Understanding International Relations

International Relations (IR)

• International Relations is a multidisciplinary field that studies interactions among countries and non-state actors.
• IR emphasizes formal diplomacy, international cooperation, and informal networks of trade, security, and ideology.
• The term 'world politics' encompasses a broader range of actors, including organizations and institutions.

History of International Relations

• IR's origins go back to 1919 when the Department of International Politics was established at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
• The department was founded post-WWI to prevent future conflicts by academically understanding their causes.
• Some scholars believe its roots are in colonial administration and the study of imperialism.
• The Journal of Race Development (1910) reflected imperialist sentiments, seeking to justify racial supremacy.
• The early development of IR was tied to the oppression of marginalized groups like African-American scholars.
• IR's origins are multifaceted, not tied to a single event, and also marginalize women thinkers.

Narrow Sense of IR - State-Centered View

• Focus is on sovereign nation-states that possess authority over a defined area and populace, free from external interference.
• Studying war and peace involves considering how nations interact during conflict and peace through diplomacy.
• International law and treaties are legally binding agreements that govern state behavior, like the UN Charter, arms control treaties and trade agreements.
• IGOs and alliances see state participation to promote cooperation, manage conflicts, and enhance security, seen through the UN, NATO, African Union (AU), and European Union (EU).
• Diplomacy is the formal negotiation process between states that aims to resolve conflicts, make agreements, and promote national interests.
• The word "diploma" comes from the Greek term for "a document folded twice", representing formal written agreements.

Broad Sense of IR - Non-State Actor Influence

• Focus expands beyond states to include non-state actors that influence international affairs.
• Multinational Corporations (MNCs) can influence global economic and political relations, as Apple or Shell affect trade policies and labor standards.
• Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) include the UN, NATO, EU, and World Trade Organization (WTO) and promote cooperation across borders.
• International Financial Organizations (IFOs) such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), impact global economic policies.
• Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operate independently and address humanitarian issues.
• Transnational movements and violent non-state actors include terrorist organizations like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, or the Taliban.

Case Study: The Democratic Republic of the Congo & Uganda

• Natural resource exploitation in the DRC has fueled regional conflict.
• Foreign actors, including Uganda, involved in illicit trade.
• The international community's inability to regulate such exploitation highlights IR's complexities in addressing non-state actors and resource driven conflicts.

Emergence of the Westphalian Order

• The Peace of Westphalia (1648) was a turning point, establishing state sovereignty as key to modern IR .
• Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe and introduced state sovereignty that marked the birth of the modern international system.
• Sovereignty is the supreme territorial authority free from external interference.
• The Treaty of Westphalia led to centralized states asserting authority without outside interference.
• The Westphalian system formalized diplomatic norms and territorial relations and lay foundation for modern diplomacy and law.

Thomas Hobbes and the Foundation of Sovereignty

• Thomas Hobbes' concept of the state of nature means a condition without imposed governing laws, carrying ramifications for international relations.
• States will act out of self-interest in the absence of global authority.
• In the international system, state self-interest leads to an anarchic system where states focus on their own power.
• This anarchic world order, where each state prioritizes its security, embodies Realist IR theory.
• The absence of overarching global authority creates a self-help system where states rely on their own power.

The Social Contract and Sovereign Authority in Global Politics

• Hobbes' social contract theory extends to the state’s roles in international relations.
• States ensure survival and security through their own established authority.
• The sovereign state controls territory, resources, and military power to guard against external aggression.
• State sovereignty means a supreme control over its internal affairs unimpeded.
• States prioritize their security, even unilaterally, especially in defense and territorial matters.

Absolute Sovereignty and the State's Power in International Relations

• Unchecked state power is thought to maintain strict regulation.
• Sovereign states are to control their own territory, free of outside interference.
• States may circumvent international laws in favor of national interest and security.
• Sovereigns that have unchecked independent authority may lead to conflict with global norms.

Sovereignty and Security in the International System

• Security is needed to maintain order, which underscores the need for alliances and military development.
• States operate in a self-help system, constantly maximizing security.
• States must defend position in the international order and pursue military power or join alliances to secure their interests.

Liberal Internationalism

• Liberalism focuses on cooperation, institutions, and economic interdependence as paths to peace.
• International relations are best managed through collaboration and international frameworks.

