MEKDELA AMBA UNIVERSITY

FRESHMAN COORDINATION
FRESHMAN COORDINATION TEACHING
MODULE

COURSE TITLE: GLOBAL TRENDS

COURSE CODE: GlTr 312

May, 2016 E.C.

TULU AWULIA, ETHIOPIA
01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 1
 CHAPTER ONE
UNDERSTANDING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1.1. Conceptualizing Nationalism, Nations and States
Nation
 Nations are historical entities that evolve organically out of more similar ethnic communities
and they reveal themselves in myths, legends, and songs (Heywood, 2014).
 Constitutes a community of people joined by a shared identity and by common social practices.
Nationalism:
 Is the doctrine that asserts the nation as the basic political unit in organizing society.
 The nation should take over the state and make use of its institutional structures to further the
nation’s ends.
 Is the most influential force in international affairs.
- caused the outbreak of revolutions and wars across the globe.
- noted as a factor for the collapse of age old empires,
- marker for new borders,
- a powerful component for the emergence of new states
- used to reshape and reinforce regimes in history.
 Its triumph is the coming of the nation-state as key actors in world politics-accepted as
ultimate, legitimate and the most basic
01/05/2025 formAFFAIRS/TRENDS
GLOBAL of political entity. 2
 The nation added an interior life to the state, a soul to the early modern state machinery.
 The revolutions that took place in Britain’s North American colonies in 1776, and in France
in 1789, provided models for other nationalists to follow.
 The Congress of Vienna of 1815, where a settlement was reached at the end of the
Napoleonic Wars, was supposed to have returned Europe to its pre-revolutionary ways.
 Yet, nationalist sentiments were growing across the continent and they constantly
threatened to undermine the settlement especially since 1848.
 All over Europe national communities demanded to be included into the politics of their
respective countries. Example:1,The Finns wanted an independent Finland;
2, The Bulgarians an independent Bulgaria;
3, The Serbs an independent Serbia, and so on.
 Nationalism in the first part of the nineteenth century was a liberal sentiment concerning
self-determination – the right of a people to determine its own fate. Implications:
1,Self-determination undermined the pol.l legitimacy of Europe’s empires.
2,The map of Europe would have to be radically redrawn.
 Yet it was only with the conclusion of the First World War in 1918 that self-determination
was acknowledged as a right.
 After the First World War most people in Europe formed their own nation-states.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 3

As a result of the nationalist revolutions, the European international
system became for the first time truly ‘inter-national’ coined in
1783, by the British philosopher J. Bentham.
Westphalian system concerned relations between states, 19th C
between nation-states.
In most respects, the inter-national system continued to operate in
much the same fashion as the Westphalian inter-state system.
Nation-states claimed the same right to sovereignty which meant
that they were formally equal to each other.
However, there is also an emerging narrative which advances the
idea that a revival of nationalism is happening across the world with
the post-cold war assertions of religion, culture and ethnicity as
potent forces in world politics.
– Hence we have S.P. Huntington’s ‘clash of civilizations’ as an alternative to
Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ thesis on world politics.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 4

1.2. Understanding International Relations
 Why do we study International Relations?
 We study international relations because of the following reasons.
 Following the carnage of the WWI there emerged an academic undertaking to understand how
the fear of war was now equal only to the fear of defeat that had preceded the WWI.
- Subsequently, the first university chair of international relations was founded at the
University of Wales in 1919.
 IR is not merely a field of study at university but it is an integral aspect of our everyday lives
(increasingly international) .
- Because we now live in a world where it is impossible to isolate our experiences and
transactions from an international dimension.
- Our lives profoundly influenced by events, and the responses of states and people are
essential, increase our understanding of such events is essential too.
- Events are no more personal & private, and of no particular international concern (complex).
- If not its absence will continue to impact our life is tremendous.
 Studying IR enables students and professionals to better comprehend the information we receive
daily from newspapers, television and radio.
 As members of this world community, people have to be equally aware of both their rights and
their responsibilities.
 People should be capable of engaging in important debates concerning the major issues facing
01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 5
the modern international community.
 The world in which we live is interconnected– geographically, intellectually and socially – and
thus we need to understand it…globalization. Not only this,
 Today, IRs could be used to describe a range of interactions between people, groups, firms,
associations, parties, nations or states or between these and NGOs.
 Participation in international relations or politics is also inescapable.
- No individual or state can exist in splendid isolation or be master of its own fate.
- None, no matter how powerful in military, diplomatic or economic circles, even a giant
superpower, can compel everyone to do its bidding.
- None can maintain or enhance their rate of social or economic progress or keep people
alive without the contributions of foreigners or foreign states.
- Every people, nation or state is a minority in a world that is anarchic, that is, there is an
absence of a common sovereign over them.
- No matter how large or small, every state or nation in the world must take account of
‘foreigners’.
 Matters that are purely domestic and of no great relevance internationally can feature very
prominently on the international political agenda, and that can lead to foreign policy changes
and commitments.
 Helps each one of us to understand events and perhaps to make a difference.
 Presence of interest to understand world events beyond a journalistic notion.
01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 6
 To analyze/ examine the why, where, what and when of current events.
  Presence of differences between domestic and international politics.

