IR-meaning, nature and

importance
Hakim Afridi university of haripur

Importance

The world has become a global village

due to technological advances

Therefore, an event in one part of the

world has an immediate effect on the
other part

All the states in the world are now under

compulsion to interact with each other

Importance

International relations existed since long

among different states like Egypt, Greece
and china but they were based on morality
and were not scrupulously observed

These earlier relations were among the

neighbors and they may precisely be called
regional relations. It was only in
seventeen century that the states
established relations beyond their regions

Importance

The improvement in the means of

communications, and the industrial revolution
further brought the states together

At this time the study of IR was mainly concerned

with the study of diplomacy, law and philosophy

Today the relations among the states are

interdependence, and IR enables us to
understand the motives of individual states and
problems faced by the world

Importance

IR teaches us that peace could only be

achieved if the world actors subjectively
solve the problems faced by the world
politics like excessive nationalism and
narrow national interest

Modern theory of IR demonstrates that

the traditional concept of sovereignty has
become outdated and needs modification

Meaning of IR

The term international was for the first

time used by Jeremy Bentham in the
later part of eighteen century

Consequently, the term IR was defined

as officials relations between the
sovereign states. However some
scholars include economic, social and
cultural relations in it

Meaning of IR

There are two views regarding the meaning of IR, one is Broader
and the other narrow

Those who take narrow view assert IR include only the official
relations conducted by the authorized leaders of the state

To them relations like trade, financial interaction, missionary

activities, travel of students and cultural relations do not fall in the
domain of IR

Professor Dunn takes a narrower view and define IR as the

actual relations that take place across national boundaries or as
the body of knowledge which we have of those relations at any
given time

Meaning of IR

Those who take broader view of IR include, apart

from official relations, all other relations among the
states like movement of people, goods an ideas

Quincy wright says it is not only the nation which

international relations seek to regulate. Varied
types of groups-nations, states, governments,
people, regions, alliances, confederations,
international organizations, even industrial
organizations, cultural organizations shall be dealt
within the study of IR

Meaning of IR

Professor Hoffmann says international

relations is concerned with the factors and the
activities which affect the external policies and
the powers of basic units into which the world is
divided

It comes from the above that international

relations is not only concerned with official
relations among the states but it also covers the
all those factors and organizations which affect
the external relations of a nation

IR and international
politics

Scholars of international relations have ignored

the distinction between IR and International
politics and they consider them as identical

E.H Carr, Quincy Wright treated the two as

identical. However some writers have tried to
draw a distinctions between the two. To them
IR is the totality of relations and therefore a
wider term which includes politics, war,
diplomacy, economy and even culture

IR and international
politics

On the other hand International politics is concerned

with diplomacy and the relations among states and
other political units

International politics include only those aspects of IR

in which conflict of purpose or interest is involved

In its broadest sense IR is comprised myriads of

contacts among the states, people, organizations and
groups however all these relations are regulated by
the governments of the states and in this sense IR
and international relations become identical

Scope of IR

In modern world the scope of IR has greatly expanded.

Initially it was the study of diplomacy. Later on
international law became the subject matter of IR. It
became more wider with the establishment of league of
nations and the study of international organizations was
also included in IR

The scope of IR expanded during the second world war

with emergence of USA and USSR as super power, the
multiplications of nation states, the danger of thermonuclear war, increasing interdependence of states and
rising expectations in the people of the underdeveloped
world

Scope of IR

Greater emphasis was made on the scientific study of IR

which developed methodologies and introduction of new
theories

Today IR includes the study of behavior of political actors

and groups and it has an extensive scope

On the other hand the writers seem divided on the scope

of IR and as Alfred Zimmern says that IR is not a
discipline but a combination of History and political
science. It is heavily dependent on other disciplines and
has so far failed to develop a coherent body of knowledge

Scope of IR

According to Organski as a science, IR

today is in its infancy, it is still less a
science than a mixture of philosophy
and history and its theories are
shockingly unstable