Political Science 1 to Political Science III

• Where to start?
• What we are going to discuss today?
• Are you in a position to relate social science subjects with your legal
studies?
• How the Political Science 111 different from other papers your
studied?
• International relation is separate subject/ discipline
 Introduction
• Each discipline has its own unique language
• How the international system is formed?
• The making of the modern world
• Never ending journey of discovery
• IR examines just about everything that concerns how we, as
human beings, have organised our world.
• it has researched into other disciplines for the tools to examine
the wide range of issues within its scope
 What is international
relations, how was it made, and how did it
come to be that way?
• Where to start?
• the state emerged as a political entity located at an
intermediate level between the local and the universal.
• The early modern state was a coercive machinery
designed to make war and
to extract resources from society.
• Yet at the end of the eighteenth century, this
machinery came to be radically transformed.
• it was the European model of statehood and the
European way of organising international relations that
eventually came to organise all of world politics.
 State centric views
• Starting point – state
• The rise of sovereign states
• Contemporary international politics, for good and for bad, was
shaped by Europeans and by nonEuropeans copying European
examples.
• Unlike in centuries gone by when war was common,
diplomacy is what we understand today as the normal state of
affairs governing international relations.
Introduction : IR
 International Politics
 Perspectives on World Politics

 Reflections on world politics

It is an academic inquiry and practical activity

Immense promise and potential difficulty
Normative concerns too; how the world ought to be
Presentation 1: The Domain of International
Relations (Stephanie Lawson, Short
Introductions International Relations, Polity
Press, Cambridge 2012) page no. 4-17.
Why Study IR?

 Presentation 2: Robert Jackson, International Relations,

Oxford, Page 1- 7
 The subject IR has never been so fascinating on one hand

and impacting on the life of common people across the world

on the other, as it now in the contemporary times.
Presentation 3: The Study of IR ; Joshua S. Goldstein,
International Relations, pages 3-11.
Three Perspectives of World Politcs

Presentation 4:
Power and Security
Interdependence and globalisation
Dominance and Resistance
 Richard Little and Michael Smith, Perspectives of World

Politics, Routledge,Oxon, 2006, Page 3-

Scope of the study

 Presentation 5: Joshua S. Goldstein, International Relations,

‘Careers in International Relations’, pages xviii-
IR & World Politics- Paul R. Viotti & M V Kauppi

 Read Preface – xiii-xv

 Chapter 1
 Trends- globalisation and interdependence
 Actors – states INO, transnational, individuals
 Conceptual and theoretical perspectives
 How global economic structuralists see the world
 IR the ‘interaction’ is a important and
exclusive theme
 There are different patterns of behaviour in
the international systems
 Recap
 Relation between Political Science and IR
 The nature, scope and relevance of the subject
 The emergence of sovereign state system
 What is Nation-state, Treaty of Westphalia
 Evolution of International system
 Origin of IR as an academic discipline
 Very interesting general discussions:
 India’s foreign policy, diplomacy, soft state, concern of security,
Role of UN, global order, economic hegemony etc
Second lecture: Recap

 It is an academic inquiry and practical activity

 Immense promise and potential difficulty
 Normative concerns too; how the world ought to be
 Contemporary international politics, for good and for bad, was
shaped by Europeans
 Unlike in centuries gone by when war was common,
diplomacy is what we understand today as the normal state of
affairs governing international relations.
Why and How?

Human kind : the questions of (life and death)

 Security and prosperity

 Order and justice

 War and peace

Expansion and diversification of subject

 Result of political activity

 Complexity and constant state of flux

 The subject IR has never been so fascinating on one hand and
impacting on the life of common people across the world on the
other, as it now in the contemporary times.
Power and Security
Interdependence and globalisation
Dominance and Resistance
 ‘Careers in International Relations’,

 Trends- globalisation and interdependence

 Actors – states, INO, transnational, individuals

 Conceptual and theoretical perspectives

Understand global economic order

 Topics to be prepared: Synopsis – Unit No. 1
 The subject International relations- Nature & Scope
 Definitions
 International System and its evolution(Historical mapping)- Treaty
of Westphalia 1648 and its relevance
 Academic Discipline
 State as a main player and Role of non state actors
 Relation between Political theory and international relation theory
 Dimensions of IR
 Diplomacy and IR
 International law and international relations
State as a main player
 The state is central to the study of international relations
 State policy is the most common object of analysis.
 States decide to go to war.
 They erect trade barriers.
 They choose whether and at what level to establish
environmental standards.
 States enter international agreements, or not, and choose
whether to abide by their provisions
 International relations as a discipline is chiefly concerned with
what states do and, in turn, how their actions affect other states.
 State is a main player here
 States have identity
 State identity influences the way states interact with each
other(Eg: Democratic &Non –demo, Communist & Non-Communist,
Developed or under, capitalist or socialist, rich or poor, have or have-nots etc ..)
Not onlyWhen
State….
 it comes to concepts and issues: international system
revisited; norms, regimes, economic interdependence and the
role of international organisations
 Acknowledgement of the influence of non-state actors ( NGOs,
economic and non-state political actors)
 Non-state actors in the international scene have grown
 Governments seem as concerned with economic issues as they
are with security issues (UN, WB, IMF, WHO, ILO,OPEC and
MNC’s have significance in their specialist areas.)
 Blurring distinction between
 ‘high’ politics (high-level relations between states) and

 ‘low’ politics (internal socio-economic issues)