Domestic International
 Generally obeyed, and if not, the police  Rests on competing legal systems, and
and courts enforce sanctions. there is no common enforcement.
 A government has a monopoly on the  No one has a monopoly of force, and
legitimate use of force. interpreted as the realm of self-help.
 People share the same loyalties.  Divided peoples do not share the same
 People almost agree about what seems loyalties.
just and legitimate; order and justice.  People disagree about what seems just
 According to ‘realist’ perspective, and legitimate; order and justice.
hierarchical  It is also accepted that some states are
stronger than others.
 According to ‘realist’ perspective,
anarchical

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 7

 Studying IRs provides the necessary tools to analyze events, and to gain a deeper
comprehension of some of the problems that policy-makers confront and to understand
the reasoning behind their actions.
 Using physical force to resolve every disagreement would result in an intolerable
existence for the world’s population in which society would not prosper and every human
being would be suspicious of every other human. So,
- International politics is needed --- the delicate adjustment of power to power.
- Come up with a way of resolving differences specially by using non-violent options.
 Multiplication of independent states: expands IR continually.
 The coming of international organizations.
- In 1800 there were no international organizations.
- When the United Nations Charter was signed in October 1945, 51 states signed it.
- In the first decade of 21st the UN grew between 189 and 192 member states.
- Now there is one for almost every activity– both governmental and non-governmental.
- There has also been the continuing growth of governmental and international services.
- Increased orgal demands in terms of meeting the ordinary everyday needs of citizens.
 Interdependence is needed.
- People, businesses & Os rely on each other in d/t places for ideas, goods & services.
01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 8
 Philosophical disputes about the fundamental nature of international
relations/human nature.
Hobbesian/Realist Lockean/Idealist
 The state of society: continual fear,  Sociability is the strongest bond
and danger of violent death. between men.
 The life of man: solitary, poor, nasty,  Men were equal, sociable and free,
brutish, and short. but they were not licentious because
 Pessimistic. they were governed by the laws of
nature.
 Nature not arm man against man,
and that some degree of society was
possible even in the state preceding
government.
 Optimistic.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 9

