Introduction, Evolution

(Institutional and Historical),

Domain of IR
Rajat Dixit
BALLB B Sem III
R450212082

IR?
IR encompasses much more than the
relations among nation-states and
international organization and groups. It
includes a great variety of transitional
relationships, at various levels, above and
below the level of the nation-state, still the
main actor in international community.
~ Palmer and Perkins

 Relations between many entities of

uncertain sovereignties.
# groups like: nations, states,
governments, peoples, regions, alliances,
confederations, international
organizations, industrial organizations,
religious organizations, etc.
~ Wright

 International relations embraces all kind of

relations traversing state boundaries, no
matter whether they are an economic,
legal, political, or any other character,
whether they be private or official and all
human behavior originating on one side of
the state boundary and affecting human
behavior on the other side of the boundary.
~ Mathiesen

 In simple and narrowest sense, IR is taken

to donate the study of relations between
states. IR denotes interactions between
state-based actor across state
boundaries.
~ Lawson

Introduction
Entire population of the world is divided into
separate territorial political communities, or
independent state, which profoundly affect
the way people live.
Sovereignty i.e. a states characterstic of
being politically independent of all states,
doesnt mean isolated or insulated state.
Motive: wealth and welfare of state of their
citizens.

Cont
Five basic social values of state:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

Security
Freedom
Order
Justice
Welfare

Security
People generally assume that the state
should and will underwrite the value of
national security, which involves the
protection of citizens from internal and
external threat.
Being armed at least some degree state
can both defend and threaten peoples
security

Freedom
Personal and National Freedom i.e.
Independence.
Govt. place on citizens, as tax burdens or
obligations of military services is the
condition of national freedom.
Peace and progressive change are most
fundamental values of international
relations.

Order & Justice

States have a common interest in
establishing and maintaining international
order so that they can coexist and interact
on a basis of stability, certainty, and
predictability.
International law, diplomatic relations and
international organizations.
Human right framework: civil, political,
social, and economical.

Welfare
Populations socioeconomic wealth and
welfare.
People expect their govt. to adopt
appropriate politics to encourage high
employment, low inflation steady
investment, the uninterrupted floe of trade
and commerce, etc.
International economic environment.

IR theories & values

Realism: Security (Power Politics, conflict
and war)
Liberalism: Freedom (Cooperation, peace
and progress)
International Society: Order and justice
(Shared interests, rules and institutions)
IPE theories: Welfare (Wealth, poverty and
equality)

Introduction
International Relations (IR)
Roles of States
Inter-governmental organizations (IGOs)
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
Multinational corporations (MNCs)

Evolution of study of IR
Origin :
Tucydides History of the Peloponnesian war
Chanakyas Arthashastra
Niccolo Machiavellis Principe (The Prince)

World War I
Loss of 20 million lives
Limitations of European Diplomacy

Cont
Utopianism, a liberal approach
What ought to be done

Post WW I advocates
Alfred Zimmern
Norman Angell
James T. Shotwell
Woodrow Wilson

Cont
Wilsons 14 Points Speech
US Congress in 1918
Making the world safe for Democracy.
Creation of International organization for
promotion of peaceful cooperation among
nation- states.
Result in League of Nations in 1919.

Cont
IR as decipline
Woodrow Wilson Chair of International politics @
University College of Wales 1919
Montague Zimmern Chair of International relations
in Jerusalem 1929
Oxford University 1930
London School of Economics 1936
University of Edinburgh 1948
Ends Liberalism and adopts legalistic-moralistic
approach

Historical Evolution
Hellas, first state system in ancient
Greece
Lack of institutional diplomacy, and no
international law and organization

Roman empire occupy middle east and

north Africa.
Quasi international relationships
Invasion of cities

 Catholic empire based Rome

(Christendom) and in eastern Europe
Byzantine (Orthodox)
Politico-religious empire
No defined territories with borders.
Hierarchical political and ideological
structure as Chinese Communist state
Kings rule: semi autonomous

