Undergraduate Research Scholars Capstone (2006–present)

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Browsing Undergraduate Research Scholars Capstone (2006–present) by Subject "1648"

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    Revisiting the Foundations of International Law: A Close Analysis of the Peace of Westphalia
    Tacker, Abigail Nicole; Bouton, Cynthia A
    Historians have generally accepted that the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which concluded the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), was the moment when the concept of sovereign equality, a concept that recognizes that states have jurisdiction over their own territory and are all equal before international law, became an internationally recognized principle in diplomatic negotiations. However, recently, some scholars have begun to reevaluate this assumption, claiming that the Peace did not actually (formally or officially) establish the principle of sovereign equality throughout Europe. This reopening of a question long considered answered has proved fruitful and has encouraged this project’s exploration of both the Peace itself and of how subsequent politicians and diplomats actually deployed the Peace in their negotiations. This paper argues that, in international treaty negotiations, it may have mattered less to negotiators what the Peace actually said or what it formally established, than what negotiators argued it said and how they wielded it in their discussions. A close reading of the text of the Peace itself, as well as of subsequent negotiations between the 17th and 20th centuries, reveals when and how diplomats wielded the Peace in their negotiations and to what effect. This project applies a close, contextual reading of the texts of treaties and the various interpretations of them over time. It looks for specific references to the Peace of Westphalia in later peace treaties, analyzes what diplomats meant when they invoked it, and considers whether the treaties themselves resulted in outcomes that were consistent with the intent of the negotiators. Finally, it considers whether or not the Peace exercised the influence on international relations that some past scholars have claimed. This project has three sections. First, it analyzes the context for the Peace of Westphalia including the wider debates circulating at the time that influenced negotiations. It reads the texts of the treaties that comprised the Peace and it considers the immediate interpretations associated with it. Second, it explores if and how it was invoked in subsequent peace treaties and organizations up to the United Nations Charter (1948). A careful examination of the texts and debates from the time frame indicates that diplomats and politicians invoked the Peace of Westphalia during negotiations that concluded the following wars: The War of Spanish Succession with its Treaty of Utrecht (1715), the War of Austrian Succession with its Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), The Napoleonic Wars with the Congress of Vienna (1814), and World War I and the Treaty of Versailles (1919). This paper will also examine the United Nations Charter because it is the focus of several influential sources. Finally, it places this history in conversation with the current scholarly arguments about the importance of the Peace for international relations.