What Is International Relation?

1. What is International Relation?
International Relation (IR) is the way in which two or more countries interact with
each other. International relations allow nations to cooperate with one another,
pool resources, and further, share information to face global issues that go beyond
any country or region. International relations advance human culture through
cultural exchanges, diplomacy and policy development. International Relations is
concerned with relations across boundaries of nation-states.
Moreover, it addresses international political economy, global governance,

intercultural relations, national and ethnic identities, foreign policy analysis,
development studies, environment, international security, diplomacy, terrorism,
media, social movements and more. It is a multidisciplinary field that does not
restrict students to one approach and employs a variety of methods including
discourse analysis, statistics and comparative and historical analysis.
Furthermore, International relations is something that touches our lives daily as
global markets, the World Wide Web, and foreign travel stimulate a flood of
people, products, and ideas across national borders. deals with what sort of
relationship do the countries share with each other: either harmonious or
conflicting, peaceful or war-like, civilian or military, economic and others. It is a
strict definition of International Relations would confine itself to the relationships
between the world’s national governments, conducted by politicians at the highest
level. However, this is a far too simplistic and narrow perspective of international
relations. International relations related to international peace and prosperity
include topics such as international diplomacy, arms control, and alliance politics.
2. How International Relation has emerged as an academic
discipline?
The study of international relations is interdisciplinary in nature, blending the

fields of economics, history, and political science to examine topics such as human
rights, global poverty, the environment, economics, globalization, security, global
ethics, and the political environment. The discipline is an academic discipline that
focuses on the study of the interaction of the actors in international politics, including
states and non-state actors, such as the United Nations (UN), the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and Amnesty International among others.
Further, one of the key features of the international system is that it’s a state of anarchy
- each state in the system is sovereign and does not have to answer to any higher
authority. International relations studies foreign relations, diplomacy, agreements and
pacts, international law, international organizations, inter-state interaction, war and
peace, international justice and alliances etc.
Additionally, the discipline has a history that shows how international relation as an
academic discipline has emerged. International Relations as a field of study, has a long
history of growth and development. This is yet another important factor in proving that
it has indeed developed into becoming a distinct academic discipline. Historical starting
point of modern IR is accredited to the Treaty of Westphalia, 1648 which established the
principle of sovereignty as the foundation for relations among states.
The industrial revolution in the 19th century, brought with its new thought, technology,
communication, transportation. Trade, transit and transactions had become the order of
the day. All these developments had made international relations more systematic,
regular and comprehensive. The trauma of the First World War made people demand a
better understanding of foreign relations; War and peace came to the forefront all these
developments drew peoples’ attention to the growing importance of international
relations as an academic discipline.
There were many contributions from both actors and non-actors of states a considerable
role to play in the development of IR as a distinct discipline. One of them being the
league of nations as it encouraged the study by its work as a forum for international
discussions and by sponsoring many International Conferences. This development can
be divided into a few phases such as the Prenatal, Organizational, Cold War and
Scientific Phases. Kenneth Thompson has summed up the development of IR as a
discipline in the following stages.
 First Stage: The first stage of international relations was studied by diplomats. It
was up to the end of the World War I (1919). International relation is the stage
where people studied about the past.
 Second Stage: The second stage came when the World War I ended. The study of
international relation in the second stage was to study about the current affairs.
This was a reaction to the excessive concentration on the past done during the
first stage.
 Third Stage: The third stage was during the inter-war years (1919-1939). The
inter war is also known as the 20-year crisis period. Scholars during this time
tended to take a more moralistic and legalistic approach towards studying IR. In
this stage the league of nation was formed in belief that it could resolve war
between nations. In this stage there was hope that the league of nation would
help narrow the nationalism by internationalism.
 Fourth Stage: The fourth stage was the period following the World War II
(1945)During this era people had lost faith in the power and authority of
international organizations and international law as a tool of maintaining peace;
because of the failure of the League of Nations (its failure to prevent yet another
world war). Even after forming league of nation there was another war and
people stopped believing in the league of nation.
After that people started conducting scientific researches. Scientific studies were
conducted on what caused war and how can it be solved.
 Fifth Stage: The fifth stage was the time when cold war between the nations
started (1945-1989). This was the stage when there was no complete peace or
complete war. One of the main characteristics of this era was the intense rivalry
between USA and USSR by way of bloc politics. What was most essential during
this time was a Balance of Power. The people of this stage started believing that
politics is just struggle of power.
 Sixth Stage: The sixth stage is the era of post-cold war. In this stage they try and
establish what the cold war was all about, why it took place and what it was aimed
at and what it ultimately achieved. International Relations consist of many
characteristics of a distinct discipline, which are common to all social sciences. It
has a distinct field of study, area of focus, separate subject matter, analytical
methods, key elements, unique approaches, theories and concepts, and its own
vocabulary which sets it apart from being a simple study and proves its distinctive
disciplinary nature.
3. What is the nature of International relation?
Every discipline has different nature. Due to changing nature of international relation, it
is very difficult to explain the nature of international relations. However, these are the
following important points explaining the nature of international relations; Like wise the
nature of international relation is
 NO SINGLE DEFINITION.
It doesnt have a single definition. International relations have no single definition.

