INTRODUCTION TO INTE

RNATIONAL RELATIONS
Dr Alisa Ibrahim
What Does International
relations mean?
International relations
• International Relations (IR) is the interaction among cou
ntries.
• IR depends a lot on power, the ability of one country to
get another to do (or sometimes not do) something.
• The United States and sometimes Russia are two of the
major superpowers that use power to get other countrie
s to do something.
What is Power?

• Persuasion/Influence
• Capabilities
• Three Categories of Power?
– Hard Power
– Soft Power
– Sharp Power
 Hard Power
Military Capability
 Hard Power
Wealth and Resources
Hard Power
 Hard
Power:
Geography
Soft Power:
Education
Soft Power: Political Unity/Stability
Soft Power? Shanghai, China
Soft Power? Jaipur, India
 Soft
Power? Thailand

COCA
COLA

South Korea Algeria

Soft Power?
Entertainment?
Hard or Soft Power?
Hard or Soft Power?
Information
 Sharp Power
• Sharp power is the use of
manipulative diplomatic policies by
one country to influence and
undermine the political system of a
target country.
• Sharp power can include attempts by
one country to manipulate and
manage information about itself in
the news media and educational
systems of another country,
• Purpose is misleading or dividing
public opinion in a target country, or
for masking or diverting attention
away from negative information
about itself.
Using power in IR

How do countries
acquire international
power?
Using Power in IR
• Countries acquire international power through wealth and
bullying smaller countries through military intimidation.

• Some order grows out of relative power amongst nations.

• During the 19th Century, the British Empire arranged much of

the globe to its liking, and small, weak lands largely obeyed.

• Such power relationships create international systems, the way

power is distributed around the globe.
IR systems always changing
• If one country has overwhelming power,
enough to supervise the globe (unlikely),
it might be a unipolar system.
– Unipolar system: World led by one sovereign
country
• The world during the 20th century has
witnessed four IR systems.
UNIPOLAR WORLD?
1. PRE-WORLD WAR 1

¡ Dominance of the Great European

empires in the 19th century until 1914
¡ In system theory, this period represents a
balance-of-power system, but by 1910
it has decayed.
Balance of Power
The following are the ways or methods of maintaining the balance of power.

1. Alliances and counter alliances

2. Armament and disarmament
3. Acquisition of territory
4. Compensation and partition
5. Creation of buffer states
6. Preservation of independent of states.
7. Preservation of peace
8. Maintenance of international law.
2. World War I through World War 2

¡ The empires destroy themselves from 1914-

1945.
¡ With the major countries not willing to
respond to threats, this period is termed as
“antibalance-of-power” system.
¡ These systems are unstable and temporary.
3. Cold War
¡ The collapse of the traditional European
powers leaves the U.S. and the USSR facing
each other in a bipolar system (two
country system).
¡ The superpowers block and exhaust
themselves from 1945 through the 1980s,
and the bipolar system falls apart.
4. Post-Cold War

¡ The collapse of the Soviet Union end bipolarity,

which leaves the world in a disputed era.
¡ Current theories range from multipolar
(several power centers) to zones of chaos and
from globalization (interlocked world) to clash
of civilizations.
Remember
¡ We do not live in a perfect neat world where
we could put every world issue in a neat pile.
Same thing goes with IR.
¡ Systems can overlap.
¡ Treating Iraq and Afghanistan as Cold War
battles, has made new generations of enemies
(ISIS).
What kind of New System Will We See?

¡ The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991

has raised the question of what system
theory are we living in. There are seven
possible theories.
1. Multipolar
¡ The most accepted model sees the world as
multipolar.
¡ A system of several centers of power, some of them trading
blocs and all of them engaged in tough economic competition.
¡ Multipolar would somewhat resemble the old
balance-of-power system, but the blocs and major
nations do not form new alliances.
¡ Instead, they focus on their economies, and economic growth
becomes their main task in order to gain power and respect.
1. Multipolar cont.
¡ This model does not fit reality perfectly.
¡ The blocs (the European Union, the Pacific
Rim, and others), cannot look after their own
security; all need U.S. help.
¡ Western Europe asked for U.S. help during the
Yugoslavian uprising.
¡ South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan are powerful trade
competitors with the U.S. but all want free security
from America.
1. Multipolar cont.
¡ Many theorist believe that the United
States controls the world because of its
military. Without U.S. leadership in the
world, little gets done.
¡ If trade disputes become too great, a
multipolar system would break down into
something else, perhaps a “resource war”
system.
2. Unipolar
¡ The world dominated by one power center.
¡ In this picture, the United States would lead in
constructing what President Bush senior called a
“new world order”.
¡ The U.S. leads the United Nations and the
middle-sized powers to stop an aggressor.
¡ New World Order Highlights
¡ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MADYzQstps
U
2. Unipolar cont.

