INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1.-What topics does the study of International Relations (IR) cover? 2.- Which situations lead to the complexity of IR in the 21st century? 3.- Why is the study of IR important in today’s world?

Whatch the following video and with your own words try to make a definition of International Relations

International Relations

International Relations

With few exceptions, each state has a capital city—the seat of government from which it administers its territory— and often a single individual who acts in the name of the state. We will refer to this person simply as the “state leader.” Often he or she is the head of government (such as a prime minister) or the head of state (such as a president, or a king or queen).

All or part of the population that shares a group identity may consider itself a nation. The state’s government is a democracy to the extent that the government is controlled by the members of the population.

A state is a territorial entity controlled by a government and inhabited by a population . A state government answers to no higher authority; it exercises sovereignty over its territory—to make and enforce laws, to collect taxes, and so forth. This sovereignty is recognized (acknowledged) by other states through diplomatic relations and usually by membership in the United Nations (UN)

The state actor includes the individual leader as well as bureaucratic organizations such as foreign ministries that act in the name of the state.

The most powerful political figure is the one we mean by “state leader,” and these figures are the key individual actors in IR, regardless of whether these leaders are democratically elected or dictators

State Actor

State Leader

The modern international system has existed for only 500 years. Before then, people were organized into more mixed and overlapping political units such as city-states, empires, and feudal fiefs. In the past 200 years the idea has spread that nations —groups of people who share a sense of national identity, usually including a language and culture— should have their own states. Most large states today are such nation-states . But since World War II, the decolonization process in much of Asia and Africa has added many new states, some not at all nation-states. A major source of conflict and war at present is the frequent mismatch between perceived nations and actual state borders. When people identify with a nationality that their state government does not represent, they may fight to form their own state and thus to gain sovereignty over their territory and affairs.

The international system is the set of relationships among the world’s states, structured according to certain rules and patterns of interaction. Some such rules are explicit, some implicit. They include who is considered a member of the system, what rights and responsibilities the members have, and what kinds of actions and responses normally occur between states.

The UN had 193 members in 2013. The population of the world’s states varies dramatically, from China and India with more than 1 billion people each, to microstates such as San Marino with 32,000.

States also differ tremendously in the size of their total annual economic activity— Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The world economy is dominated by a few states, just as world population is.

This lists the 15 largest countries by population and by economy. Each is an important actor in world affairs, especially the nine in the center that are largest in both population and economy. A few of these large states possess especially great military and economic strength and influence, and are called great powers. The most powerful of great powers, those with truly global influence, have been called superpowers. This term generally meant the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and now refers to the United States alone. Some other political entities are often referred to as states or countries although they are not formally recognized as states.

State Actors and Non State Actors

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Are companies that span multiple countries. The interests of a large company doing business globally do not correspond with any one state’s interests. MNCs often control greater resources, and operate internationally with greater efficiency, than many small states.

NGOs are being recognized, in the UN and other forums, as legitimate actors along with states, though not equal to them. Some of these groups have a political purpose, some a humanitarian one, some an economic or technical one.

Are private organizations, some of considerable size and resources.

Organizations whose members are national governments. IGOs fulfill a variety of functions and vary in size from just a few states to virtually the whole UN membership. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), military alliances such as NATO, and political groupings such as the African Union (AU) are all IGOs.

MNCs

NGOs

IGOs

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NONSTATE ACTORS

• The individual level of analysis concerns the perceptions, choices, and actions of individual human beings. Great leaders influence the course of history, as do individual citizens, thinkers, soldiers, and voters.

• The domestic (or state or societal ) level of analysis concerns the aggregations of individuals within states that influence state actions in the international arena. Such aggregations include interest groups, political organizations, and government agencies.

• The interstate (or international or systemic ) level of analysis concerns the influence of the international system upon outcomes. This level of analysis therefore focuses on the interactions of states themselves, without regard to their internal makeup or the particular individuals who lead them. This level pays attention to states’ relative power positions in the international system and the interactions (trade, for example) among them. It has been traditionally the most important of the levels of analysis.

• To these three levels can be added a fourth, the global level of analysis, which seeks to explain international outcomes in terms of global trends and forces that transcend the interactions of states themselves. The evolution of human technology, of certain worldwide beliefs, and of humans’ relationship to the natural environment are all processes at the global level that reach down to influence international relations.

A level of analysis is a perspective on IR based on a set of similar actors or processes that suggests possible explanations to “why” questions.

Levels of Analysis

Levels of Analysis

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