ICT in Education
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Introduction to International Relations - The branch of political science that is concerned with the foreign affairs of and relations among countries. - Foreign affairs; relations among countries. - The discipline that studies interactions between and among states, and more broadly, the workings of the international system as a whole. It can be conceived of either as a multidisciplinary field, gathering together the international aspects of politics, economics, history, law, and sociology, or as a meta- discipline, focusing on the systemic structures and patterns of interaction of the human species taken as a whole. The discipline acquired its own identity after the First World War. Its principal branches additional to theory include international political economy, international organization, foreign policy- making, strategic (or security) studies, and, more arguably, peace research. If area studies are added to these, the label international studies becomes more appropriate. When spelled wholly in lower case, the term refers to the totality of interactions within the international system. The emphasis is often on relations between states, though other collective actors such as multinational corporations, transnational interest groups, and international organizations also play an important role. - Study of the relations of states with each other and with international organizations and certain subnational entities (e.g., bureaucracies and political parties). It is related to a number of other academic disciplines, including political science, geography, history, economics, law, sociology, psychology, and philosophy. The field emerged at the beginning of the 20th century largely in the West and particularly in the U.S. as that country grew in power and influence. The study of international relations has always been heavily influenced by normative considerations, such as the goal of reducing armed conflict and increasing international cooperation. At the beginning of the 21st century, research focused on issues such as terrorism, religious and ethnic conflict, the emergence of substate and nonstate entities, the spread of weapons of mass destruction and efforts to counter nuclear proliferation, and the development of international institutions. - Study of the relations among states and other political and economic units in the international system. Particular areas of study within the field of international relations include diplomacy and diplomatic history, international law, international organizations, international finance and economics, and communications, among others. In addition, increased attention has been paid in recent years to developing a more scientific understanding of the international system as a whole. Aspects of international relations have been studied as early as the time of the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. As a separate and definable discipline, however, it dates from the early 20th cent., when the first organized efforts were made to find alternatives to wars in nation-state international behavior. Two schools of thought quickly developed. One looks to strengthened international law and international organizations to preserve peace; the other emphasizes that nations will always use their power to achieve goals and sees the key to peace in a balance of power among competing states. With increased importance attached to a theoretical understanding of the whole international system, there has been a growing use of concepts and modes of analysis developed in the natural sciences in an attempt to improve the verifiability and applicability of theories. In many of the leading U.S. universities there are both research institutes and schools of international relations. See diplomatic service; United Nations; European Union. International Relations International relations is mainly the study of nation-state-their political and non-political relations, their foreign affairs and policies, their interaction with each other and with various other political and non political groups- alliances, regional and international organizations, sub-national, trans-national and 1 [email protected] supra-national agencies. It also includes, to some extent, the study of international history, international law, international society and other psychological, cultural and strategical factors that influence the interactions and relations among states and groups. International Politics: Political aspects of international relations are called international politics. Difference between International Politics and International Relations Both the terms are used loosely and interchangeably by scholar. But of late a distinction is made between the two. The differences among them can be enumerated as follows: International Politics Differences International Relations - politics of the international Subject matter - Totality of the relations among community-focusing on people and groups in the world diplomacy, and the relations society. among states and other political units Only political Relations Description All types of relations between countries and peoples-political or non-political, peaceful or warlike, legal or cultural, economic or geographic, official or non-official, formal or informal -On official relations between Emphasis -Also includes non-official, he states and their informal and private relations governments and officials among groups and peoples. State to state relations Interest People to people relations Narrower- it includes only Scope Wider-when states cooperate those aspects of international with one another to maintain relations in which some postal or transport services, or to conflict of purpose or interest prevent the spread of epidemics is involved. As soon as an or suppress the traffic in drugs, issue arises which involves, or these activities are describes as is thought to involve, the non-political. power of one state in relation to another, the matter at once becomes political. It was mainly studied with Methodology to study The study of international historical, descriptive and relations is being enriched by the analytical methods. wider and mere versatile and scientific approaches and methods Oppositions relations Adi H. Doctor’s view Cooperative relations Thus the current nomenclature-International Relations- covers a wider form of relationship between states, groups, institutions and individuals across the respective national boundaries. Yet it has to be admitted that political relations still over-ride in this field of study. 2 [email protected] Scope and Subject-matter of International Relations Sometime back scholars of international relations thought that its scope was not yet delimited. One cannot settle once and for all the subject matter of a discipline, as it tends to vary with the passing of time and with the emergence of new conditions and factors. But there must be a separate core of the discipline to qualify itself as and autonomous discipline. To this extent is scope has been settled. Moreover, in the previous chapter its development as and autonomous discipline has been traced. Since World War I and especially after Second World War different scholars, universities, academic organizations and institutions endeavored to carve out a specific area of study for international relations. Some of them have put for ward a limited list and others exhaustive list of contents. It gave rise to wide controversy among scholars. Rather than discussing their viewpoints individually and in detail, an attempt is being made in the following paragraphs to enlist commonly agreed points. It cannot be maintained conclusively that scope is fully decided because the international situations as well as this discipline is in a state of flux. But it can be safely said that by and large its scope and main areas of study have been distinctly demarcated. At the same time prospects of its enlargement in future are there along with changes in world conditions. 1. State system: the study of international relations begins with the state system. One can see a great impact of the state system on international scene since last three centuries. The individuals organize themselves in sovereign states and through them strive to fulfill their interests. The incompatible interests of these sovereign states cause conflict, and international politics, thus, the natural outcome of the conflict of sovereign states. Not all states assume similar importance to every other national state. Some are significant because of their neighborhood, some owing to their military or economic power, whereas some others due to the racial or cultural links. In brief, interstate relations are the result of sovereign state and international relations studies these relations. 2. Relations in Conflict and Cooperation: international relations studies relations between two or more states, which are very often complex and influenced by a variety of geopolitical, historical, social religious, ideological, strategic and leadership factors. Broadly speaking, these relationship have taken the form of cooperation and conflict. Cooperation and conflict are two sides of the same coin. In spite of the fact that there were more conflict in international history than cooperation. Both co- existed throughout the various periods of history. International relations are primarily a study of both conflictual and cooperative inter-state relations. 3. General and Diplomatic History: In the initial years of ht beginning of the discipline, its studies were mainly