Treaty of Westphalia was the first recorded agreement in history that intended to ensure the sovereignty of nation states. This event is remembered as the birth of the international political system. For the first time in history nation states were recognized as autonomous actors within their corresponding territories and therefore were perceived as sovereign nation (Hawtin, p. 3). Peace of Westphalia ended the hegemony of the Habsburg Empire and established an anti- hegemony principle which emphasised independence. It actually redrew the map of Europe and apart from paving way for nationalism and national allegiance; it established a normative framework, an international society. One of the key implications of Treaty of Westphalia was that it created the idea of autonomy, so that no outside parties would have any authority within a nation state’s internal affairs. It defined the state as territorially independent. According to Jaclyn Hawtin Treaty of Westphalia created an opening for nation states to have a new kind of conversation with each other, one where agreements could be made and power could be exchanged in a logical and rational way. This type of high level interaction was an evolutionary step for human relations, and although flawed, it did empower world leaders to make educated decisions rather than emotional ones (Hawtin, p. 9). According to Kelly Gordon, Peace of Westphalia uses the religious background of the war as a way to increase secular power (Gordon, 2008, p. 21). The peace treaties abolished the compulsion to follow the religious beliefs of princes. Politics was no longer identified with religion. The preservation of religious freedom was a first step towards the protection of fundamental rights (Filho, 2007, p. 967). For scholars of international relations, the Westphalia Treaties have more relevance to jurisprudence; whose ‘normative- prescriptive’ character provides the formal instauration of an international order based on ‘juridical equality’ among secular states (Filho, 2007, p. 972). Scholars like Kelly Gordon are not ready to associate Westphalian sovereignty to treaty of Westphalia. For him, The Peace of Westphalia was merely another step in the long process of establishing ideals of Westphalian sovereignty (Gordon, 2008, p. 23) Andreas Osiander in his article ‘Sovereignty, international relations and the Westphalian myth’ argues that the process of political authorities evolving into ‘sovereign territorial states was a gradual one but the most significant transition occurred with the French revolution and the onset of industrialisation, not with the peace of Westphalia (Osiander, 2001, p. 32). Global system today in certain respects bears more resemblance to the type of system exemplified by the Holy Roman Empire than to the so-called Westphalian model (Osiander, 2001, p. 34). He also draws similarities between European Union and Holy Roman Empire. Even with all the critics, it is important to recognize that Westphalian settlement actually legitimised a sort of commonwealth of sovereign States. Dr Daud Hassan considers Article 2(1) and Article 2(7) of United Nations charter, which emphasis ‘sovereign equality’ and ‘exclusive domestic jurisdiction’ as ideas originating from treaty of Westphalia (Hassan, 2006, p. 68). But In the era of globalized world, where the relevance of nation states are questioned, Westphalian system itself is challenged. - Ashique Ali T Works Cited Filho, M. T. (2007). Westphalia: a Paradigm? A Dialogue between Law, Art and Philosophy of Science. German Law Journal, 8(10). Gordon, K. (2008, June 6). The Origins of Westphalian Sovereignty. Western Oregon University. Hassan, D. D. (2006). The Rise of Territorial state and the treaty of westphalia. Yearbook of New Zealand Jurisprudence, 9, 68. Hawtin, J. (n.d.). Political Theory & the Treaty of Westphalia . Arizona State University. Osiander, A. (2001). Sovereignty, international relations and the Westphalian myth. Retrieved from www.jstor.com: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3078632?uid=3738328&uid=2&uid=4&sid=2110448 6609081
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