SURVEY TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Definition of key terms

Country- territorial space where people live which has definite recognized boundaries

Nation- people within a country, usually sharing common ties and values

State- abstract but permanent authority which is sovereign, usually represented by three arms:
executive, judiciary and legislature

Government- the administrative arm of state tasked with ruling or exercising executive powers of the
state, e.g., keeping law and order, representing nation at international forums, policy formulation etc

-International Relations (IR) refer to the interaction of nation states or relations between global societies
with political and territorial boundaries. It is about the behavior of various states towards each other.

Rise of International Relations

-human societies crystallized into settlements. Such settlements were influenced by many factors, chief
among them resources and security concerns. The settlements later developed into states.

-Before the emergence of rules that govern relations between and among various states, relations
between and among different political entities were characterized by war fares- more of state of nature
and survival of the fittest

-however, rules have developed to regulate the contact of different states and societies

Practice of International Relations

There are several identified approaches to IR. These can however be classified into two: traditional and
modern approaches

Traditional Modern
Classical Cob web
Idealism Billiard ball
Realism Global
Non-global

Theory of interdependence

-societies cannot have every resource they may need (autarky). No society in the world is 100% self
sufficient. Societies are endowed with certain resources while lacking others (disparate conditions.
-global societies therefore have to depend on each other. The theory of interdependence is therefore all
about coexistence and sharing of resources among various societies of the world

-disparate conditions make it impossible for all states to offer equal conditions for development of
material production. Hence there are always various levels and degrees of interdependence.

-while some societies are more dependent than others, the types of interdependence include economic,
technological, geographic/geo-strategic etc

The 3Cs of IR

-IR is driven by 3 variables namely cooperation, competition and conflict

-cooperation is the working together of nations and collective effort to fulfill mutual interests.
Cooperation is reflected by among other things trade among nations, regional and international
groupings, tariff zoning

-competition is very natural among nations. States are always competing for supremacy and for the
scarce world resources. As some of the world resources are non-renewable and therefore getting
depleted, competition in the world is bound to become stiffer and stiffer

-conflict is when states disagree. It naturally emerges whenever nations fail to cooperate. Conflict is
normally reflected in wars, diplomatic wrangles, sanctions etc

International Law

-law is general rule governing specific group of cases and is backed by a probable sanction, stated in
advance and widely accepted as legitimate among the population concerned (Karl W. Deutsch, The
Analysis of International Relations, p215)

-states as members of a global community have codes of conduct or behavior expectations of its
members. International law put simply is therefore the law that seeks to regulate the contact of nation
states.

-international law is usually derived from societies’ common/shared values and aspirations. It is
therefore based on mutuality

-it normally arises out of custom or treaties and conventions e.g., Vienna Convention, some of whose
subscription is voluntary

-international law is more universal and hence perceptions of its legitimacy tend to be relatively weak as
compared to national law

-international law is, unlike national law, therefore is not easy to enforce: to begin with the world does
not have an international police force to enforce and secondly the law has no jurisdiction over nations
which are not signatories to the various specific conventions
-the International Court of Justice being the principal judicial organ of the United Nations often presides
over issues related to international. The International Criminal Court was also set up to specifically deal
with issues which international law classify as crimes against humanity, such as genocide

-other issues covered under international law include human rights, diplomacy, contact of war etc

- Controversy with regard to international law often arises with regard to its interpretation. In the end,
international law tends to be abused by big powers which then push their interests