INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. EXPLAINING IR
IR is the study of the global state system from various academic perspectives
The International System – A set of relationships among the world’s states,
structured according to certain rules and patterns of interaction.
The modern international system is almost 500 years old and since last two
hundred years, the idea of nations, having their own states has spread and become
a widely accepted norm of IR.
IR is a young discipline
The original goal of IR was simple; to herald a new world, freed from the menace
of war – 1914-19, 1939-45
IR offered understanding of violence and possible ways/solutions to curb it
IR’s growth in the western universities is directly connected to the terrible fact
that in the first half of the 20th century, the world experienced two devastating and
protracted global conflicts – which nearly eliminated humanity, facilitated the rise
of great powers and led to the demise of others
IR involves much more than interstate relations
Encompasses transitional relationships among states at both supra and sub level
Analyses the five basic values:
i. Security – realism
ii. Freedom – liberalism
iii. Peace & Order – international society theory
iv. Justice – international society theory
v. Welfare – IPE
Investigative challenge of the 21st century, some heightened concepts of
international life and study of IR
Core problem of IR – collective goods problem
Basic Principles In IR:
Dominance
Advantages: Order & Stability
Disadvantage: Oppression & Resentment
Reciprocity
Advantage - Incentive for mutual cooperation
Disadvantage – complex accounting, arms race
Identity
3 levels of analysis framework:
I. Individual level of analysis: psychological and perceptual variables motiving
people making foreign policy decisions. Ordinary citizens whose political
behavior has important political consequences.
II. State level of analysis: Internal attributes of states influencing their foreign policy
choices.
III. Global or systemic level of analysis: impact of worldwide conditions on foreign
policy behavior and human welfare – patron client relationship, capacity and
incapacity of the UN to maintain peace.
This helps us to analyze and understand the foreign policy practice of state, how these
three levels influence foreign policy.
Subject Matter of IR / Scope:
State System
International peace, cooperation
Statecraft – use of power in international relations
International political economy problems
Diplomacy
Proliferation
International security
2. DEVELOPMENT OF IR AS A SEPARATE ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE:
Picture that there are two worlds:
i. World of reality
ii. World of knowledge
Man is by nature a social and political animal – similarly no state can live in isolation
Relations among nations is an old phenomena in history
There were inter-tribal, inter-city state and inter-kingdom relations
Ancient civilizations had evolved a distinct code of inter-state conduct and a pattern
of international relations
Classical academic works were devoted to diplomacy and patterns of power in IR,
which included Thucydides and Kautliya’s work
However, ancient international relations were not IR in true sense of the term, can be
best described as parochial and occasional interstate relations
1648 – treaty of Westphalia, a landmark development in the growth of modern IR –
relations grew in paradoxical situation of independence and interdependence
First world war trauma, urged democratic control of foreign policy, issues of war and
peace, came to the forefront – rise of liberalism
1919-1939, 20 years crisis
Second world war and emergence of Realism
The total war posed new threats to human race – nuclear age
UN’s formation gave stimulus to the study of IR – decolonization, North South debate
GATT, Bretton woods, NIEO – New international political economy
1960’s, 70’s – economic factor dominating political outcomes in a world of
polarization and multipolarisation. Emergence of transnational actors on the global
stage.
Beginning of neo versus neo debate
1980’s – new Cold war period, Central America, Afghanistan, Gorbachev’s reform
programme known as Perestroika and Glasnost – unravelling developments of 1980’s
Sudden collapse of the Soviet and end of the cold war
Post Positivist turn in IR
3. CONCLUSION
This discipline began after the First World War and grew rapidly after the Second
World War. In the post-world War-II period, the factors that contributed towards its
development can be summarized as the fear of total war, technological development,
the establishment of UNO, the emergence of new states after decolonization, coming
on the scene of trans-national and supra-national agencies, economic inequality
between North and South, concern for environmental protection, nuclearization, and
DE-nuclearization, bi polarization and multi-polarization, cold war and detente,
idealization and DE-ideologization, desire for a theoretical framework, concern for
peace and new world order, etc. International Relations is interdisciplinary, far-
reaching, and of recent origin. It developed from normative theory to causal theory,
from idealism to realism, from realism to behaviorism and scientism. Though it is
neither well organized nor fully scientific nor having a complete conceptual
framework yet, it has developed itself from an allied branch of political sciences and
history to an autonomous discipline.
Source / Reference
Introduction to IR by Robert Jackson (1st Chapter – Why Study IR)