¡ Would the world unite and fight

back against the unipolar power?
¡ Bush administration adopted the
unipolar view of the world and
tried to implement it in Afghanistan
in 2001 and in Iraq in 2003.
3. Counterweight
¡ As Bush pursued a unipolar model, many European
lands, Russia, China, and others countries spoke of a
“counterweight” to U.S. powers.
¡ They saw the U.S. as dominating and too eager for
war.
¡ Here, instead of following the U.S., many other
nations agree among themselves to ignore or oppose
the U.S.
¡ In reaction to U.S. policy on Iraq, the world tend to
form a counterweight, such as Russia and China.
4. Stratified
¡ A stratified model combines the unipolar and
multipolar models may fit reality better.
¡ Power distributed by layers.
¡ 1st layer:The rich high-tech countries.
¡ 2nd layer: Rapidly industrializing lands such as China,
India, and Brazil.
¡ 3rd layer: “Zone of chaos” dominated by crime,
warlords, and instability. (Middle East, Africa, Central
America, Southern Asia)
4. Stratified
¡ Many of the world’s natural resources
(particularly oil) are in these chaotic
zones, so the first layer is inevitably
drawn into their difficulties.
¡ Rich countries will like to keep these
countries chaotic in order to have an
excuse to intervene.
5. U.S.-China Duopoly
¡ Two big powers dominate.
¡ The G-2 (Group of 2) indicating they are the
only two that really count now. In UN and in
G8 and G20 meetings.
¡ This theory is being proven wrong.
¡ China concentrates on its own economic growth
and avoids global problems such as nuclear
proliferation, peacekeeping, currency parties, and
climate change. (Isolationism)
6. Globalisation
¡ The world turning into one big capitalist
market.
¡ Most countries become economic players in
the world market, a capitalist competition
where goods, money, and ideas flow easily to
wherever there are costumers.
¡ The motto of a globalized system: “Make
money, not war.”
6. Globalisation
¡ Problems with a globalized system:
¡ If one of the major countries falls into a
recession or a depression, it will disrupt the
world’s economy.
¡ Rich will take advantage of poor countries.
¡ War could lead to blockades and the
cancelation of business between countries.
7. Resource Wars
• Some researchers warn we are
moving into an “age of
scarcity” marked by a scramble
for natural resources,
especially petroleum.
• We might already be engaged
in resources wars: the 1991
and wars in Iraq.
• War over oil? War over water?
War over land if seas rise?
Clash of Civilizations
¡ The biggest threat: Islamic extremist vs. the
West, Slavic/Orthodox, and Hindu
Civilizations.
¡ Saudi Arabia and Iran, which both detested
Saddam’s dictatorship in Iraq, opposed the
U.S. invasion. Pakistan felt the same way
about the Afghanistan invasion.
¡ One should not invade a brother Muslim
country.
Question
¡ Individual Assignment No.1 – submission TBA
¡ Which, if any, of these models matches and
explains international relations today? Could
a combination provide a better fit? Explain
your answer. (1- 2 pages with reference)
Is Sovereignty Slipping?

¡ The authority of a state to govern

itself. Being the boss on your own turf.
¡ Sovereignty has always partly fictional.
Big, rich, and powerful countries
routinely influence and even dominate
small, poor, and weak countries.
(Become their puppets)
Is Sovereignty Slipping?

¡ The United Nations has told Iran that they

can’t develop nuclear weapons (Iran not the
boss on their own turf).
¡ But the world didn’t interfere in the
massacre of 800,000 Rwandans in 1994.
¡ Why interfere in Iran and not Rwanda? Did
a major power have something to gain in
Rwanda?
Is Sovereignty Slipping?
¡ The European Union (EU) is now one giant
economic market, and many important decisions are
made in Brussels headquarters, not in it members’
capitals.
¡ EU members have surrendered some of their sovereignty to
a higher body.
¡ Many have given up control of their own currency to the
Euro.
¡ EU is trying to build common foreign and defense policies.
THANK YOU