Unit 2 – System Development
Systemic Crisis
• Define the system – the Pattern of interactions
A Crisis is an episode of transitionA B
Systemic Change is infrequent, alterations more so
Episodes of System Transformation
• 476 – Fall of Rome
Episodes of System Transformation
• 476 – Fall of Rome
• 800 – Charlemagne Crowned “Emperor of the Romans”– Onset of middle ages and beginning of state
consolidation– Feudalism as a state model– Ideology of Universal Christian Empire
Episodes of System Transformation
• 476 – Fall of Rome
• 800 – Charlemagne
• 1350 – Rise of Italian City states– Renaissance Period– Intense competition between states for power
Episodes of System Transformation
• 476 – Fall of Rome
• 800 – Charlemagne
• 1350 – Rise of Italian City states
• 1517 – 1550 – Reformation begins– End of Universal Christian Empire ideology– Wars of Spanish Succession– Rise of Dutch Power
Episodes of System Transformation
• 476 – Fall of Rome
• 800 – Charlemagne
• 1350 – Rise of Italian City states
• 1517 – 1550 – Reformation
• 1618 – 1648 – Thirty Years war ends Spanish bid for Dominance– Treaty of Westphalia– Sovereignty established as the system norm
Episodes of System Transformation
• 476 – Fall of Rome• 800 – Charlemagne• 1350 – Rise of Italian City states• 1517 – 1550 – Reformation• 1618 – 1648 – Thirty Years war • 1815 – defeat of Napoleon ends French bid for
dominance– England established as dominant power– Concert of Europe maintains multipolarity
Episodes of System Transformation
• 1914-1918 – WW1 and Russian Revolution destroys Concert of Europe– Decline of multi-polar system– Great depression – Economic and political competition leads to
WW2
Episodes of System Transformation
• 1914-1918 – WW1
• 1947 – WW2, Cold War– Bipolar system of antagonism– International Institutions
• UN• World Bank• IMF
Episodes of System Transformation
• 1914-1918 – WW1
• 1947 – WW2, Cold War
• 1989 – 1991 – End of Cold War– Unilateral US dominance– Local conflicts unleashed, new instability
Episodes of System Transformation
• 1914-1918 – WW1
• 1947 – WW2, Cold War
• 1989 – 1991 – End of Cold War
• 2001? - War on Terror– Is it a systemic change, or more of the same?