Introduction: A World in Transition

To paraphrase a common theme often heard in the media today, we live in a world of unprecedented change, the likes of which have not been seen in nearly a century. These changes are coming to a nearly century old system that can trace its origins to the Treaty of Westphalia, which laid the foundation for state sovereignty and ultimately the modern international system, and eventually took its current form in the mid-twentieth century following two world wars and the establishment of international institutions such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization.