CEVAP:

The most remarkable characteristics of the international system that emerged after the year 1648 were:
• its limited geography,
• similar political units, and
• a developing pattern of relationships basedon the dynamics of conflict and cooperation between these units.

The Westphalian system at its earlier stages was a geographically narrow central European system. At that time, Europe was composed of monarchies that mutually recognized their borders and sovereignty within their domains. For that reason, the boundaries of the international system only covered political units that acknowledged the sovereign equality of each other.