Chap 2

• 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.
• Relations between many entities of uncertain sovereignties (major powers competition attempt to penetrate and control other parts of the world).
• Groups involved in international relations


  • nations
  • states
  • governments
  • peoples
  • regions
  • alliances
  • confederations
  • international organizations
  • industrial organizations
  • religious organizations
• International relations embraces all kind of relations traversing state boundaries (across 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.
• International relations (in the simplest and narrowest sense)

  The study of relations between states
• International relations


  Interactions between state-based actors (international actors) across state boundaries
• The entire population of the world is divided into separate territorial political communities, or independent states, which profoundly affect the way people live.
• Sovereignty


  A state's characteristic of being politically independent of all states, doesn't mean isolated or insulated state
• Four basic social values of states


  • 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
• 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.
• 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


  Population's socioeconomic wealth and welfare. People expect their govt. to adopt appropriate politics to encourage high employment, low inflation steady investment, the uninterrupted flow of trade and commerce, etc. International economic environment.
• The study of international relations extends from the natural science at one end to moral philosophy at the other. This discipline is a bundle of subjects… viewed from a common angle.
• International relations debate


  • Utophian Liberalism / Idealism and Realism
  • Neo-Liberalism/ Neo-Realism
  • Traditional and Behaviouralism
  • Positivism and post-Positivist Alternatives
• International relations as a discipline


  • Initially diplomatic history, foreign policies of states, international law, international organization
  • Subject matter consists of whatever knowledge, from any source, may be assistance in meaning new international problems or understanding old ones
• Subject areas of international relations


  • 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
• Subject areas of international relations


  • Foreign policies
  • The mutual interactions among states
  • Conflicts
  • Competitions and cooperations among them
  • National power
  • Diplomacy
  • Propaganda
  • International system
  • International organization
• Subject areas of international relations


  • Economic interdependence
  • Human rights
  • International corporations
  • International organization
  • The environment
  • Gender inequalities
  • Development
  • Terrorism
• Subject areas of international relations


  • 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
  • Gender issues
• Subject areas of international relations


  • 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