THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM DURING THE INTERWAR PERIOD CRISTINA ARVATU VOHN * Abstract. The study analyzes the international system in the interwar period, through the three major international relations theories: realism/ neorealism, liberalism/neoliberalism and constructivism. Interwar period is a special and complex one, delimited by the two great world wars, and our approach aims to show how this is reflected in the three major theories. Could the failure of the Westphalia system be explained through the prism of realism, or through liberalism, or through constructivism – or do all three converge in order to provide a comprehensive view of the causes that led to the outbreak of World War II? Keywords: international system, interwar period, realism/neorealism, liberalism/neoliberalism, constructivism. The international system of the interwar period emerges in the history of international relations as a distinct stage that is delimited by the two world wars, the largest and most destructive in the history of humanity. This unique feature individualizes the interwar period in the history of mankind and enables a distinctive analysis, although systemic level analysis focuses on extensive processes, which developed along lengthy periods of time. The interwar period was often defined in the literature of international relations as a period of “crisis”, “transition” or as the “long ceasefire” because, only after the end of the second World War the international system was experiencing a profound change: from a many-poles system that existed for a long time, to the bipolar system dominated by two great powers (called from now on also superpowers). After 1945, the world was divided in two antagonistic systems, one democratic and the other dictatorial, with specific phenomena and manifestations, totally different in its international relations from those noticed during the period previous to the second World War. However, in the interwar period, although it lasted only 20 years (a brief period compared to the scale of history), international politics had certain characteristics that individualized it and distinguished it from the prewar era. Pol. Sc. Int. Rel., XIII, 1, pp. 49–59, Bucureºti, 2016. ———————— * Scientific researcher III at the Institute of Political Science and International Relations “Ion I. C. Brãtianu”, Romanian Academy; cristina.vohn@ispri.ro