 Generally, IRs & politics are necessary for all states, but political power is not
centralized, & unequal. That is why power, coercion & bargaining still hold sway.
1.3. The Nature and Evolution of International Relations
The rise of the sovereign state in medieval Europe consisted of a
complicated pattern of overlapping jurisdictions and loyalties.
Most of life was local and most political power was local too.
At the local level there was an enormous diversity of political entities:
1, Feudal lords who ruled their respective estates much as they saw fit,
2, Cities made up of independent merchants,
3, States ruled by clerics and
4, Smaller political entities such as principalities and duchies.
In medieval Europe there were two institutions with pretensions to
power over the continent as a whole.
1, The (Catholic) Church
- The Church was the spiritual authority, with its center in Rome.
- Its influence spread far and penetrated deeply into people’s lives.
- Occupied a crucial role in cultural & intellectual life of Middle Ages.
01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 10
 2, The Empire
- Known as the Holy Roman Empire.
- Established in the 10th c in central, predominantly German-speaking, Europe.
- Included parts of Italy, France and today’s Netherlands and Belgium.
- Best compared to a loosely structured federations of separate political units.
 The political system of medieval Europe: a curious combination of local & universal.
 14thc onwards this greatly simplified: state emerged as a pol.l entity b/n local &
universal.
 States set themselves in opposition - to popes & emperors on the universal level, and
- to feudal lords, peasants & assorted other rulers on the local level.
 This is how the state came to make itself independent and self-governing.
1, Process started in Italy northern city-states: Florence, Venice, Ravenna & Milan
began playing pope against emperor, eventually making themselves independent of
both.
2, In Germany, pope struggled emperor over issue of who have right to appoint bishops.
Constituent members of Empire took opportunity to assert their independence.
3, Kings of France & England began acting more independently, defying pope’s orders.
4, B/n 1309 & 1377, French forced pope to move to Avignon, in southern France.11
 In reformation in 16thc, unified Europe notion broke down - Church split apart.
1, Luther & Calvin followers formed denominations didn’t take Rome’s orders.
2, Instead new churches aligned themselves with the new states.
3, Various kings took advantage of religious strife for further their pol.l agendas.
4, All over northern Europe, Protestant - churches became state-run &
- church lands became property of the state.
States were not only picking fights with universal institutions but local ones.
 Kings rejected the traditional claims of all local authorities.
This led to extended wars in next to all European countries.
- Peasants rose up protest against taxes and the burdens imposed by repeated wars.
- There were massive peasant revolts in Germany in the 1520s.
- Latter 16thc, major peasant uprisings: Sweden, Croatia, England & Switzerland.
- In France, middle of 17th c, nobility rose up - in defense of traditional rights &
- in rebellion against the encroachments of the king.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 12

From 16thc onwards states established an administrative system and raised armies,
- In order to fight their own peasants and
- In order to defend themselves against other states.
Because state-building was expensive, search for money was a constant concern.
- Early modern state: institutional machinery to develop & extract resources.
1, In return for taxes, state provided defense & system of justice.
2, If refusal to pay, state officials had various unpleasant ways.
In early modern Europe no longer competing claims of local & universal
authorities but, competing claims of other states.
The Thirty Years’ War, 1618–1648, bloodiest & protracted military confrontation
of the era. As a result of the war:
- Germany’s population was reduced by around a third.
- The Swedish troops destroyed.
- Many of the people who did not die on the battlefield died of the plague.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 13

Thirty Years’ War often called a religious conflict: Catholic states confronted
Protestants.
- Protestant & Catholic countries sometimes fought on the same side &
- Religious dogma was clearly not the first thing on the minds of the combatants.
- Which state should have hegemony (dominance) over Europe.
- Which state would take over universal institutions of the Middle Ages.
- In the end no dominant power emerged.
The Treaty of Westphalia, 1648,
- Which concluded 30 years of warfare,
- Symbolize new way of organizing int.l politics.
Agreed points of Westphalia treaty:
1, Int.l politics was a matter of relations b/n states & no other political units.
2, All states were sovereign, - exclusive right to rule their territories &
- act in relation to other states.
3, All states were formally equal & had same rights & obligations.
4, States interacted with each other in a system no overarching power.
5, But,01/05/2025
sovereignty & formal equality led AFFAIRS/TRENDS
GLOBAL to the problem of anarchy. 14
States relations had become vastly more complicated.
To avoid misunderstandings & conflicts, rulers began dispatching ambassadors.
This diplomatic network provided a means of:
- Gathering information/ spying,
- Way of keeping in touch with one another,
- Carrying out negotiations & concluding deals.
Diplomacy expanded to include a number of mutually advantageous provisions:
- The embassies were given extraterritorial rights & legal immunity,
- Diplomatic dispatches were regarded as inviolable &
- Ambassadors had the right to worship the god of their choice.
North Italian practices expanded to states & by middle of 17 th c it included France,
Spain, Austria, England, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Sweden & Ottoman Empire.
Diplomatic practices were never powerful enough to prevent war, wars continued
to be common, Europeans provided with a sense of a common identity.
European state: state participated in the system of shared diplomatic practices.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 15

What happened in Europe before 19th c was great concern to them but others.
Europe certainly had a significant impact on Americas, North & South. It had far
less impact on Asia & r/n with Africa were largely restricted to a few trading ports.
But through time, it was European model of statehood & European way of
organizing int.l relations that eventually came to organize all of world politics.
 In 19thc, relations b/n Europe & rest of world were irrevocably transformed.
The reason is eco.c changes taking place in Europe.
At the end of the 18thc, new ways of manufacturing goods were invented which
made use of machines powered by steam, and later by electricity, which made it
possible to engage in large-scale factory production.
As a result of this so called ‘industrial revolution’, the Europeans could produce
many more things and do it far more efficiently.
As cheap, mass-produced goods flooded European markets, the Europeans began
looking for new markets overseas.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 16

