Civil Wars As Challenges to the Modern International System
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Civil Wars as Challenges to the Modern International System Hendrik Spruyt Abstract: The current international system is based on Westphalian principles in which authority is de- fined territorially. Within this territory, the state has sole jurisdiction. Adherence to these principles has contributed to the decline of interstate war. Conversely, applying these principles and correlated norms to states that gained their independence after 1945 has contributed to civil conflicts. These norms are opaque, as is the case with the principle of self-determination; or they lock in an unstable status quo, as with uti possidetis, the principle that borders inherited at the moment of independence should always be main- tained; or they are inconsistently applied and often violated, as with the principle of noninterference. Con- sequently, they provide poor guidelines as to when, and on which grounds, external intervention in civil wars might be warranted. I argue that the degree to which the combatants challenge Westphalian princi- ples should guide policy responses. Furthermore, the international legal regime should reconsider uti pos- sidetis. In some instances, partition might be a reasonable solution to civil wars. The Westphalian agreements of 1648 set Europe on a course through which political authority be- came territorially defined and juridically autono- mous within recognized borders. In the centuries since, these principles of order came to define the very notion of what qualifies as “domestic” politics and what is “international.” Through these princi- ples, European states devised a mode of governance that demarcated spheres of jurisdiction and thereby HENDRIK SPRUYT is the Norman facilitated regular interstate relations. Dwight Harris Professor of Inter- The treaties of Osnabrück and Münster set the national Relations at Northwest- foundations for the Westphalian system, articulat- ern University. He is the author of ing a particular logic of organization that differed Ending Empire: Contested Sovereignty in several key aspects from the preceding feudal or- and Territorial Partition (2005), The der. The feudal legitimation of authority, based on Sovereign State and Its Competitors: An Analysis of Systems Change (1994), and personal ties, contrasted with the Westphalian ter- Contracting States: Sovereign Transfers ritorial definition of authority. Moreover, Westpha- in International Relations (with Alex- lia presupposed, in principle, a hierarchical govern- ander Cooley, 2009). ment within the territorial space of a given state. Ju- © 2017 by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences doi:10.1162/DAED_a_00463 112 ridically, Westphalia recognized no higher ders has delegitimized the acquisition of Hendrik authority than that of the sovereign ruler, territory by force. Consequently, the sur- Spruyt in contrast to transterritorial imperial and vival rate of states has increased signifi- religious claims of emperors and popes. As cantly compared with earlier centuries.3 the conduit between the domestic realm Material conditions have also increased and interstate relations, the sovereign rul- the costs of warfare between the major er would handle international affairs. powers. Combined, these dynamics have Stephen Krasner has distinguished four made interstate war, certainly among the types of sovereignty.1 “Independence sover- major powers, virtually obsolete.4 eignty” refers to the degree of a state’s sen- Paradoxically, however, as interstate war- sitivity to globalization and international fare has declined, intrastate war has been flows across its borders. “Domestic sover- tragically common.5 In the half-century fol- eignty” denotes the organization of politi- lowing World War II, there were almost 150 cal authority within the state and the extent civil wars, averaging more than 143,000 ca- to which this authority can de facto exercise sualties each. effective control. Max Weber most famous- I submit that the global expansion of ly articulated this aspect of sovereignty, de- Westphalian principles and correlated fining the state as an entity that possesses norms partially contributed to the frequen- a monopoly on the legitimate use of force.2 cy and intensity of civil wars after 1945. That “Westphalian sovereignty” signifies that ju- is, even as it decreased interstate warfare, ridical authority resides fully with the hier- the very victory of the Westphalian system archical authority of the territorial realm. set the stage for the rise of intrastate con- No higher supranational authority exists, flict, particularly in those countries that unless the given state has voluntarily rec- became independent with decolonization. ognized such an institution. Finally, “inter- Moreover, Westphalian principles have not national legal sovereignty” refers to the rec- only created some of the precipitating con- ognition of the state by others as an inde- ditions of civil wars, but the confusion sur- pendent entity. rounding their application and the contes- Many states that were recognized as sov- tation with rival sets of norms have con- ereign territorial states prior to World War founded the search for policies that might II possess most of these traits. By contrast, address such conflicts. many of the states that emerged in the I begin this essay by tracing how the ex- wake of decolonization lack key features tension of Westphalian principles has af- of sovereignty. fected the occurrence of civil wars. Sub- While the Peace of Westphalia hardly sequently, I discuss how correlated norms heralded the victory of these principles, have had pernicious effects. In the final by the end of the twentieth century, West- section, I provide a typology of civil wars phalian principles had become the norm. to assess the type of threat posed by a giv- Today, sovereign territorial states are the en conflict. Depending on the type of civil constitutive actors of the international war, altering some of the correlated princi- system. Westphalian norms are thus not ples of the Westphalian order might serve simply moral precepts, but serve as rules as a partial guide for policy responses. with material consequences. The global spread of Westphalian princi- Developments in the last half-century ples in the course of the twentieth century have challenged the traditional under- has contributed to the decline of interstate standing of sovereign territorial statehood war. Respect for mutually recognized bor- in several ways. Prior to World War II, the 146 (4) Fall 2017 113 Civil Wars Montevideo Convention on the Rights and ated withdrawal, others got mired in the last as Challenges Duties of States (1933) put preponderant colonial wars. Britain largely exemplified to the Modern International weight on the factual control over territory the first process, while Portugal, France, System and the monopoly of force.6 Article 1 pro- and The Netherlands exemplified the lat- claimed that “the state as a person of in- ter. Ultimately, the “Winds of Change,” to ternational law should possess the follow- use Harold MacMillan’s phrase, blew de- ing qualifications: a) a permanent popula- cidedly against the imperial powers.7 tion; b) a defined territory; c) government; At the same time, the colonies resisted and d) capacity to enter into relations with efforts to make their independence con- the other states.” The Convention empha- tingent upon criteria of fitness. The fit- sized that a state’s international legitimacy ness benchmark evolved in the interwar did not hinge upon recognition from oth- period, when the colonial powers assert- er actors, thus endorsing the declaratory ed that their withdrawal, and subsequent theory of statehood, as stipulated in arti- recognition of independence for the colo- cle 3: “The political existence of the state nies, hinged upon suitable conditions. But is independent of recognition by the oth- Lord Lugard’s claim that the imperial pow- er states.” Thus, the Weberian conception ers were bringing “the torch of culture and of the state, emphasizing de facto capabil- progress” to “the abode of barbarism” car- ity, claimed primacy over the recognition ried little appeal in the postwar era.8 of one’s own sovereignty by other states. The insistence of the superpowers fur- Developments following World War II ther expedited imperial withdrawal. Both enshrined the principle of territorial sov- the United States and the ussr sought to ereignty by extending independence and capitalize on the nationalist sentiments juridical equality to former colonies and in the colonies to enhance their respec- mandate territories. In the process, the in- tive positions in the Cold War. The Soviet ternational system separated the connec- Union hastened to support national strug- tion between de jure recognition and de gles of liberation, while the United States facto state capacity. International legal, de exerted pressure on the European colonial jure, recognition was bestowed on the for- powers through diplomatic and econom- mer colonies, irrespective of whether they ic means, most notably Marshall Plan aid. factually met the earlier Montevideo crite- In addition, multilateral organizations, ria. That is, the former colonies were rec- such as the United Nations, enshrined the ognized as juridical equals of already exist- principle of self-determination. The un ing states, and became fully independent, professed as one of its key objectives: “To even though their governments lacked the develop friendly relations among nations institutional capacity to effectively