The Greek International System

The Greeks settled around the Greek peninsula and the islands in the Aegean Sea. They also went to areas located in India. Through the International system, city-states are formed sovereign within themselves. With the Greeks, there was a conglomeration of city-states that had external pressures by the Persians. The Persians were trying to overcome the territory of the Ionian Islands, Thrace and Macedon. With the Greek structure, they formed a military alliance to try to block out the pressures of the boarding states. Athens and Sparta were in charge of the alliance.

Larger city-states brought a change to polar international system. They were now controlling the smaller city-states by weakening their boundaries and boycotting by Athens on trade. Wars began to break out between the city-states and Greece became a bipolar power. The intensity of the city-states was ranked by their military and commercial power. Since Athens and Sparta were powerful in these areas, they came to Athens because of better trade and they liked the Athenian laws. Sparta, on the other hand, used military force to gain their territory.

War became a constant reality between the city-states. The battle between trade and religion seemed the most outstanding. The city-states interacted through the trading of goods and military supplies. The government could use trade to make pressures on other city-states by boycotting. No one could do any free trading without Athens consent. In the religious aspect, every state had their own religious symbol, which led to conflict and violence.

Other irrational means of interaction had to be discovered. As a behavior of norms, diplomacy was used as a source of negotiation between city-states, instead of going to war. War caused massive destruction, cost a lot of money, and claimed many lives. The ambassador would send a high, upstanding citizen to form friendships with their allies. The person chosen was to negotiate peace. The Greeks were going to have to join the alliance of the larger empire, because if not they would be taken over by the states that used to boarder them.