PERSPECTIVES ON THE STUDY OF

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: CONCEPT OF

POWER IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

This module tires to address some key questions

that;
1. Understanding International Politics and
International Relations
2. Definitions International Politics
3 Scope of International Politics
4. Major features of International Politics
5. Define the concept of Power in International
Politics 6. Discuss the importance of power in
International Politics.

Introduction
 Today, International Politics is becoming a
significant field of study. It addresses some of
the most pressing problems of the world such as
war and peace, the organization of global
economy, the causes and consequences of global
inequality as well as power, violence,
sovereignty, states, empire, intervention,
inequality, justice, and democracy. The field is
also highly interdisciplinary, drawing on
theoretical and methodological traditions from
history, law, political science, geography,
sociology, gender studies. However, political
science has made a great influence on the
discipline of International Politics. The birth of
International Politics as a distinctive branch of
study can be traced in the outcome of World War
I (1914–18).
The War has been created a global
concern to rebuild peace and security in the
world for the future years. Subsequently, the
establishment of the chair for International
Politics at the university college of Wales in 1919
is a land mark in the development of the study
as an academic discipline. The following years,
the London School of Economics in 1923, the
University of Southern California, and the
University of Oxford in 1930 has started the
Department for the study of International
Relations. At the same time, the political context
of the world created a feasible situation to grow
International Politics as a significant field of
study. Thus International Politics became a
popular subject across the world. It has been
achieved a separate identity like other social
science subject.

Understanding International Politics and

International Relations

The term International Politics and International

Relations is quite often used as synonyms to
understand the politics among nations. Some writers
do not like to draw a line of demarcation between
International Relations and International Politics.
They used these terms interchangeable manner. For
example, the outstanding figures in this field like
Hans J. Morgenthau and Kenneth Thompson use
these terms inter-changeably and opinioned that
International Politics as an inalienable part of
International Relations. However, many scholars
tries to bring a clear demarcation between
International Politics and International Relations in
recent years. These diverse opinions of scholars have
been created a reasonable intellectual debates on IP
and IR.
A set of scholars including Schwarzenberger,
Schleicher, Theodore A. Couloumbis, Palmer, Perkins,
Burton etc. prefer to use the name International
Relations rather than International Politics. They
argued that the term IR highlights the wider scope of
the subject. It provide an extensive platform to study
about all types of relationships and interactions
between countries, the activities and policies of
national governments, the intervention of
international organizations (IGOs), nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), multinational corporations
(MNCs) and so on. It also include social, economic,
cultural, legal, official and non-official relations
between countries as well as expose the issues
regarding under- development, poverty, political
repression, racism, and other human rights
violations, environmental degradation and climate
changes. Thus, IR is considered as an umbrella to
discuss the entire social, economic, political, cultural
and security issues around the globe.
At the same time, some scholars prefer to use
the term International Politics. They argue that the
term International Relations is very general and
broad. It is not a suitable termto understand the
specific nature and complex relations between
nations. In fact, the interactions between the nations
characterized by conflict, struggle for power, wars
and disputes along with cooperation and friendship.
As such, the use of the term International Relations
for designating the study of politics among nations is
held to be inappropriate and misleading. Thus, Legg
and Morrison argue that International Politics to be
the correct name of the subject which studies power
interactions among nations or politics among nations,
“Since the core area of the study is the political
aspect of relations among nations, we must stick to
the use of the name International Politics.” This name
truly reflects the true nature of relations among
nations.
As a discipline, International Politics is
concerned primarily with the study of powerrelations
among nations. Furthermore, the use of the term
International Politics is most appropriate for
identifying the study of conflict of purpose and
struggle for power among nations. Thus we can say
that International Politics is more specific name to
study the interactions between the nations.
Therefore, we need to use the term International
Relations in a broader and general sense to
understand all type of interactions between nations.
In fact, scholars propose different opinions about the
use of both names. It ultimately highlights the
importance of the subject and however, we can use
both the names International Relations and
International Politics by considering the context.
 Define International Politics

The central focus of International Politics is the

study of the interactions between nations and
these relations are generally determined by the
political, diplomatic, military and strategic terms.
In fact, there are different range of definitions
about International Politics. Scholars proposed
the definitions in according to their theoretical
positions. According to H.J. Morgenthau,
International Politics “is struggle for and use of
power among nations. This definition very
clearly articulated that international politics is
determined by the power. There each nations
tires to accumulate and expand the power for
gaining their national interest. Likewise,
Padelford and Lincoln define that international
politics is the interaction of state policies within
the changing pattern of power relationship.
Moreover, Palmer and Perkins express similar
views that international politics is essentially
concerned with the state system. At the same
time, Charles Schleicher forward a broad
definition that all inter-state relations are
included in international politics, even though all
the inter-state relations are not political.
The above definitions express different
range of ideas about International Politics. There
is no a single definition on IP. Through these
definitions, we can understand that
International Politics is primarily a process of
interactions among nations. In fact, the state
come into the central positions in the study of IP.
It deals with conflicts and cooperation among
nations essentially at political level. Hence, the
complex process of globalization bring a new
dimension to the study of IP.