 1096- 1291 A.D. fought between Christian

Crusades and Islamic world
Global disorder, conflicts, and violence

1337- 1453 A.D. Hundred year war

between England and france
Fudal and local level
No distinction between civil war and
international war

 Freedom was not freedom for the

individual rather for rulers and their
followers and clients
Justice was responsibility of both political
and religious rulers
Early modern European era
Religious-political authority of Christendom.
Military power of barons and feudal

 Medieval to modern age: evolution of

sovereign state with all powers in the hand of
king.
Defined boundaries
Ambition to expand their territories results in
war
Spain, France, Austria, England, Denmark
Sweden, Holland, Poland, Russia, Prussia
and other at war.

 War become a key international institute

for resolving conflicts between sovereign
states.
In the modern international system
territory is consolidated, unified and
centralized under a sovereign
government.
Thirty years war

Thirty years war (1618-48)

Starting initially in Bohemia as an uprising
of protestant aristocracy against Spanish
authority, the war escalated rapidly,
eventually incorporating all sort of
issues questions of religious involved a
jumble of conflicting stakes, with all sort of
cross-cutting dynastic, religious, and state
interest involved Europe was fighting its
first continental war.

The Peace of Westphalia

The Thirty Years War was ended by the
Peace of Westphalia which was referred
to as the "Peace of Exhaustion" by
contemporaries. The Peace of Westphalia
was not one specific treaty but rather a
collection of treaties commonly linked by
the fact that they brought the Thirty Years
War to an end.

 France and Sweden had already agreed at

the Treaty of Hamburg that there should be
a European return to the status quo of 1618.
Ferdinand III wanted to retain the gains
made at Prague and he wanted 1627 to be
his baseline on territorial negotiations.
The German Electors favored 1618 as their
baseline.

 In September 1640, the Electors were

summoned by Ferdinand III to
Regensburg where the emperor attempted
to get the Electors to agree to preserving
the Peace of Prague. He failed. Frederick
William of Brandenburg specifically
rejected Prague as the basis of any
settlement.

 In July 1641, Brandenburg and Sweden

signed a truce. Many German princes
followed this example of Brandenburg's to
show their displeasure with Ferdinand III.
However, Ferdinand III had already started
separate negotiations with the French and
Dutch at Munster and with the Swedes at
Osnabruck.

 Peace negotiations continued at the same

time as the military campaigns. In 1642, a
Swedish army defeated an Imperial army
at Breitenfeld at the same time as
Swedish and Imperial diplomats were
examining potential peace terms. Such
occurrences happened as a show of
strength to the opposition.

 In 1645, the Imperial army faced two

defeats at Nordlingen (defeated by the
French) and Jankau (defeated by
Sweden). The Holy Roman Empire was
clearly in no position to carry on but
neither could the Swedes or the French
deliver a knockout blow from a military
point of view.

 In 1645, Sweden and Saxony signed a peace

agreement.
In 1646, Ferdinand III could no longer expect support
from Saxony, Brandenburg or Spain.
In 1647, Maximilian of Bavaria was forced by the
Swedes and French to withdraw his support to
Ferdinand. Maximilian reneged on this agreement in
1648, and Swedish and French forces devastated
Bavaria leaving Maximilian in a position where he
could not do anything else except sign a truce with
Sweden and France.

 The French persuaded Ferdinand III to

exclude Spain from the peace
negotiations but the United Provinces and
Spain did sign a peace settlement at
Munster in 1648 thus bringing to an end
80 years of hostility between the Spanish
government and the Dutch commonly
known as the Revolt of the Netherlands.

 The whole package of settlements is

known as the Peace of Westphalia. One of
its provisos was that the practice of
electing a King of the Romans in the
emperor's lifetime was abolished. The title
of the "Peace of Exhaustion" is probably a
more apt title for this series of peace
settlements that brought to an end the
Thirty Years War.

