovereign states.The countries that are recognized as sovereign states are always fewer than the countries that are not recognized but conceivably could be recognized.That is because the independence is generally regarded as political valuable.but the countries that are recognized as sovereign states usually have no desire to see new countries recognized,because it would involve partition.if Partition became an accepted practice,it would undermine international stability.because the partition would set a dangerous precedent that could destabilize the state system if a growing number of currently subordinated but potentially independence countries lined up to demand recognition as sovereign states.because of no more colonies and the entire inhabited territory of the world is enclosed within one global state system.so there is great reluctance to open the door for somebody knocking on the door of state sovereignity to enter it.
The second category is the state viewed as a substantical political-economic organization. That category has to do with extent to which states have developed efficient political institutions,a solid economic basis,and substantical degree of national unity.That is,of popular unity and support for the state.This Second category was refer as empirical statehood.
High level of empirical statehood is have affect for some states.Most states in the west are like that.A strong state in the sense of high level of empirical statehood should be held separate from the nation of a strong power in the military sense.This distinction between empirical statehood and juridical statehood is of fundamental importance because it helps to capture the very significant differeneces that exist between the 190 currently independent and formally equal states of the world.
States differ enormously in the legitimacy of their political institutions,the ffectiveness of their governmental organizations,their economic wealth and productivity.Not all states posseses effective national governments.some states,includingboth large and small,are solid and capable organizations ; they are strong states.Some tiny island micro states in pacific ocean are so small that they can hardly afford to have a government at all.
A large number of states,especially in third world.have a low degree of empirical statehood.Their institutions are weak,their economic basis is frail and underdeveloped,there is little or no national unity.It can be refer as Quasi states.they posseses juridical statehood but they are severely deficient in empirical statehood (Jackson 1990).
The state system merely reacts to change and its also a cause of a change,the exmaples of the impact of social change on international relations are almost endless in their number and variety.However,this should suffice to make the point that social change affects states and the state system.
One of the most important conditions that throw the light on the existence of so many quasi-states in the third world is that of economic underdevelopment. Their poverty and consequent shortages of investment,infrastructure (roads,schools,hospitals,etc.), modern technology,trained and educated people and other socioeconomic assets or resources are among the most important factors that help us to understand why these states are so weak. there are two differents point of view about the third world.For realist IR scholars focus mainly on the states at the center of the system,the major powers and especially the great powers.And for the other IR scholars.Usually,Liberals and International Society theorists.They see the adverse conditions of quasi-states as a fundamental problem for the state system which raises issues not only of international order but also of international freedom and justice.
Some IPE scholars,usually Marxists,make underdevelopment of periphal countries and the unequal relations between the center and the periphery of the global economy the crucial explanatory element of their theory of the modern international system (Wallstrein 1974). According to these scholars,legal equality and political independence,what we have designated as “Juridical Statehood” is scarcely more than a polite façade that merely obscures the extreme vulnerability of poor Third World states and their domination and exploitation by the rich capitalist states of the west.
In state system,there is two state system.it is INSIDERS and OUTSIDERS. both is very different in the state system. For inside system,the same general standards and expectations apply,So if some states cannot meet common standards or expectations because of their development,that becomes international problems and not only domestic problem or someone else’s problem. Its so different with Outsiders State System,that operated according to different standards or they were colonies of Western imperial powers who were responsible for them as a matter of domestic policy rather than foregin policy.These developments are a reminder that the World of states is a dynamic,Changing world and not a static.
The state system is a historical institution,fashioned by people.The population of the world have not always lived in sovereign states.Most people were dependent on a large number of different authorities,some of them political,some other religious.with diverse responsibilities and power.The development of the modern state went a long way towards organizing political authority and power along rational and national lines. in the first instance,The state system was a European state system.During of era of western imperialism the rest of the world was dominated by Europeans.Both politically and economically.Only with Asian and African decolonization,After the second world war,did the system become a global institution.The most important difference is between strong states with a high level of empirical statehood and weak quasi states.which have formal sovereignity but very little substantial statehood.It means,decolozation contributed to a huge and deep internal division in the state system between the rich North and poor South.
This chapter has concerned the actual development of states and the state system and the following chapters will introduce of theoritical traditions of IR in further detail.and also,the next chapter will focus on how our thinking about states and their relations has developed over time.

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