The ‘obsolete system of government’ refers to

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

During the nineteenth century, liberals everywhere shared the conviction that power politics and war were residues of on obsolete system of government and that with the victory of democracy and constitutional government over absolutism and autocracy, international harmony and permanent peace would win out over power politics and war. The struggle for power on the international scene was seen as a temporary phenomenon, a historical accident that was bound to disappear once the peculiar conditions that had given rise to it were eliminated. Jeremy Bentham believed that the competition for colonies was at the root of all international conflicts. "Emancipate your colonies" was his advice to the governments and international conflict and war would surely disappear. Adherents of free trade were convinced that the removal of trade barriers was the only condition for the establishments of permanent harmony among nations, and might even lead to the disappearance of international politics altogether. For Marx and his followers, capitalism was at the root of international discord and war. They maintained that international socialism would do away with the struggle for power on the international scene and would bring about permanent peace.

In recent times, the conviction that the struggle for power can be eliminated from the international scene has been connected with the great attempts at organising the world such as the League of Nations and the United Nations. The United Nations was thought to usher in a new era of international collaboration to kill power politics, in order that, by the methods of democracy, “the will of the people shall prevail." The reality has, however, been far from encouraging.