Week 14 Pre-Class

Constitutional movements, as defined in the lectures by Professor Jackson, are intended to provide informal sets of rules and boundaries for great and middle powers. These constitutions, treaties, or agreements are intended to instate some balance of powers after a significant war or shift in power balance. More often than not, they seek to reinstate the previous hegemonic order in some capacity and reinforce the strength of great powers which emerged after the power flux. These types of agreements are bound to fail in the long term however, as they seek to recapture a picture in time (so to speak) and are unable to account to the dynamic nature of power relationships in the realm of the international.

Two notable examples of how constitutional movements fail to stand the test of time are the Congress of Vienna and the Yalta Conference. The purpose of the Congress of Vienna was to reestablish the previous monarchical order in Europe and redistribute land and power to avoid another significant war in Europe following the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Ultimately however, nationalism and the rise in democratic ideologies brought forth civil wars and turmoil which the Congress sought to curtail. The Yalta Conference sought to reinstate order in Europe in the aftermath of World War II, with the U.S. and Soviet Union rising as great powers after the collapse of Germany. The treaty's purpose was to carve sphere's of influence in Europe between Western influence and the influence of the Soviet Union, as to avoid any future conflict in the region. Despite these efforts however, the Cold War still occurred and the struggle for dominance in Europe (and elsewhere) was unaffected by this attempt at peace.

Constitutional movements are intended to create order out of chaos and entrench the powers which arise out of a conflict. These movements are unable to stand the test of time though, as they do not account for the many factors which affect the realm of the international (social movements, clashes of personalities, and economic movements for example). As such, they capture a snapshot in time, but cannot survive in the dynamic nature that is the international.