Historical Background of Liberalism

• Roots trace back to Enlightenment thinkers John Locke and Immanuel Kant with calls for individual freedom and mutual cooperation.
• Liberalism has become a political ideology, influencing governance and policies.
• Liberal internationalism began post-WWI amid unstable empires, class conflict, women's suffrage, and experiments in organization.
• The occurrence of inter-state war diminished post-1945 often attributed to organizational frameworks like the UN and EU.

Core Concepts of Liberalism

• Belief in the ability of human beings and the societies they live in to improve.
• Capitalism is the most optimum system to economically organize.
• Necessary for liberal progress is representative democracy.
• Ideas, not only material power, are fundamental to international politics.
• Progress is modeled after Western liberal capitalist societies.

Strengths Of Liberalism

• Explains IGOs and international cooperation.
• Predicts democracies will decline in warring with each other.

Weaknesses Of Liberalism

• Overestimates ability to take collective action.
• Underestimates state power and self-interest.

Key Principles Of Liberalism

• Collective security through institutions that involves cooperation that fosters peace, such as with the UN, EU, World Bank, and NATO.
• Harmony of Interests includes economic ties that reduce chance for conflict.
• Democratic Peace Theory includes democracies rarely warring with each other.
• Transnational Actors see non-state actors influence global politics with soft power.

Critique Of Realism

• Liberalism rejects notions that war is just a natural condition.
• Liberalism questions the idea that states are main actors, noting the importance of individuals, multinational organizations, and transnational actors.

Perspectives On The State

• State is not a unitary actor, but made up of people and their preferences, including bureaucracies.
• No distinct national interest exists, resulting from specific bureaucratic societal preferences that dominate decisions.
• Liberals view sovereign states not as important, but often find themselves negotiating with other public and private actors.

Liberal View Of World Politics

• World politics is complex due to the existence of different actors.
• The agenda is not limited to relations between great powers, even though military is important.
• Importance economic, environmental, and tech issues shape national interests.
• World order comes from institutional rules, agreed norms, and laws that manage capitalism.

Neoliberalism

• A practical version of liberalism, with institutions that promote peace and stability.
• Acknowledges that while states are primary actors, institutions play a central role that promotes stability.

Commercial Liberals

• Asserts that free markets enable peace.

Neoliberal Institutionalists

• Argue organizations help states in the anarchic system by providing a platform for negotiation.
• Examples are military alliances and the UN.

Case Study: ICC and the Trump Administration

• Effectiveness of the ICC is limited due to state sovereignty that showed the US was reluctant to engage with the ICC.

View On Globalization

• To liberals, a transformation of the world takes place that signifies a more interconnected and interdependent system due to revolutions.
• Integration is rejected due to the British decision to leave the EU which appears costly.

Realism

• Realism is a longstanding IR theory viewing international relations as driven by power and security pursuits.
• It views the world as anarchic because there is no authority present to regulate states.
• Sovereign states operate on their own because no higher form of authority enforces action.
• Non-state actors function within state relations.

Balance Of Power Mechanism

• Maintains order, diplomacy, and alliances that balance national interests.
• Military remains essential to achieving foreign goals and enduring conflict.

Anarchy Key Concept

• No way to maintain order because the concept is that there is no entity to establish order.

State-Centrism

• International relations is rooted inn states acting on their own for self interest.

Survival And Self-Help

• Ultimate state of every goal is survival and maintaining powerful defence through numerous means.

National Interest

• The idea of states wanting power and protection is synonymous with realist theory.

Human Nature

• Argues self interest is part of human nature and ultimately encourages power competition.

Power and Security

• For their own protection, states act to maximize power that inevitably leads to constant dominance over balance.

The Security Dilemma

• Mistrust grows over what action state might take to increase its security and potentially causes more instability.

Weaknesses of Realism

• Norms, ethics, and non-state actors are ignored.

Core Concepts

• The nation state matters
• International community are anarchic and prioritize security
• Military is key to security, due to lack of a power in control

Historical Realist Foundations

• Otto von Bismarck
• Henry Kissinger
• Thucydides wrote about struggles between Athens and Sparta about human fear and self interest.
• Machiavelli argued rulers need focus on power that outweighs ethics that influence power politics.
• Thomas Hobbes argued without authority, society descends to chaos in world relations.

Realist Idea Historical Roots

• Key people from various eras associated with realism believe people’s natural inclination is toward conflict.
• Competitive conflict drive nature politics.
• War is constant because those share a belief that international relations run dynmaically and that conflict is inevitable.