Towards end of 19thc, European countries joined scramble for colonies, Africa.
- Colonial possessions became a symbol of ‘great power’, &
- New European nation-states proved themselves to be very aggressive colonizers.
- France added West Africa & Indochina to its growing empire, and
- Germans & Italians also joined the race once their respective countries were unified.
- By time of WWI in 1914, most parts of world were in European hands.
- China, Japan, Siam, Persia, Ethiopia & Nepal were exceptions.
- Even in these ostensibly independent countries Europeans had a strong presence.
A colonized country is the very opposite of a sovereign state,
Colonized peoples had no nation-states & enjoyed no self-determination.
 European state & way of organizing IRs not directly spread to world by
colonization.
Rather by liberating themselves from colonizers & European models were copied.
B/c Europeans only would grant sovereignty to states that were similar to theirs, the
only way to become independent was to become independent on their terms.
Create Europe-like states was the project - all non-European pol.l leaders engaged.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 17

Once they finally made themselves independent in the decades after WWII, as an
int.l climate of decolonization took hold, all new states had a familiar form.
They had
- Their respective territories & fortified borders.
- Their own capitals, armies, foreign ministries, flags, national anthems &
- All other paraphernalia of European statehood.

Problems
Whether there were alternatives of non-European ways of organizing a state & its
foreign relations was never discussed.
Whether it made sense for the newly independent states to try to live up to
European ideals was never discussed either.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 18

1.4. Actors in International Relations
1.4.1. State Actors
IRs traditionally focused on interactions b/n states.
According to the latest count no fewer than 195 states.
States are very d/t, but they are also similar in:
- All states are located somewhere.
- They have a territorial extension.
- There is no piece of land that is not claimed by any state except Antarctica.
- There is no piece of land belongs to more than one state except some disputed.
- All states have capitals, armies, foreign ministries, flags & national anthems.
- All states call themselves sovereign (internal) – self administration.
- External sovereignty: declaring war, concluding a peace, negotiating a treaty…
- State sovereignty comes to be the defining element in the study of IRs .
- We can discuss IP on which states are leading actors.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 19

1.4.2. Non-State Actors
IRs traditionally focused on interactions b/n states.
But, include r/ships b/n all sorts of pol.l entities: IOs, MNC, societies & citizens.
IR captures themes: security, dialogue & conflict b/n visions, beliefs & ideologies,
env’t, space, global economy, poverty & climate change.
The sheer number of actors & issues that are relevant to IR can be overwhelming.
Our everyday lived experience is influenced by global firms, IGI, NGOs.
MNCs – headquarters in one state & operational in others – contribute to IRs.
 TGOs: r/ns b/n players are not controlled by the central FP of state.
Contrary to narrow traditionalist realist view of IRs & FP, which focuses on
physical security, one needs to look wider.
The traditional conception of state has lost a lot of its meaning & importance.
- State borders do not seem to accurately delimitate global affairs.
- Majority of global interactions – global finance, production, education, travel,
migration, terrorism – no longer occur via state channels.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 20

Increased focus on non-state actors & cross-border issues has marked a
revolutionary turn in IR; a shift from inter-national (between-states) to trans-
national (across states).
IRs is not suitable, should refer the discipline as ‘Global Studies’ or ‘World Politics’.
Interaction across borders relativize meaning of space & territory.
- International commercial aviation,
- Rapid spread of information technologies,
- People’s ability to store, transfer & distribute large amount of information,
- Possibility of data to travel across the world in virtually no time, social media.
- The increasing availability of high-speed internet, minimized cost.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 21

