Political, Military, and Economic Relations and their Role in the Foundation of Contemporary Society

Abstract

At this moment, the history of international relations means more than the history between nation-states. It deals with not only the affairs between governments but also with all cross-border interactions (trade, emigration, the movement of capital and ideas), with individual actions and non-state organizations (international companies, the Red Cross, the International Monetary Fund, etc.). At the same time, the history of international relations also means investigating how the foreign policy of an actor of this type is carried out. The way of conceiving the history of international relations has changed, just as the substance of the worldwide environment has converted. In fact, the latter became more and more complex, supranational political entities were added to nation-states, universal organizations assumed an expanding important role, economic globalization imposed new realities and democratization allowed increasingly substantial access to public opinion, in the development of foreign policy. With all the certainties we have today regarding the role of the European Union and the institutions that preceded it in maintaining a climate conducive to development on the European continent, the path of integration was more than tortuous. If the war -and its effects- represents the main cause for the adoption of the integrative solution at the European level, as the only solution for maintaining peace on the continent, a causal association that can be traced throughout the last millennium. The first post-war years provided, for the first time, the conditions necessary and sufficient for its imposition, once the first steps are taken in this direction.