Realism in the 20th Century

• World War I made people explore how to prevent such conflicts birthing a new sector of scholars.
• People developed a frame work to explain dynamics.
• The central concept in politics is the balance of power as a means to keep things stable.
• The focus saw that the focus on balance meant power was what could prevent war.
• The ideas have been shaping world politics for centuries.

Neoclassical Realism

• Considers internal factors in order to expand the grasp on power and what it entails.
• The key idea are system shape behavior while internal factors affect how they engage.

Domestic Influence

• Not all states behave from influences, internal factors affect all foreign policy.

The three types of Neoclassical Realism

• anomalies that could not be explained.
• Grand perceptions and leadership and grand strategy.
• challenges all factors.

Neorealism

• State behavior is attributable to anacratic structure, in survival the global system drives all action.
• shifted the focus from structure to what systems influence

Views on Structures

Waltz argued power and structure cause conflict. States seek to have supreme power to ensure survival and states engage in maximum power capabilities. Globalization does not change political features and it continues to shape how world behaves. Brexit and COVID-19 vaccine shows the world was reliant on government and shows the core idea.

Social Constructivism

• Relatively recent and important in international relation due especially to the fall of important historic powers.
• Highlighted that power was related to dynamic.
• There are many views that may not be so deterministic.
• rose after many theories were shown to overestimate importance on states for power and did not fully embrace other variables identity and norms.
• States cannot be only restrained by cultural influence but defined by them
• Global changes and social values shifted ideals.

Theory foundation and Key Concepts

• Social constructivism shows that a world can be more open, different, and that society changes things in world politics in order to shape things.
• Norms are key in that it establishes expected behavior over states and has the capability to shape how all the different levels world wide exist.
• They are key to establish new actions by having ideals that spread through.
• Similar organization and evolve show a cooperative power together, such as with the UN.

Social Constructivism vs. Liberalism

• They have common ground when it comes to belief in agency.
• One can argue it supplies the foundation of the social theories.

Social Theory not Approach

• Suggest world can be structred in different ways.
• This is a mix that can combined with feminist and other ideas to produce a stronger and more sound view.
• it is also important to note views that do not align, because there can also be a broader inclusion of views not held dominant in the current day.

National Security

• Is assigned value that represents some groups, such as allies

Constructs and Constructs and Norms

• They are not easily removed because they become the core rules and standards for the global community
• Emphasis on how to see the relations are is key and all the components connect through all world theories.

Marxist Theories

• The separation of to areas where class struggles influence the power of relations
• Historical materialism has a unique perspective on world politics
• Capitalism had contradictions
• Marxism emphasizes global operations.
• Capitalism creates inequalities.
• There are people that work and receive no benefits.

DrawBacks

• It is too economical where ideologies have focus
• Marxist theory was a driving force with a limited scope
• Focus were especially imperial due to class interests where powerful factors are

Cores of theory

• Marxism shows unequal capitalism behavior due to factors such as social hierarchy.
• The ideas focus on what constrains actions.
• A battle is a conflict because events are shape by those with the power
• It also gives way to no sovereign views but is replaced with the autonomy instead.

Systems of work

• It is split into 3 that explains economy in 3 branches that includes wealth, labor.
• The work makes a divide stronger that makes those lower and poorer

New power shifts

• All the attributes are the attribution caused by the rise of patterns and ideas.

Diagnoses

• Theorists believe world has entered a state of crisis and more will happen in the future
• The relevance with power means today with all the problems in order is key with capitalism ideas

Globalization

• Is seen as a way to make it even worse between people in the core.
• The issues is the divide continues to remain large

Gramsci

• Founder of powerful marxist views
• How power was maintained and the role social played

Questions about Theory

• Power balance and views over consent was analyzed.
• A world order for the theories is very important and so all that was said on what helps to shape it

Post structuralism

• An important development for many
• Framework shows that means that the language and view makes the theories. What’s shown is there is knowledge is just driven by power and that is the true form of global truth and power.
• Power dynamics influence everything that is taken
• This can be used as a tool against others that lack it and is very important that this understanding to come into play
• Globalization to post is not objective but something where they think one thing does need to be right

Important Concept In IR

• Theories have to be built into power
• There should not be any power due to specific claims
• All theories should be deconstructed
• State should have one unit
• What does a community look like and can they be helped
• We need to understand our roles and views

Colonial ideas

• International system runs heavily on colonial views
• Global forces and hierarchies
• Unequal power and imperial powers where colonial actions occur.
• It is noted all power is related to the racism, the world shapes everything with many imbalances in power.