 1.5. Levels of Analysis in IRs
 Early IR/1919 until after WWII/ traditional/conventional IR was not concerned
with any potential distinctions b/n d/t levels of analysis.
- Scholars would simply focusing upon the total system & abandon the levels.
- General sluggishness to study from d/t & distinctive perspectives.
 Why we need levels of analysis?
- Prevent us from indulging in analytical ‘cherry-picking’/
- Randomly gathering of evidence across different levels.
- Our search for evidence will need to be comprehensive.
- We have to look at a different set of data/ material for each additional aspect.
- Each would contribute to an overall explanation to an issue.
 B/c of this from 1950s onwards, more IR scholars focused on analysis clearly.
 Kenneth Waltz Man, introduced an analytical framework for the study of IR that
distinguished b/n different ‘images’ of an issue: individual, state & IS.
 A single int.l pol.l phenomenon can be analyzed at d/t levels.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 22

1.5.1. The individual level
 IRs can be analyzed from perspective of individuals.
 Look at behaviors, motivations, beliefs & orientation of individual.
 We can look actions of individuals:
- Psychology & emotions behind people’s actions & decisions,
- Their fears & visions as well as
- Their access to information & capacity to make a difference.
 Particular actions of specific personalities– politicians, diplomats, bankers – lead
us drawing d/t conclusions about causes& consequences a phenomenon.
1.5.2. The group level
 Try to break analysis down into certain kinds of groups:
1, Relate to the state level.
- The role of lobbying groups: influence national DM on an issue.
- All voters of a country: express their views in certain agendas.
2, Position themselves with the global dimension.
- Advocate global financial crisis as the ‘misrule of experts’.
01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 23
- Influence the global debate about winners & losers of globn & capitalism.
1.5.3. The state level
The dominant/central unit of analysis.
Point of reference for other types of actors/individual.
B/c state officials, politicians & decision-makers operate.
Main location of power within the int.l sphere.
Much of int.l affairs run via state channels.
A lot of today’s political life managed in the state framework.
 Primary actor in major IOs such as the United Nations.
Has exclusive legitimate right to use physical force.
Matter what happens in the world & why.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 24

A state level analysis might be interested to look at:
1. How states interact with each other to deal with their FP.
2. How they build suggestions & react to int. dev’ts & trends.
3. How they cooperate in the framework of IOs.
4. How we look at them as competitors & antagonists.
A state-level study would also require careful consideration of:
1, What kinds of states we are looking at
- Their geographical position,
- Their historical ties & experiences &
- Their economic standing.
2, It would likely also look at FP of states,
- Approach & practice of interacting with other states.
- The policies proposed & decided by gov’ts.
- Statements of top-level politicians
- The role & behavior of diplomats.
01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 25
1.5.4. The system level
 Structure that states cooperate, compete & confront each other over issues of NI.
 A level above the state. Important in context of distribution of power among states.
 Global circumstances condition ability & opportunity of individual & groups of states
to pursue their interests in cooperative/ competitive ways.
 IS can be conceived of as made up of states, groups of states, organizations,
societies or individuals within & across those societies.
 IS is anarchic - lacks central gov’t/int.l sovereign that regulates & controls what
happens to states in their dealings with each other.
 Its study considers global linkages that go beyond single interactions b/n states.
- Balance of power b/n states & how that determines what happens in global politics.

- Dev’ts outside control of state: global economy, transnational terrorism, internet.