Scope of the study of International Politics

The populations of the world is divided into
separate political communities, independent
states, which profoundly affect the way of
people life. At the present time, there are almost
200 independent states and they interact with
each other’s in different ways. The states are
usually embedded in international markets that
reflect in the formation of their government
policies and the wealth and welfare of its
citizens. It demands to the states to enter into
relations with each other. Thus, IP is the study of
the nature and consequences of these relations.
In order to understand the scope of IP, we
need to analyse the role of states in the
everyday life of human being. It is undoubtable
fact that the state is a responsible institution to
uphold some basic social values like security,
freedom, law, justice, and welfare of the citizens.
For example, people generally think that the
state has a responsibility to ensure the security
of the citizens from internal and external threat.
Thus, security is one of the fundamental concern
of IP. Likewise, the state need to ensure the
freedom in terms of personal and national
freedom of citizens. In the same way, state need
to establish and maintain international order as
well as the justice of very citizens. Another
important responsibility of the state is uphold
socio-economic wealth and welfare of the people.
The World War II resulted to rise a wider
anti-war sentiment across the world. This
sentiment lead to the practical and theoretical
solutions to ensure the peace and security of the
world populations. In a practical sense, the
League of Nations established in 1920 at
Geneva. The fundamental objective of this
institution to promote international co-operation
and achieve peace and security in the world.
Subsequently, the Permanent Court of
International Justice set up in 1922 at The
Hague as well as established many other
international organizations to strengthen
economic and security co-operations among the
nations.
At the same time, the establishment of the
Department of International Politics at the
University of Wales in 1919 was a great step to
activate a theoretical enquiry about IP through
lens of academics. Since then, the IP has been
traveled through different level of academic
enquiry and theoretical debates. In the initial
years, IP was mainly studied by Western
scholars especially the scholars from US. It was
caused to rise a criticisms that the study of IP is
a euro centric subject. Over the years,
globalization brought an unpredicted twist and
turn in the disciple of IP. Thus the scope of this
subject growing in recent years. Almost all
universities have been started a particular
Department to study IP. Many universities
introduced area studies on Middle East, Europe,
Africa, Latin America, and East Asia as a part of
International Politics.
 Some of the major scope of IP is;

 Study of state systems and relations among

states
 Study of National Interests and National
Power
 Study of International Law and International
Organizations
 Study of Foreign Policy and geopolitics
 Study of Conflict Management and Conflict
Resolution
 Study of War, Peace, and Disarmament
 Study of Ideologies, Nationalism, Colonialism
and Imperialism
 Study of issues related to Environmental
protection
 Study of issues related to Human Rights
 Study of role of Economic factors
 Study of demographic factors
 Study of problem of fundamentalism and
terrorism.

Major features of International Politics

 The features of International Politics involves

the study of contemporary issues and problems
around the world.
 International Politics basically involves the art
of preserving or securing goals of national
interests.
 It is astudy of conflict and conflict-resolution
among nations.
 Every Nations try to achieve more power and
resources. Thus they
continuously engaged in the process of
interactions. This makes international politics
acontinuing phenomenon of interactions.
 The behaviour of each state in international
relations is always directed and controlled by its
foreign policy
 Every nation actively engages in economic and
trade relations with other nations.
 An outstanding feature of the contemporary
era has been the rapid growth of international
institutions and organizations. Some of these are
truly international/universal in nature like the
United Nations, while several other are regional
organizations likeNATO, OAS, OAU, OPEC,
ASEAN, ECO, EU, SAARC and so on.
 Rise of several active non-state international
or supra-national or trans-national actors,NGOs,
Human Rights Organizations Peace Movements
and other such actors in the international
environment has necessitated the inclusion of
the study of the role ofthese actors in
international system.
 The relations among nations mostly take the
form of interactions among the foreign policies of
the nations.
 Since national interest is the objective that
each nation tries to secure during the course of
relations with other nations, it becomes
imperative for International Politics to study
national interests of various nations.
 The concept of national power is the core
concept in the study of International Politics.
Nations are actors but these always act on the
basis of their national powers.

