CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

What Students Should Learn from This Chapter

1.1 Define the scope, aims, and key concepts of international relations as a discipline.

1.2 Identify the major actors in international relations and the main areas in which they interact.

1.3 Examine major challenges and problems the world is facing today.

1.4 Describe the methodology of international relations in analyzing information.

Outline

1) Key Concepts in International Relations

• What is international relations?

i) Principal issues related to international relations include

(1) International security (2) International law (3) International political economy ii) International relations as an interdisciplinary field of study (1) Fields include government, economics, history, sociology, cultural studies, and military studies

• Sovereignty

i) State sovereignty is a central concept in the study of international relations.

ii) A state is commonly defined as a governed entity with a settled population occupying a permanent area with recognized borders.iii) Sovereignty refers to the independent authority over a territory.iv) History of sovereignty concept (1) European states began to develop and protect sovereignty a few hundred years ago.(2) The Westphalian Peace in 1648 is key in this context. Christian kingdoms and principalities in Europe agreed that only they (and not the Roman Catholic Church) should determine the religious identity of their subjects.(3) After the nineteenth century, the most important markers of sovereignty became the ethnic identity of the people living in that territory.(4) Disputes over territorial issues have always been common causes of international

conflict. Example:

(a) Disputed territory: Alsace-Lorraine

v) Impact and consequences of state sovereignty in international relations

(1) International treaties and economic and military capacities of states support their sovereignty.(2) In Africa most state boundaries emerged as a result of colonization by Western powers within the past 200 years.(3) Some African governments are unable to control their own territory efficiently, battling numerous warlords and rebel groups that challenge state power.vi) Sovereignty and domestic politics (International Relations 3e Shiraev, Zubok) (Instructor Manual all Chapter) 1 / 4

(1) Sovereignty allows the state to claim that everything taking place inside its borders belongs to its internal affairs, and no outside authority may interfere in the state’s activities.(2) For centuries, sovereign states were expected to have armies, print their own money, and issue laws.(3) This expectation is no longer accurate. States themselves can limit their own sovereignty and delegate authority to international organizations or to international treaties.(4) Other states or international organizations can interfere if a state, for instance, grossly violates the rights of its citizens (See the example of the United States and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s).

• Nations and states

i) The terms state, country, and nation are often used interchangeably.

ii) In most cases, however, we prefer to speak about states, because the term nation has

several meanings:

(1) A nation can be thought of as a legal term or as a collective identity (see, for instance, homogeneous versus heterogeneous nations, such as Finland and France) (2) Nations can also be “invented” or constructed even before they acquire a physical space and gain sovereignty over it.(3) Separatism is the advocacy of or attempts to establish a separate nation within another sovereign state. States almost always reject national separatism (see, for instance, Kurdish people).

• Globalization and Anti-Globalization

i) Two opposing tendencies are present in today’s international developments:

(1) Globalization refers to the growing irrelevance of state borders, the importance of international exchanges of good and ideas, and increased openness to innovation.(2) Antiglobalization is a complex international, political, and cultural movement that sees globalization as aggravating old problems and creating new ones.2) Key Actors in International Relations

• State government and foreign policy

i) State governments conduct foreign policy actions that involve:

(1) Official decisions and communications that can be public or secret.(2) Other state governments, nongovernment organizations, corporations, and international institutions.ii) Diplomacy is the practice of managing international relations by means of negotiations. When formal diplomatic relations do not exist between two states,

informal channels of communication are used:

(1) Third parties (2) Special emissaries (3) Personal contacts iii) In democracies, all three branches of state government commonly participate in

foreign policy. Tasks and organization are the following:

(1) The executive branch provides a ministry or department of foreign affairs.(2) The legislative branch passes laws about the direction of foreign policy.(3) The judicial branch is involved in foreign policy: 2 / 4

(a) Courts can assess the applicability of certain international laws on the territory of the state.(b) The courts also decide on claims submitted by foreign countries, including businesses and private individuals.

• Intergovernmental organizations

i) Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) are associations of several states that are

created for a combination of strategic and political purposes, such as (1) Increase the collective responsibility of its member states (2) Keep peace (3) Pursue economic goals ii) IGOs increase global accountability of individual states and, to some degree, limit their sovereignty.iii) IGOs may suffer from corruption, incompetence, bureaucratic delays, political and ideological biases, and internal political disagreements.

• Nongovernmental organizations

i) Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are public or private interest groups. Their

goals include (1) Influencing foreign policy.(2) Raising international concerns about a domestic problem or domestic concerns about a global issue.(3) Offering help in the solution of these problems.ii) NGOs support, for instance, environmental protection, relief programs in poor regions, distribution of medication, and educational services.iii) Reasons for the increase in NGOs in recent decades (1) Global spread of democratic forms of government (2) Globalization and the growing complexity of international problems (3) New communication and information technology.3) Facing Global Challenges

• Violence and war

i) Internal as well as international conflict and violence are major sources of instability.

ii) Violent conflicts disrupt international trade, damage the environment, and require substantial human and material resources.iii) Conflict categories and trends that threaten stability today (1) Military dictatorships conducting brutal policies against their own population (2) Small radical groups not affiliated with any state iv) There is no single or simple policy to prevent violent conflicts or to end them quickly.

Different views exist:

(1) Countries should preserve stability by force.(2) The international community should act to reduce poverty and address injustice.(3) Conflicts and tensions are inevitable and will remain a lingering problem for international relations.

• Weapons of mass destruction

i) Nuclear, chemical, biological

ii) The fate of our planet rests in the hands of a few individuals with access to nuclear arsenals. 3 / 4

iii) Nuclear proliferation is alarming because it increases the chances of accidental use of nuclear weapons or a nuclear stand-off.iv) Disarmament as a solution

• Environmental problems

i) Human activities such as industrial development, the rapid growth of urban areas, and

increased consumption threaten human health and well-being.ii) Two broad categories of environmental problems (1) Contamination (2) Depletion iii) Many governments have implemented programs to reduce pollution and conserve resources.iv) Government regulations, scientists, public opinion, NGOs, and international institutions are all important in persuading governments.

• Poverty

i) Famine: Food supplies cannot keep up with a growing population (see Malthusian

catastrophe).ii) Despite the 1950s and 1960s green revolution, nearly 800 million people today live on less than $1.90 per day.iii) Preventable infectious diseases continue to kill hundreds of thousands of children every year.iv) Free-market principles to alleviate poverty are only successful in some developing countries.

• Human rights

i) Many governments are failing to protect their citizens from systematic violence,

unlawful seizure of property, and physical abuse.ii) Billions of people still lack access to justice, fair hearing of grievances, licensed lawyers, or binding contracts enforced by transparent courts.

• Overpopulation and migration

i) Population growth raises significant challenges.

ii) Paradox (1) Overpopulation threatens the minimum conditions to sustain a reasonable quality of life.(2) Many affluent countries are experiencing an actual decline in population.

• A path to peace and economic improvement

i) The case of Czechoslovakia is a peaceful example of secessionism

ii) China’s growth to the world’s biggest economy 4) Studying International Relations

• Gathering information

i) Government and nongovernment reports

(1) Governments and NGOs release periodic publications about the economy, defense, commerce, tourism, employment, education, and other developments.

(2) To judge their accuracy, we must consider three factors:

(a) The self-interest of the organization publishing a report (b) The professional prestige of the institution providing a report (c) Competition from other sources of information, which leads to higher-quality reports

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