Lecture No.

1
WHY STUDY INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS?
 Security
 Global Economy
 Health and Human Rights Concern
 Global Communication
 others
WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS?

 It is the study of relations between and

among states and non-states actors

 The study of who gets what, when and

how in matters external to states or in
matters crossing national boundaries.
(Henderson, 1998)
 WHO – actors:
states, non-state-actor: terrorist, churches,
international organizations and associations
representing ethnic groups.
 WHAT - goals of actors:
political, economic, social or cultural kind
 WHEN - activity of the states:
like providing for the security of their populations to
the episodic activity of private international
organizations.
 HOW – instruments actors use to achieve goals:
military force, propaganda, foreign aid, diplomacy, etc.
SCOPE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
 State as an actor and the state’s interests: national
security and power
 Arms, races, crises, wars and the causes of wars
 Diplomacy, international law, world order
 Human Welfare
 Gender perspectives, environmental issues and
ethnicity
 International political economy
METHODS
These are the means international specialist use to conduct
research and reach conclusions.
 SCIENTISM – the belief that the academic rigors and
methods of the physical sciences are applicable in IR:
observations, empirical analysis, hypothesis testing,
quantified data, etc.
 THEORY – a set of logically connected propositions that
propose to explain and predict the relationships among
variables. A theory stands until it is disproven.
 APPROACH – provides criteria for asking questions about
the subject of concern.
 PARADIGM – an approach widely accepted and became a
standard framework.
 NORMATIVE CHOICES - judgments about “what ought
to be” as well as recognize “what is”
HOW DO WE STUDY INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS?
1. Continuum of CONFLICT/COOPERATION
 Continuum is a continuous dimension of reality that varies
in the degree of cooperation
2. GLOBAL ORDER
 An order involves enduring patterns of behavior that give a
society structure and establish the relationships among the
society’s constituent parts.

CHANGING WORLD ORDER

 The world no longer faces the immense threat of strategic
nuclear warfare, nor do hostile ideological differences
polarize the world.
 US can neither dominate the world nor withdraw from it.
 Unprecedented military dominance by democracies
accustomed to working together as an alliance.
 MODELS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
MODEL INTERNATIONAL ANARCHY INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY
Ideological Thomas Hobbes Hugo Grotius
underpinning (The Leviathan)
States possess power and States form a society
use their power as much as among themselves by
they please sharing the institution of
commerce, diplomacy and
Violence is an on-going international law
threat
Society based on legally
equal states but extending
to include non-state
entities even individuals.
International conditions of
law and cooperation as
mitigating conflict
INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY
Immanuel Kant
(Perpetual Peace)
Individuals deserve to be
independent and free
Kantian order is a liberal
based on republican
states interacting in peace
and inhabited by citizens
who interact easily with
one another across
national boundaries and
share moral values and
commerce.
Peace in an economically
prosperous international
community.
FEATURES Realist
- International relations
take place within an
anarchy in which sovereign
, independent states
interact with one another
in a competitive and
conflictive world
unregulated by a central
authority.
- People are self centered
and act accordingly
through states to pursue
more power and wealth
- Conflict-oriented approach
Neo-realist (structural realist)
- structure as the principal
determinants at the
International level
-states can still make
rational choices about
their interests within a
framework of incentives
and constraint imposed by
world power-structure
Power relationship are at work
at the within the cooperative
relationship
Transnationalist (international
liberals, neoliberals and globalist) Mutually shared dependence
- Focus on interdependence and shared stewardship.
- Mutual dependence among
two or more actors, although Pursuit of human welfare is
the actors involved may not the rallying point for
share the dependence evenly conscious restructuring of the
- Complex interdependence global order.
- Interrelated international
society but view that state as Democracy and capitalism
a primary may grow because these can
help to promote human
Complex interdependence exist welfare
because some issues cannot be
addressed by force: Cooperation over multiple
Conquest for territory, issues, development to trades
Trade issues AIDS, Human and reluctance to use military
rights, environmental decay, means
illegal drugs, economic
development, values
Rules and norms of international
law, the UN and other
international institutions underpin
the emerging order of an
international society
 Three Abstract Models of International Relations
International Anarchy International Society International Community

Authority No central authority Respect for Extensive use of rules and

Weak International Law International Law norms

Actor(s) State is dominant Multiple actors, state is Multiple Actors, state

primary declines
Orientation Conflict Cooperation and Cooperation/Competition
Conflict
Force Coercion Common Persuasion/some Persuasion for the common
coercion interest
Interaction Minimal, mostly allies Interdependence Some political integration
Issues National Security National security, global Justice in Human welfare,
trade, global ecology, especially redistribution of
human rights the earth’s wealth
Problem Solving Level Unilateral, occasional Multilateral problem Supranational Institution
conference for ad hoc solving in UN and
issues Conferences
Consensus Strong Sense of Multiple Ideologies but World is increasingly
Nationalism in decline; English democratic and capitalistic;
grows as a world lingua emerging world culture
franca