In
this article, we shall examine the nature of the discipline of International
Studies, noting the various nomenclatures or ways in which it has been understood.
Sometimes, it has been referred to as International Relations and at other
times as International Affairs or even International diplomacy.
In this article, you should be able to:
· Explain what International Studies is
· Distinguish between International Relations
and International Studies
· Define International Relations and its
various components
· Explain the link between International
Relations and History
Definition and Nature of International Studies
There is no major dichotomy between international studies, international affairs and international diplomacy; rather it is a matter of nomenclature.
In most
universities in the developed countries, it is either of these captions and
they are usually taught in the department of Political Science or History.
International Relations is however, more prevalent in the discipline of
political science. This is the case in the developing countries.
The
same goes for the study of International Economic Relations, though fully
within the purview of the discipline of Economics, it is also taught within
Political Science or History departments.
Therefore,
such study areas or topics of International Law, foreign policy, international
trade, international economies, commonwealth studies, regional economic
integration, regional studies (Middle East), international
organization/institutions, diplomacy, war and peace, or armament or disarmament
are taught within various courses in History or Political Science departments.
The
main difference between the two disciplines is in the methodology of study.
While International Relations studies fall within the discipline of Political
Science, it is usually scientific using all scientific tools (Behaviouralism)
of analysis like hypotheses testing that usually leads to empirical theory
building, with technical analysis verification.
Scholars in history wade through its methodology of historiography, involving themselves in a systematic amount of events without resulting into any theoretical analysis or in any other scientific analysis. This also accounts for the different but similar course content that are often designed.
Furthermore,
while the historian may take a historical study of events with little analysis,
the political scientist will not just go into scientific analysis but must
first go through a historical reproduction.
This
is where we say that history cannot be forgotten and at times history repeats
itself.
History
does not repeat itself; similar events happen at different times and involve
different personalities and places. International Relations is therefore,
concerned with the study of the nature, conduct of, and influence upon,
relations among individuals or groups operating in particular areas within a
framework of the global system, and with the nature of, and the change of
factors affecting the interactions among them. International relations may also
refer to all forms of interaction between the members of separate societies,
whether government-sponsored or not.
International
relations include the analysis of foreign policies or political processes
between nations, but with its interest in all facets of relations between
distinct societies. It would include as well studies of international trade
unions, the International Red Cross, Tourism, International Trade, Transport,
communications and development of international values and ethics.
In
the final analysis, as a student of international relations, you should:
1.
Bear in mind that the challenge before them is the study of the international
systems, events and processes as well as the behaviour and capabilities of
individual “actors” or group of actors.
2.
Deal with the relations among the relatively weak and underdeveloped states;
relations among the super-powers; among states; and non-state actors and among
the allies and prospective allies.
3.
be concerned with relations between adversary states, between industrial and
non-industrial, between oil producing and oil consuming, between East and West,
between North and South, and among states within the same region as well as
between those belong to different regions.
Why Study International Relations?
These
are exciting and troubling times to study global politics. The world has
entered a period of dramatic and confusing change. Many of the institutions
that shaped and regulated our world's political life are undergoing rapid
evolution or decay, and new institutions are emerging equally quickly.
Events
such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon raise concerns about the violent nature of global politics -- even
while the globalization of the world's economy accelerates and international
cooperation to solve emerging global problems continues to increase.
We
are witnessing the sudden and still uncertain transformation of a system of
international politics that originally emerged in Europe in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries in response to the collapse of medieval order.
This
"Westphalian system" of world politics, organized around sovereign
states, evolved in the eighteenth century to cope with the rise of democracy
and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to accommodate industrialization
and the rise of nationalism.
Today,
however, another revolution appears to be in process. Armed with greater
education, with new ways of defining their identity, and with new ways of
viewing their world and empowered with new tools, like computers, the internet,
and cellular telephones, for analyzing and sharing ideas and data individuals
are finding new ways to organize and to achieve their goals.
Many
of these changes permit ordinary people to question authority and, for better
or worse, to resist hierarchical institutions that attempt to control their
behavior and impose order on political, economic, and social interaction.
Paralleling
this institutional shift is a transformation in the global agenda and in the
meaning of "security." Issues like crime, disease, human rights,
economic development, and environmental protection increasingly span national
borders and compete for international attention alongside more traditional
issues like war and peace. And competing conceptions of identity -- along
ethnic, gender, and cultural lines -- create new cleavages in global politics,
vying with those based on citizenship or national identity.
Thus
in today's world, three sets of fundamental questions about global politics has
simultaneously been reopened.