Concept of Power in International Politics

The concept of Power is a significant theme in

every field of study. In IP, Power is one of the
most important concept. For example, Lasswell
and Kaplan explain politics is the study of the
shaping and sharing of power. Hans J
Morgenthau explain that politics is the struggle
for power. Thus, power has significant role in the
study of political science. There are several
definition about power. Robert Dahl (a famous
political scientist) define power is a capability
and control of a person over another person. For
example, there are two person- A and B. If A has
the capability to control B, it means that A
exercise power over B. For Similarly, Bertrand
Russell define power is the ability of a person to
fulfil his desire. Maclver says, power is an
ability to command service from others. D. D.
Raphael describe that power is specific kind of
ability. Through all definitions, we simply define
that power is the ability of a person to exercise
over others.This form of power may be used by
the force. For example, if husband slap his wife,
he use physical power over the wife. But, more
recently Michael Foucault (French Philosopher)
has tried to bring connection between Power and
Knowledge. He define that knowledge is power
which means knowledge is more powerful than
any type of power. For example, a doctor has
power to give any medicine when a patient came
to consult the doctor. Similarly, a teacher has
power to control his class room while teaching.
In International Politics, the state is a
central actor and each nation engaged in the
process of acquiring, maintaining, increasing
and using power. In fact, power is both the
means as well as an end in IP. Nations always
use power for securing the goals of their national
interests. Traditionally, the power of the state is
determined by geography, naturalresources,
industrial capacity, military, and population.
Some scholar like Morgenthau says that these
are elements as well as determinants of national
powers. In this, the military power is the most
important form of power in international politics,
as it serves as both a means and an end in
itself. Every nations tries to increase the strength
of military power in IP.
By considering the changing features of IP,
Joseph Nye, a neo-liberal thinker proposed
different concept about the power. He classified
power into two forms: hard and soft. In this,
hard power is measured by

a) Population size
b) Geography
c) Natural resources
d) Military force
e) Economic stability

a) Population size
Population is an essential factor in deciding
national power of the nation. Manpower
continues to be a key factor which determines
the industrial and military capacities of a nation
and its status as a power in international
relations. In this age of science, machines have
come to perform a large number of functions
which were previously being performed by men.
Yet machines have failed to completely replace
men. Even today men behind the machines
continue to be more important than the
machines. Population is a source of power. The
major powers of our times are states with fairly
large populations. Large concentration of man-
power in Asia, particularly China and India, has
been an important factor of the power structure
in international politics. Human Power resulting
from the presence of a large class of skilled
workforce has been a source for the emerging
power of India in the world.
b) Geography
Amongst the elements of National Power,
geography is the most stable, tangible,
permanent and natural element. In this, size is
very important geographical element of national
power. The large size of a country can
accommodate a large population, offer better
natural resources and raw materials, and can be
more helpful in the defense of the country. A
large size can help the country to defend by
retreat in the event of an attack. Similarly,
location of a nation can be as helping as well as
a hindering factor for its national power. It
determines whether a nation can be a sea-power
or not. England could become a big naval power
and thereby an imperial power because of its
location. The location of Japan has helped it to
be a major ship- building nation. Location of
Germany in the heart of Europe has been a
sources of strength for it.Boundary is also a
geographic factor of national power. Settled and
natural boundaries are always a source of
friendly and cooperative relations among the
nations of a region.

c) Natural Resources

Natural resources is another elements of

national power. The industrial and military
capabilities of a nation as well as its economic
well-being are dependent upon the existence of
natural resources. A self-sufficiency in certain
key resources can be a big source of powerof a
nation. The USA has been in a position to be a
super power in the world mainly due to its near
self-sufficiency in respect of several key natural
resources. No nation can be powerful without
becoming a developed industrialized nation and
the chances of becoming an industrialized nation
are basically linked with the possession of
natural resources, particularly industrial raw
materials and minerals. Natural resources, in
the form of minerals, fertile soil, flora and fauna,
through planned exploitation and use always
make a nation powerful.

d) Military

Military power is a vitally important part of

national power of a state. Military power is an
important part of national power which
contributes to its strength and effectiveness.
Military preparedness is a background factor for
the success of a foreign policy and it is a
tangible factor capable of supporting the foreign
policy and promoting national interest. It
influences the level of success of foreign policy.
The super powers and other major powers of our
times have been big military powers. By virtue of
being a major military power, India, besides
other factors, is considered to be a major power
having a potential to be a super power in the
next 20 years or so.

e) Economic stability

Economic power is a vitally important part of

national power of a nation because it is the
means for military power and the basis for
welfare, prosperity and development of its
people. A nation with developed, healthy and
growing economy alone can be a great power in
world politics. Effective economic organisation
and planning are essential qualities of a
powerful nation. Only nations with developed
economies can use the economic instruments—
aid, loan, rewards, trade, grants and denial of
rewards or punishment, for securing their
desired goals in international relations. By using
economic means a nation tries to exercise its
national power in a productive and useful way.
The level of economic well- being determines the
power of a nation.
In a similar way, Joseph Nye classify the soft
power into;

a) Culture
b) Political values
c) Foreign policies

a) Culture: Culture is the set of practices that

create meaning for a society, and it has many
manifestations.
b) Political values: Government policies at
home and abroad are another potential source of
soft power.
 c) Foreign policies: Similarly, foreign policies
strongly affect soft power. Government policies
can reinforce or diminish a country’s soft power.
Domestic or foreign policies that appear to be
hypocritical and indifferent to the opinion of
others or based on a narrow approach to
national interests can undermine soft power.

MODULE II

APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: REALISM VS.
IDEALISM, SYSTEM THEORY, GAME THEORY,
COMMUNICATION THEORY, DECISION MAKING
THEORY, INTEGRATION THEORY AND
DEPENDENCY THEORY

Approaches to the Study of International

Politics