 In general, a global level:
- Give us the big picture.
- Help us to grasp wide ranging dynamics.
- Emerge from the global eco.c system.
- 01/05/2025
Affect various components, states, national economies, societies, & individuals.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 26
 1.6. The Structure of IS
o Political power is usually distributed into three main types of systems.
(i) Uni-polar system:
- There is one state with the greatest pol.l, eco.c, cultural & military power.
- That state has ability to totally control other states. USA after cold war - now
(ii) Bipolar system:
- There are two dominant states (super powers).
- Less powerful states join either sides through alliance & counter alliance formations.
- No one single state with a preponderant power & ability to control other states.
- The states in such systems are forced to balance each other’s power.
- Vulnerable for zero-sum game politics. Cold war
(iii) Multipolar system:
- The most common throughout history.
- Reflects various equally powerful states competing for power.
- No one single state with a preponderant power & ability to control other states.
- The states in such systems are forced to balance each other’s power.
- It is not necessary for states to change their r/ship with zero-sum game.
- It is possible
01/05/2025
to bring change without gaining or losing power. WWI
GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 27
Power
o Power is the currency of international politics.
o As money is for economics, power is for IRs (politics).
o Determines relative influence of actors & shapes structure of IS.
o IRs is about actors’ power relations in the supra-national domain.
o IP, like all other politics, is a struggle for power (Hans Morgenthau).
o Power is the blood line of IRs.
o Defined in terms of both relations & material (capability) aspects.
o Dahl’s defn: ‘A’s ability to get ‘B’ to do something.
Anarchy
o Anarchy: absence of authority/gov’t in national/ int.l level.
o Anarchy: breakdown of law & order - national.
o Anarchy: power is decentralized & no shared institutions to enforce common rules – int.l.
o An anarchical world: everyone looks after themselves & no one looks after the system as a
whole.
o States rely on their own resources/ form alliances to balance power of another alliance.
o Power balances were precarious, easily subverted.
o New01/05/2025
IS was characterized by constant tensions
GLOBAL & threats/actual of war.
AFFAIRS/TRENDS 28
Sovereignty
o An expression of:
(i) State’s ultimate authority within its territory - internal sovereignty.
(ii) State’s involvement in int.l community - external sovereignty.
o In short, sovereignty denotes double claim of states from IS.
- Autonomy in foreign policy and
- Independence/freedom in its domestic affairs.
1.7. Theories of IRs
 They allow us to understand the world through various lenses.
1.7.1. Idealism/Liberalism
 Liberalism in IR was referred to as a ‘utopian’ theory.
 Human beings are innately good.
 Peace & harmony b/n nations is not only achievable, but desirable.
 States shared liberal values should’ve no reason for going to war
against one another(I.K).
 Liberal states are ruled by GLOBAL
01/05/2025 theirAFFAIRS/TRENDS
citizens & citizens rarely disposed
29 to
 Democracies do not go to war with each other.
 Permanent cessation of war is an attainable goal.
 Concern: conditions & devastations of WWI should not be allowed to
occur again. LoN
 Underlying assumption: academic study of IR has the potential to
contribute to prevent war & establish peace.
 Liberal internationalism through:
-Democracy over aristocracy,
-Free trade over autarky, and
-Collective security(replace antagonistic) over the balance of power.
 Basic foundations for the liberal internationalism:
- Democratic governance and
- Institutionalized law(social contract)
- Governed relations of cooperation b/n states.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 30

 IL: body of customary & conventional, binding on civilized states
interactions & regulate the behaviors of individuals within states.
1, Provide mechanisms for cross-border interactions
(operating system),
2, Shape the values & goals these interactions are pursuing
( normative system).
 Organizations are valuable in assisting states in formulating decisions
& helping to formalize cooperation that leads to peaceful outcomes.
 Liberals share an optimistic view of IR, believing that world order can
be improved, with peace & progress gradually replacing war.
 Generally, liberalism depicts optimism by arguing that:
- human beings are good,
- cooperation is possible &
- conflict can be resolved peacefully.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 31

1.7.2. Realism
 Reflects the ‘reality’ of the world, consistent with the facts.
 locates its roots further back, citing Thucydides, Machiavelli & Hobbes
as its founding voices.
 Do not typically believe that human beings are inherently good, or
have the potential for good.
 People are selfish & behave according to their own needs without
necessarily taking into account the needs of others.
 Gained momentum because of the failure of Liberalism:
- League collapsed,
- Outbreak of WWII in 1939.
 The subject matter of IRs transformed to an intellectual agenda which
placed power & self-interest at the forefront of concern.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 32

 International politics, like all politics, is a struggle for power (Morgenthau).
 Interactions b/n states governed by the relentless pursuit of power.
 Politics is primarily about domination as opposed to cooperation b/n
states.
 The formative assumptions of realism: IS is ‘anarchic’,
- devoid of an all-encompassing authority
- inter-national law non-binding and
- ultimately ineffectual in the regulation of r/ns b/n states.
- disorder & fear rules IRs.
 Conflict is
- an inevitable/unavoidable & continual feature of IRs,
- war is more common than peace,
- periods of peace are times of preparation for future conflict,
- a more pessimistic view.
 By 1950s & 1960s we had seen a discipline dominated by realist
conceptions
01/05/2025 of IRs. GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 33
 Both realism & liberalism have been updated to more modern
versions (neoliberalism & neorealism) that represent a shift in
emphasis from their traditional roots.
 B/c many scholars have begun to reject these theories over the past
several decades b/c of their obsession with state & status quo.
 Both liberalism & realism consider the state to be the dominant actor
in IR/possessing ultimate power,
- The capacity to enforce decisions, such as
- declaring war on another nation, or conversely
- treaties that may bind states to certain agreements.
 Believe states partake in IOs only when it is in their self-interest.
 Realism depicts pessimism by arguing that human beings are bad,
conflict is inevitable & war is the most prominent instrument of
resolving conflict.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 34