Major attempts to impose power

The Habsburg empire(Austria) made the
attempt during Thirty year war(1618-48), and
was blocked by a coalition led by France and
Sweden.
France made the attempt under king Louis XIV
(1661-1714) and was blocked by an EnglishDuch alliance.
Nepoleon (1795-1815) made the attempt and
was blocked by Britain, Russia, Prussia and
Austria.

 Germany made the attempt under Hitler

(1939-45) and was blocked by United
States, the Soviet Union and Britain

Nature of IR
Before WW-Ist part of history, law and
political theory.
Subdivision of political science emphasized
on political phenomena at global level.
Interdisciplinary (political science,
economics, sociology, psychology,
anthropology, medicine, cybernetics,
communication and other)

Cont
The study of international relation extends
from the natural science at one end to
moral philosophy at other. This
discipline is a bundle of subjects viewed
from a common angle.
~ Zimmern
(Ist IR Professor)

IR debates
1. Utopian Liberalism/ Idealism and Realism
2. Traditional and Behaviouralism
3. Neo-Liberalism/ Neo-Realism
4. Positivism and post-Positivist Alternatives

Abdul A.s categories

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Theory of theory: scientific

System analysis: hypotheses
Action theories: foreign policy
Interaction theory: balance of power
Newer research techniques: content
analysis

Alternative approaches
Post-modernist theories Richard Ashley,
R.B.J. Walker, James Derian
Critical theories Andrew Linklater, Robert
Cox
Historical sociology Michael Mann,
Charles Tilly, Theda Skocpol
Feminist theories J. Ann Tickner, Cynthis
Enloe and Christine Sylvester

Scope & Subject Matter of IR

Dynamic discipline
Initially diplomatic history, foreign policies of
states, international law, international
organization.
Subject matter of international relations consists
of whatever knowledge, from any source, may
be assistance in meaning new international
problems or understanding old ones.
~ Frederick S. Dunn

Goldstein project IR
1. Issue areas: diplomacy, war, trade
relations, alliances, cultural exchanges,
participation in international
organizations, etc.
2. Conflict and cooperation in relationship
among states concerning issue areas.
3. International security: questions of war
and peace.

Cont
4. International political economy:
increasing concern with economic
issues made international political
economy (IPE) inextricably woven into IR,
especially with regard to security issues.

Subject Areas
Palmer and Perkins:
State system, National power, Diplomacy, War,
Imperialism, Balance of power, Collective
security, International organizations,
International law, Regional conflicts, National
interests, Nuclear weapon and changing
International system.

 Frankel:
Foreign policies, the mutual intractions among
states, conflicts, competitions and cooperations
among them, national power, diplomacy,
propaganda, international system and
international organization

 Jackson and Sorenson:

Economic interdependence, human rights,
international corporations, international
organization, the environment, gender
inequalities, development, terrorism etc.

 Baylis and Smith:

Historical context of international society, world
history before and after cold war, globalization,
international regimes, diplomacy, the UN and
international organizations, transnational actors,
environmental issues, nuclear proliferation,
nationalism, cultural conflicts in IR, humanitarian
international in world politics, regionalism and
integration, global trade and finance, poverty,
development and hunger, human rights, ad gender
issues

 Lawson:
Global environment concern, the epidemiology of
AIDS, legal and illegal migration, including
refugee movements, the North- South gap,
human rights, reform of UN and its agencies,
extension of international law, prosecution of
crime against humanity, terrorism, drug
production and trafficking to money laundering,
smuggling goods like weapons, diamonds, ethnic
or cultural factors and nation of human security.

References
Peu Ghosh, International Relations ed. II
Gulam Mohammad Dar, An Introduction to
International Relations
John baylis, Steve Smith, Patricia Owens,
The Globalization of World Politics: An
introducation to international relations ed.
IV
www.historylearningsite.com