To what extent the Russian invasion of Ukraine affected the assumptions about states’ sovereignty that laid out by the 1648 Peace Agreement of Westphalia

By Abdulrahman Muhammad

The on-going Russian aggression on Ukraine has made a turning point in the history of international politics which brought the US with its allies against Russia. However, scholars in international politics do not want to jump into a conclusion regarding the Russian aggression since the war has yet to come to an end. But with that said, we could see clearly that Russia repeatedly invaded its west-south neighbors for no reason but only for being under the west influence which is entitled to do according to the international laws and Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Therefore, the behavior of Russia becomes a permanent behavior that might be brought the world back to the Cold War era and its effects on the Peace of Westphalia.

Treaty of Westphalia 1648

The Treaty of Westphalia, signed in 1648, ended the so-called Thirty- and Eighty-Years Wars and then created the framework for modem international relations. The concepts of state sovereignty, mediation between nations, and diplomacy all find their origins in the text of the Westphalia’s treaty written more than 350 years ago. This peace agreement, which was made up of two different peace conferences, was the first attempt at modem international diplomacy and formally solidified the beginnings of religious toleration from a political perspective. It was one of the first attempts to draft an international set of laws, essentially provided the basis for international communities like the European Union and the United Nations, and even laid the groundwork for an early American nation. The Westphalian system remains the model for international politics around the globe and the concept of state sovereignty, solidified by the peace, is still the basis for modem international treaties and conventions.

In conclusion, the West has unified itself against Russia and imposed tough economic sanctions including disconnecting several Russian banks from the world's financial system (SWIFT). However, political analysts, indeed, have to wait until the war to come to an end, so they will be able to predict how the world would be in terms of the international domination. On the other hand, the writer observes that the on-going war between Russia and Ukraine affects us all even Africans. For instance, African students found themselves stuck in middle of the battlefield in Ukraine. Notwithstanding those United States and other countries had urged their citizens to flee Ukraine before Russian troops breached the Ukraine border, African students decided to stay there until they found themselves in a middle of a battlefield. Hence, both African students and their respective countries won the description of so-called last-minutes deciders.

What occurred in Ukraine is enough to teach us that despite the development in the First world, the war could spark in any part of the earth at any time not only in Africa. Therefore, we need to learn from any event and try to build and develop new strong obligated international norms and laws to prevent war and keep our world away from destruction.

References:

1- https://thediplomat.com/.../chinas-westphalian-attachment/

2- https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi...

3- https://www.dw.com/.../thousands-of-african.../a-60902104

  Image : Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.