In short, the study of international relations is an attempt to explain behavior that occurs across the boundaries of states, the broader relationships of which such behavior is a part, and the institutions private, state, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental that oversee those interactions.
Explanations of that behavior may be sought at any level of human aggregation. Some look to psychological and social-psychological understandings of why foreign policymakers act as they do. Others investigate institutional processes and politics as factors contributing to the externally directed goals and behavior of states.
Alternatively, explanations may be found in the relationships between and among the participants for example, balance of power , in the intergovernmental arrangements among states for example, collective security , in the activities of multinational corporations for example, the distribution of wealth , or in the distribution of power and control in the world as a single system.
Email: copelovitch wisc. Influence and interests span the globe. As an academic discipline, international relations is not very old. But as relations among states or pre-state political systems, the subject is very old. As the relation among nation-states, IR is believed to have developed with the Peace Treaty of Westphalia of , which is considered as the creator of modern nationstates in Europe. But before the birth of modern nation-states, pre-state political systems had developed in different parts of the world.
Relations among these pre-state political systems could be viewed, rather incoherently, as the beginning of international relations. Today IR is also concerned with new and emerging issues like environment, globalization, terrorism, and energy. The discipline also analyses the significance of non-state actors like international organizations, multinational corporations, and non-governmental organizations.
The importance of these non-state actors, along with nation-states and issues like environment, globalization, energy, and terrorism, gradually came to acquire a significant place in the study of international relations after the First World War. Thus International Relations appeared as a structured and comprehensive academic discipline after the First World War; and as a separate branch of study, the subject was offered in European and American universities from the s.
The study of IR as a discipline evolved further and matured significantly after the Second World War. With the process of decolonization almost complete, and the appearance of new states in Asia, Africa and Latin America, contemporary international politics assumed a new dimension after the war, a period when IR as a discipline progressed significantly. With the end of the Balance of Power system that had existed for three centuries, the post-Second World War international order was different; it saw the emergence of two non-European nuclear weapon superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, instead of the earlier five to six major nonnuclear weapon European powers.
From the end of the Second World War to the end of the Cold War , several issues gained prominence in international relations. These are: strengthened existence of non-state actors as significant players in international relations; energy; environment; terrorism; globalization; and communication revolution. These issues helped to shape a new global order vastly different from those of the past.
This new order in effect made the study of international relations more dynamic, complex, and broader in scope. As a discipline, international relations is also addressing these issues with more sincerity and articulation after the Cold War. The controversy that haunted modern international relations for a long time since its emergence in the s, revolved around its status as an independent academic discipline. Some scholars were unwilling to recognize it as a separate, autonomous academic discipline, and thought it to be largely dependent on subjects such as political science and history.
The controversy that existed for more than four decades, till the s, seems to have died down now with IR getting the recognition of an independent academic discipline. An autonomous academic discipline requires, mainly, a systematic body of theory, appropriate methodology, and a distinct subject matter. International Relations today is capable of meeting these criteria to exist and flourish as an autonomous discipline.
Like many other social science disciplines, it is not easy to define International Relations in a few words. Although states and their interactions constitute the primary focus of IR, the discipline is concerned with many more issues like non-state actors, international political economy, international security, international environment, globalization, terrorism, area studies, and military studies.
Relations among states, in a broader sense, cover many such issues, yet leave out many more to be analysed separately. For instance, in a broader sense, international political economy, international security, globalization or environment, to cite a few, are somewhat linked to interactions among states; yet these issues may go beyond the sphere of relations among states.
Non-state actors may also influence these issues profoundly. Therefore, IR being viewed as interactions among states is oversimplification, though helpful for a primary understanding. A broader and more comprehensive definition of the subject would be this: International Relations as a branch of social science is concerned with relations among nations, and other issues like non-state actors, international political economy, international security, foreign policies of major powers, globalization, international terrorism, international environment, and area studies.
This definition indicates that the scope and subject matter of IR has become vast today, unlike earlier times when IR was mainly concerned with nation-states and their interactions. The practice of international relations is valuable in a wide array of settings. Some examples inlcude:. International relations may be an offshoot of political science, but this field of study is exceptionally in-depth in its own right. As our global society evolves and expands, international relations will evolve and expand along with it as we continue to explore new and exciting way to link our complex world.
For example, traditional dimensions of international relations related to international peace and prosperity include topics such as international diplomacy, arms control, and alliance politics. Contemporary studies in international relations, on other hand, include topics such as international political economics, environmental politics, refugee and migration issues, and human rights.
The study of international relations involves theoretical approaches based on solid evidence. Theories of international relations are essentially a set of ideas aimed at explaining how the international system works. Realism focuses on the notion that states work to increase their own power relative to other states. The theory of realism states that the only certainty in the world is power; therefore, a powerful state—via military power the most important and reliable form of power —will always be able to outlast its weaker competitors.
Self-preservation is a major theme in realism, as states must always seek power to protect themselves. In realism, the international system drives states to use military force.
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