CONCEPT OF

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

SWIKRITI KUTAL
SECTION A
2ND SEMESTER
 The term ‘International’ was used for the first time by
Jeremy Bentham in the later part of the 18 th century with
regard to the laws of nations.
 Consequently, the term International Relations(IR) was
used to define the official relations between sovereign
states.
WHAT IS IR?
 There are two views regarding the meaning of IR:

- The Narrow/Old View

- The Broad/Modern View
THE NARROW/OLD VIEW:
 According to this view, IR means only the official
relations conducted by the authorized leaders between the
states.
STATE STATE

 “International relations is the branch of political science

that studies the relations between countries of the world.”-
Encarta
 THE BROAD/MODERN VIEW:
 IR is the study and practice of political relationships among the
world’s nations, especially their governments and also the
interactions between non-governmental groups, MNCs or
international organizations such as the United Nations.

STATE
NON-STATE
MNCs ACTORS
STATE
IGOs INGOs
 “ IR is the discipline that explains the factors and
activities, that affect the external policies and the powers
of the basic units into which the world is divided.” -
Hoffman

 Thus, IR is the study and practice of foreign relations,

diplomacy, agreements and pacts, international law,
international organizations, inter-state interaction, war and
peace, international justice, alliance, etc.
 LEVELS OF IR
 The Micro/Individual Level: an individual leader who makes
decisions that has an impact on many other people.
 The Government Level: the economic, political and military
actions taken by the government for the state and the people that
affects other states too.
 The Society Level: role of the public to understand what
happened and why.
 The Macro Level: nation-state and the international organizations
work together on world politics and other issues.
 CONCLUSION
Hence, IR draws the distinction between learning the way
things are supposed to operate in theory and using that
theory to understand how they actually do operate among
the countries. It is necessary to apply all that theory to real-
world questions while trying to understand IR.
THANK
YOU