First,
questions of what "security" means and what institutions will be responsible
for providing it questions that were resolved in the seventeenth century by the
development of the "state" are again being debated.
Second,
the central political question of the eighteenth century how to create
democratic political institutions that empowers individuals and yet permits the
achievement of collective purposes is back. And third, the question of
"who we are" that is, the issue of identity which bedeviled the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, has returned with a vengeance.
Whether
the twenty-first century is an age of unprecedented human achievement or a dark
interregnum depends in no small measure on the answers we can construct to
these questions. Ultimately, of course, this is why it is so exciting to study
international relations today.
It
is not simply that change is all around us. It is that we can influence, if not
completely control, that change, and by doing so move the world down different,
hopefully better, paths.
Theoretical Background to the study of International Relations
International
Relations, as a course, provide theoretical tools and frameworks of analysis
that permit us to better understand the international system in which the
countries operate and the global political setting in which we as individuals
act.
Such
an understanding serves two immediate functions. In the first place, it enables
us to make more sense out of our Newspapers every morning, to carry out our
democratic and civic obligations more wisely, and to deal more effectively with
those aspects of our daily lives that are affected by world political,
military, and economic events.
By the end of the semester, you should be able to understand and participate intelligently in ongoing public debates about the major issues of global politics and foreign policy. You should be able to recognize and articulate why these issues arise, how they affect your life and the lives of others around the world, what the range of possible solutions looks like, what moral dilemmas are raised by these issues, and what criteria for moral judgment might be used in attempting to evaluate or resolve these dilemmas.
In the second place, this
class acts as a foundation for upper-level courses in international relations.
It does so in three ways.
First
and most obviously, it provides a background for thinking about topics like
international relations theory, strategies of international relations, defense
policy, and the causes of war, foreign policy, and international political
economy.
Second
and more broadly, it exposes you to the distinctive social scientific approach
to gaining knowledge - an approach shared not only by political scientists but
also by economists, psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists.
At
times we will be self-conscious about asking ourselves why we believe a
particular argument or theory to be true, and about how we could go about
improving our understanding of some phenomenon or pattern of behavior.
Third
and most fundamentally, this class will try to inculcate habits of critical
reading, reasoning, writing, and speaking.
The
differences between these two approaches are by no means so sharp or as
absolute as these statements would suggest. The study and practice of
International Relations require a variety of methods and techniques, as well as
a framework of theory and theories, most of which, if properly used, will draw
upon “classical”, “scientific” and many other approaches.
Although
the current emphasis is increasingly on interdisciplinary approaches, much of
international relations teaching and research is still weighted heavily in
favour of some more established discipline, notably history, political science,
law and economics, and to an increasing extent sociology, social psychology,
and cultural anthropology.
Even today many courses in the subject are hardly more than courses in political geography, human ecology, international organizations and institutions, comparative political systems, or political behaviour.
Some critics of the “new
look” in the subject complain that the most “far out” of the new courses in
international relations deal almost exclusively with such esoteric approaches
as general theory or quantitative methodology, often presented in statistical
and mathematical terms. Supplementing the general approaches is a variety of
more specific ones that give a distinctive flavour to almost every basic text
in the field.
The
study of international relations is not a science with which we solve the
problems of international life.
At
its best it is an objective and systematic approach to those problems. Students
of international relations must always strive for objectivity, balance, and
perspective.
They
must carry on their work in the face of obstacles of prejudice, ignorance,
emotionalism, and vested interest, often including their own.
Since
the world is their laboratory, and since a healthy combination of realism and
idealism must underlie their approach to the subject, they must beware of
“simple” solutions to complex problems, and they must also shun the thesis of
the “inevitability” of war, the “wave of the future” approach, and all such
encouragements to disaster.
They
must look with understanding on the world as it is, and at the same time keep
their eyes on the world as it should be; but they must never mistake the ideal
for the actual, or conclude that what “must” be will in fact occur.
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Conclusion on the Discipline of International Studies and Facts
International
relations students are therefore to learn not only about the history and events
within the international system and how to analyze them but also their
processes and the means or mode or operation as well.
There
is little difference between the use of the terms – International Affairs,
International Relations, diplomatic history and diplomacy. What basically
differs is the method of analysis, and the amount of emphasis placed on a
particular aspect of the subject.
We
have discussed the subject matter of International Affairs, its relation to
international relations, history and other humanities. International Affairs is
therefore, basically a broad and living subject of enquiry, and is best
appreciated from a multidisciplinary perspective.