Unfortunately, till date, no universally accepted definition of international relations has
been coined because of its continuous changing nature.
 OPERATES IN ANARCHICAL SYSTEM.
There is no government who helps other nation when they are being attacked.
International relations operate in an anarchical system. There is no single organization to
regulate relations among states. Michael Nicholson writes “international relation is study
of aspects of anarchy, though an anarchy which is not necessarily chaotic.
 INTER-DISCIPLINARY SUBJECT.
International relations is inter-disciplinary subject. In 1998, UNESCO mentioned

international relations as a sub-field of political science because scholars of international
relations analyses political relations, economic relations, social relations and cultural
relations, etc. Politically.
 CONCERNS WITH GLOBAL ISSUES.
International relations deals with key issues which concern s public global interest.
Goldstein and Pave house in his book, “International Relations” write, International relations
revolves around one key problem: how to balance interest of international states with the global
interest?
4. What is the importance and scope of international relation?
= It has no boundaries of its scope. It is merit in the sense of provision of absolute opportunity to
man to make research on the daily changing international relations. It is demerit as the discipline
fails to give itself a concrete shape and outline. But still keeping in view the aspects studied in the
International Relations till now, we will try to elaborate its scope. Following points will prove helpful
in this regard;
 IR studies relations between states in their political and economic prospects primarily.
 IR covers the realm of 'foreign affairs' in all its dimensions.
 IR deals with the recording and studying of International History with the aim to find out
the basis of states' relations in the past.
 IR studies International Law in the context of how international rules define and govern
the relations between states.
 IR embodies its scope with the inclusion of not only states but also the non-state actors in
international relations.
 IR deals with the international events of;
 War
 Peace
 Nuclear world
 International political economy
 Globalization
 International institutions
Scope of international relation
 International relations promotes successful trade policies between nations.

 International relations encourages travel related to business, tourism, and immigration,
providing people with opportunities to enhance their lives.
 International relations allows nations to cooperate with one another, pool resources, and
share information as a way to face global issues that go beyond any particular country or
region. Contemporary global issues include pandemics, terrorism, and the environment.
 International relations advances human culture through cultural exchanges, diplomacy
and policy development.

What Is International Relation?

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1. What is International Relation?

Moreover, it addresses international political economy, global governance,

The study of international relations is interdisciplinary in nature, blending the

It doesnt have a single definition. International relations have no single definition.

 OPERATES IN ANARCHICAL SYSTEM.

International relations is inter-disciplinary subject. In 1998, UNESCO mentioned

 CONCERNS WITH GLOBAL ISSUES.

4. What is the importance and scope of international relation?

Scope of international relation

 International relations promotes successful trade policies between nations.

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