1.7.3. Structuralism/Marxism
 Argues a capitalist society is divided into two contradictory classes:
- The business class (bourgeoisie)&
- The working class (proletariat).
 Proletariats are at the mercy of bourgeoisie who control their wages
& standard of living.
 Marx hoped for an eventual end to class society & overthrow of
bourgeoisie by proletariat.
 This third perspective/ paradigm which
- Emerged as a critique of both realism & pluralism
- Concentrated on the inequalities that exist within the IS,
- Inequalities of wealth b/n rich ‘North’/ ‘1st World’ &
poor ‘South’/ ‘3rd World’.
- Center–periphery relations.
GLOBAL
01/05/2025 35
AFFAIRS/TRENDS
 Structural paradigm inspired by Marx & Lenin, focused on:
- dependency,
- exploitation,
- int.l division of labor
- extremes of poverty,
- complicities of elite groups within these societies.
 Most states were not free. Instead they were subjugated by the
political, ideological & social consequences of economic forces.
 Imperialism imposed unequal exchange of every kind upon 3rd World.
 The basis of the inequality was the capitalist structure of IS:
- accrued benefits to some.
- caused the impoverishment of the vast majority of others:
inequality, the debt burden, violence & instability.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 36

1.7.4. Constructivism
 Highlight the importance of values & shared interests b/n individuals
who interact on the global stage.
 R/ship b/n agents (individuals) & structures (states) as one in which
structures not only constrain agents but also construct their
identities & interests (Alexander Wendt).
 The essence of IRs exists in the interactions b/n people.
 States don’t interact; agents of those states, such as politicians &
diplomats, who interact.
 To understand constructivism is to understand ideas/norms as they
are often called, have power.
 IR is a never-ending journey of change chronicling accumulation of
accepted norms of the past & emerging norms of future.

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 37

1.7.5. Critical Theories
 Critical theorists oppose commonly held assumptions in IR.
 Call for new approaches: better to understand & question the world.
 Identify positions that have typically been ignored/overlooked in IR.
 Provide voice to individuals: marginalized: women & G. South.
 Marxist: any int.l body, including the UNs, works to
promote the interests of the business class.
- UN is not an organization that offers any hope of real
emancipation for citizens.
- Legitimizes perpetual state-led exploitation.
 Critical theorists on Marxist:
- Ordinary people around the globe becoming divided & alienated,
- Recognizing what they all have commonly as a global proletariat.
- Legitimacy of the state must be questioned & ultimately dissolved.
- Emancipation
01/05/2025 of the proletariat is necessary.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 38
 Orientalist critique, Middle East & Asia were inaccurately depicted in
the west (Edward Said).
- So, including the viewpoints of the Global South.
- Understanding the political and social challenges.
- Acknowledging of how their issues could be better addressed.
 Realists: IOs are successful when they are working in the interests of
powerful states.
- LNs was unsuccessful – failing to allow for Germany and Japan.
 Liberals: without the UNs, IRs would likely be even more chaotic.
 Constructivist: US ignored the UNs and invaded Iraq,
- It violated the standard practices of IRs.
- The US disregarded a ‘norm’.
- Its behavior was irregular & so wouldn’t be without consequence.
- US faced in its IRs following 2003 gives considerable weight.
01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 39
 Post-colonialism: inequality between nations or regions.
- Politics is not limited to one area or region:
- vital to include the voices of individuals from other
parts of the world.
 Post-colonialists: discourse perpetuated by the UNs is one based on
cultural, national or religious privilege.
- The Security Council fails to represent the current
state of the world.
- No African or Latin American permanent members.
 Post-colonialists: presence of former colonial powers in Security

Council.
- Veto proposals perpetuates indirect colonial
exploitation of the Global South.
01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 40
 THIS IS THE END OF
CHAPTER ONE.

I THANK YOU FOR

YOUR ATTENTION!!!

01/05/2025 GLOBAL AFFAIRS/TRENDS 41