International Relations

Definitions of International Relations:- The branch of political science that is concerned with the foreign affairs of and relations among countries. International relations is an academic discipline concerned with the interactions among nations and other international entities.

Trevor Taylor (1979) defines International Relations as:
"A discipline, which tries to explain political activities across state boundaries"

According to Ola, Joseph (1999):
"International relations are the study of all forms of interactions that exist between members of separate entities or nations within the international system"

Seymon Brown (1988) thus defines international relations as:
"The investigating and study of patterns of action and “reactions among sovereign states as represented by their governing elites”

Some scholars see power as the key to International politics. Thus, they define International relations as the subject that deals with those relations among nations, which involve power status.

As Stanley Hoffman writes:
“the discipline of international relations is concerned with the factors and the activities which affect the external policies and power of the basic units into which the world is divided”

In My Opinion:- Thus, international relations is concerned with all the exchange transactions, contacts, flow of information and the resulting behavioral responses between and among separate organized societies. International relations could encompass many different activities social, economic, religious and so forth in so far as they have implications for international political relations. International relations are thus concerned with every form of interaction between and amongst nations.

Why We Study International Relations:- International relations is an academic discipline concerned with the interactions among nations and other international entities. There are many reasons to study international relations.
We study international relation for better understanding of causes of war conflict and peace treaties

International Issues

Many issues span national borders, including crime, environmental protection, human rights, and disease. Nations must cooperate to solve these global issues.

Relevance

The interaction of nations, institutions, cultures and ethnicities is relevant to everyone. You are affected by the decisions your government makes, and learning about these issues can help you better understand your life and the world around you.

Related Subjects

International relations is closely related to and complements many other subjects, including politics, economics, history, law, psychology and sociology.

Influence

Understanding international relations can help you affect the decisions made by governments, corporations and other institutions.

Careers

Studying international relations can lead to many careers, including diplomatic service, international business, non-profit organizations, and law.

Scope of International Relations:-

The scope of international relations has greatly expanded in modern times. Initially international relations were concerned only with the study of diplomatic history. It concentrated on the study of contemporary foreign affairs with a view to draw certain lessons. Later on emphasis began to be laid on the study of international law and international relations began to be studied within the framework of international law. The field of the study of international relations was further widened with the establishment of the League of Nations after the First World War and the study of international organizations and institutions was also included within its purview.

International relations are thus concerned with every form of interaction between and amongst nations. Such interactions can also occur between corporation and social groups.

The core concepts of international relations are International Organization, International Law, Foreign Policy, International Conflict, International Economic Relations and Military Thought and Strategy. International/Regional Security, Strategic Studies, International Political Economy, Conflict/War and Peace Studies, Globalization, International Regimes. These have been grounded in various schools of thought (or traditions) notably Realism and Idealism.

National Interest:-

The concept of national interest is of central importance in any attempt to describe and explain the international behavior. It is almost universally believed that the primary justification of state action is national interest. National interest is regarded as the 'key concept' in foreign policy. The Concept of National Interest defined by Charles A. Beard:

“Princes rule peoples, and interests dominate the princes”

Popular Sovereignty: Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people is the principle that the legitimacy of the state is created and sustained by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power.

How national Interest Influence on Policy: Foreign policy - makers can never ignore their state's national interest as they perceive it. At times leaders like Hitler, intoxicated of power, led to disaster in the name of national interest. This good of the state, or national interest, remains the core of the foreign policy.

Pillars of National Interest:

28 Protecting the sovereignty

29

30 Infrastructure

31 Vital Installations

32 Institutions of a country

Limited Sovereignty: Sometimes a proxy state, an allied state compromising the limited sovereignty in many grounds.

States and International Relations:-

International Relations Definition: The branch of political science that is concerned with the foreign affairs of and relations among countries. International relations is an academic discipline concerned with the interactions among nations and other international entities.

State Definition: A country considered as an organized political community controlled by one government. State commonly refers to either the present state of a system or entity, or to a governed entity or sub-entity, such as a nation or province. Sovereignty and a definite territory are two of the essential attributes of a state.

Features of State System: These features have been described by Palmer and Perkins as corollaries. They are the concepts of nationalism, sovereignty and power.

40 Nationalism: Nationalism is that psychological or spiritual quality which unites the people of a state and "gives them the will to champion what they regard as their national interest."

41 Sovereignty: Sovereignty is the concept of unlimited powers. A group of people who are territorially organized are called sovereign when they possess both internal and external freedom to do what they wish to do.

42 Power: National power is the might of a state which enables the state to get things done as it would like them to be done. Power is a complex of many tangible and intangible elements.

Approaches and Theories Of International Relations:-

Historical Approach:-

46 1st World War: World War I, which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War thereafter, was a major war centered in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centered around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). These alliances both reorganized, and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history.

47 2nd World War: World War II, was a global armed conflict that was underway by 1939 and ended in 1945. It involved a vast majority of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million people serving in military units. The war ended with the total victory of the Allies over the Axis in 1945. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers.