 Realisation that ‘low’ politics affects the international sphere

 “states are not and never have been the only
international actors…”
 The point is merely that states are still the
primary medium through which the effects of
other actors are channeled into the world
system.
 It may be that non-state actors are becoming
more important than states as initiators of
change, but system change ultimately
happens through states.
 In that sense states still are at the center of
the international system, and as such it
makes no more sense to criticize a theory of
international politics as ``state-centric''
 The majority of global interactions – be
they related to global finance, production,
education, personal and professional travel,
labour migration or terrorism – no longer occur
via state channels the way they once did.
 We could say that the increased focus on
non-state actors and cross-border issues has
marked a close-to-revolutionary
turn in IR;
 something that could be interpreted as a shift
away from the international (‘between-states’) to
the ‘trans-national’ (‘across/beyond-states’ and
their borders)
 One World Many Actors
• We have developed mechanisms for ‘getting along’ via diplomacy. With that
context in mind, we must turn to unpacking how International Relations as an
academic discipline analyses our world.
• International Relations (IR) traditionally focused on interactions between states.
• However, this conventional view has been broadened over the years to include
relationships between all sorts of political entities (‘polities’), including
international organisations, multinational corporations, societies and citizens.
• IR captures a vast array of themes ranging from the growing
interconnectedness of people to old and new forms of security,
• dialogue and conflict between visions, beliefs and ideologies,
• The environment, space, the global economy, poverty and climate change.
• The sheer number of actors and issues that are relevant to IR can be
awesome.
• This can make it seem like a daunting task to not just study
various aspects of IR but to try to grasp the bigger picture.
• All the more important are the analytical tools that scholars have developed
•Thinking of different levels of analysis in IR means that the observer and analyst may
choose to focus on the international system as a whole, parts of the system in
interaction with each other, or some of its parts in particular.
•The international system can be conceived of as made up of states, groups of states,
organisations, societies or individuals within and across those societies.
•IR generally distinguishes between three levels of
analysis: the system, the state, and the individual – but the group level is also
important to consider as a fourth.
•To be able to use the level of analysis as an analytical device, we need to be clear
about what we are most interested in
•Being aware of various possible perspectives helps us to develop an understanding
of where we stand as analysts and observers.
•It also guides us through the process of investigation and analysis.
 Stages of development in brief
 Early trade relationship and diplomatic & military alliances
 Sumerian City State - Ur, Kish, Karsa, Lagash, etc. (30 in number, existed before 2500
B.C.)
 Greek city-states
 Pre-modern states; not nation states but empire-states which did not represent the
wishes of the people - Roman empire
 Feudal and religious domination in International relations
 End of 30 years' war, treaty of Westphalia in 1648 and the acknowledgement of
other states
 Italian mercantile city states
 French Revolution and development of ideas of self-determination
 Colonialism and imperialistic nature
 First world war and league of nation
 Second world war and united nation
 End of colonialism
 Cold war
 Post cold war
(international relation is not just an extension of international history, though a knowledge of
international history is important for our understanding.)
 Eurocentric!
 Most of what happened in Europe before the
nineteenth century was of great concern to
the Europeans but of only marginal relevance
to people elsewhere.
 Europe certainly had a significant impact on
the Americas, North and South.
 However, it had far less impact on Asia and
relations with Africa were largely restricted to
a few trading ports.
Treaty of Westphalia

 Realization of importance of negotiations

 Inviting national representatives
 Instead of religious dominance, politics is finding its place
 International organization, diplomacy, foreign policy,
international law
 Non interference
 Sovereignty of the state ( territorial sovereignty and equality
among states)
 The large, rich and powerful empires of East
Asia were organised quite differently than the
European states, and international politics
followed different principles.
 The same can be said for other parts of the
world such as the Indian subcontinent, Central
Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab world.
 And yet, it was the European model of statehood
and the European way of organising
international relations that eventually came to
organise all of world politics.
Political Theory and International Relations Theory

 ‘Political theory and law. . . are the theory of the good life.
 International theory is the theory of survival.’ Do you agree?

 Political theory asks questions such as

 ‘how should we live in political community?’

 ‘what forms of rule best?’

 ‘what is basis of political obligation?’

 ‘what is involved in behaving justly to one another?’

 These questions can be asked in international relations too, because they are always
involved.
 Thus, International relations aspects are key feature in both Political Theory and
International Relations theory
INR different Dimensions
 Doubt and suspicion  Cooperation & coordination

 Arms race and war  Peace and security

 Grown through struggle and  Evolution – progress, prosperity

domination–sea,land,space and transition

 Exploitation, colonialism and  Sharing, caring and living together

imperialism
 Growing frustration  Hope
 War alliances and treaties,  New international regime for better
technology for destruction future
 Fickle in character: foundations are
 Building new area of relations &
shaking expanding it
Conclusion

 Whatever dimensions are there, the world community is in

transition or rapidly changing
 The degree of interdependence and interactions are
expanding
 The old type relations are replaced
 Every other local issue has an international character now
(Eg:) vice versa ?
 Theories of International
Relations
How can theory help us make sense of
International Relations?
Theories
Systematic reflection of phenomena
Intelligent pattern +description + set of
limited propositions to connect, interpret and
organise facts +explaining
Basis for explanation and understanding
In social sciences theory is more diffused
and less precise
 Unit 2: IR Theories - Synopsis
• Introduction
• Important Theories
• Traditional and modern
• Theories of International Relations allow us to understand and try to make
sense of the world around us through various lenses, each of which represents
a different theoretical perspective.
• In order to consider the field as a whole for beginners it is necessary to simplify
IR theory.
• there have been significant evolutions in the discipline – it reflected in theories
too
• Traditionally there have been two central theories of IR: liberalism and realism
 there have been signifcant evolutions in the discipline.
 Traditionally there have been two central theories of IR:
liberalism and realism. Although they have come under
great challenge from other theories, they remain central to
the discipline.
Synopsis
 Introduction
 Definition
 Philosophical foundation
 Variety of realism
 Important tenets
 Contemporary challenges
 Criticisms
 Globalisation and realism