48 Post War: A post-war period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date (e.g., the period between World War I and World War II). By contrast, a post-war period marks the cessation of conflict entirely. In Western usage, the post-war era or postwar era is the period of time since the end of World War II, even though many nations involved in the Second World War have been involved in multiple wars since.

49 Cold War: World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. The Cold War (approx. 1945–1991) was a continuing state of political and military tension between the powers of the Western world, led by the United States and its NATO allies, and the communist world, led by the Soviet Union, its satellite states and allies. In the 1980s, the United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when the Russia was already suffering economic stagnation; this led to collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Scientific Approach / Behavioral Approach:-

On the other hand the scientific or the behavioral approach for the study of international politics, which became popular in the wake of the Second World War, lays more emphasis on the methods of study rather than the subject-mailer. This approach is based on the simple proposition that international politics like any other social activity involves people and hence it could be explained by analyzing and explaining the behavior of people as it is reflected in their activities in the field of international relations. The scientific approach applies scientific method and ignores the boundaries of orthodox disciplines. It insists that central aim of the research should be to study the behavior of men.

Traditional Approach/ Conditional Approach:-

The two most important variants of the traditional approach of international relations are Realism and Idealism. The traditional approach is basically normative, qualitative and value judgment approach. The traditional approach was adopted by most of the scholars till the scientific approach made its appearance. It nourished two dominant scholars of international political thought; "idealism" and "realism" and greatly contributed to the sophisticated understanding of the nature and determinants of international relations.

54 Realism: In the study of international relations, Realism prioritizes national interest and security over ideology, moral concerns and social reconstructions. This term is often synonymous with power politics. Realism is the view that world politics is driven by competitive self-interest.

Realist theories tend to uphold that:

The international system exists in a state of constant antagonism.

There is no actor above states capable of regulating their interactions; states must arrive at relations with other states on their own, rather than it being dictated to them by some higher controlling entity.

In pursuit of national security, states strive to attain as many resources as possible.

States are unitary actors each moving towards their own national interest. There is a general distrust of long-term cooperation or alliance.

The overriding national interest of each state is its survival.

Relations between states are determined by their levels of power derived primarily from their military and economic capabilities.

The interjection of morality and values into international relations causes reckless commitments, diplomatic rigidity, and the escalation of conflict.

Sovereign states are the principal actors in the international system and special attention is afforded to large powers as they have the most influence on the international stage. International institutions, non-governmental organizations, multinational corporations, individuals and other sub-state or trans-state actors are viewed as having little independent influence.

64 Idealism: Idealism usually refers to the school of thought personified in American diplomatic history by Woodrow Wilson; such that it is sometimes referred to as prosper osadebe, or Wilsonian Idealism. Idealism holds that a state should make its internal political philosophy the goal of its foreign policy. Idealist Hope to minimize conflict and maximize cooperation among nations, Focus attention on legal-formal aspects of international relations, such as international law and international organizations, Also focus on moral concerns such as human rights.

International System and International Relations:-

In the 1950s, the behavioral revolution in the social sciences and growing acceptance of political realism in international relations led scholars to conceptualize international politics as a system, using the language of systems theory.

An international system, according to Hoffman "is a pattern of relations between the basic units of world politics which is characterized by the scope of the objectives pursued by these units and of the tasks performed among them, as well as by the means used in order to achieve those goals and perform those tasks".

Orders in International System:-

70 International Economics: International economics is concerned with the effects upon economic activity of international differences in productive resources and consumer preferences and the institutions that affect them. It seeks to explain the patterns and consequences of transactions and interactions between the inhabitants of different countries, including trade, investment and migration.

71 Security Orders: Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Securities as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition.

72 Political Orders: A political system is a system of politics and government. It is usually compared to the legal system, economic system, cultural system, and other social systems.

73 Technology and Cultural Order: Technological capability affects a country's industrial and economic growth and military might. Therefore, technology explains in part the differences in power among nations.

1. Element In International System: a. State Actor: a state actor is a person who is acting on behalf of a governmental body. b. Non-State Actor: Non-state actors have increasingly become vital for opinion building in international fore and actively participate in a number of multilateral processes, such as the Human Rights Council. International Organizations also rely on non-state actors, particularly NGOs in the form of implementing partners in the national context. c. Issue of Sovereignty: Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided. d. Power And Production: Power as a goal of states or leaders, Power as control over resources and capabilities. e. Weapons: A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used in order to inflict damage or harm to living beings - physical or mental, artificial structures, or systems. In human society, weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, offence, defense, crime, law enforcement, and conflict. 2. How Diplomacy Concerned In International System: Diplomacy is the best known game designed to simulate the process of international negotiations, specifically the diplomatic maneuvers of European Powers preceding WWI. With this in mind, this game can be examined and formalized as a simulation of international relations, with an emphasis on estimating intent. The potential viability of automatic stabilization as pertains to the preservation of pluralism in a multistage system, as illustrated by game records, can also be investigated.