International relations (IR) and current
affairs
Lecture#1
Overview of IR
Prof. Khurram Zafar Awan
PhD Scholar (Business Studies)
CUI, Lahore
What is International Relations
International relations, as a subfield of political
science, is the study of the interactions among the
various actors that participate in international politics.
• State Actors: The Government / State
• Non State actors: IGOs, NGOs, MNCs, Criminals,
Terrorists,
IR is the study of the behaviors of these actors as
they participate individually and together in
international political processes.
What is International Relations
IR is the study of relationship among countries, the
role of sovereign states (political bodies which are
not controlled by outside forces), inter-governmental
organizations (IGO), International non-governmental
organizations (INGO), and Multinational companies.
Types of International Relations
Political IR:
States, IGOs, and NGOs, terrorism,
Economic IR:
MNCs (financial services, remittances etc.)
Social/Cultural IR:
Migration, Tourism, professional organizations,
Human rights, religion etc.
THINKING THEORETICALLY
International relations is to study the political
sciences, So, political scientists develop theories or
frameworks both to understand the causes of events
that occur in international relations every day and to
answer the foundational questions in the field.
THINKING THEORETICALLY
There are following many contending theories in
international relations, some take similar
perspectives while others differ in significant ways.
1. Realism
2. Liberalism/Idealism
3. Marxism
4. Constructionism
Mozi (470-391 BCE)
Niccolò Machiavelli
John Locke
Immanuel Kant
Marxism
Marxism is a social, political, and economic
philosophy named after the 19th-century German
philosopher and economist Karl Marx. His work
examines the historical effects of capitalism on
labor, productivity, and economic development, and
argues that a worker revolution is needed to
replace capitalism with a communist system.
Marxism posits that the struggle between social classes—
specifically between the bourgeoisie, or capitalists, and the
proletariat, or workers—defines economic relations in a
capitalist economy and will lead inevitably to a communist
revolution.
Marxism
• Marxism is an economic and political theory that examines
the flaws inherent in capitalism and seeks to identify an
alternative, which he called "socialism."
• Marxist theories were influential in the development of
socialism, which requires shared ownership by workers of
the means of production.
• Communism outright rejects the concept of private
ownership, mandating that "the people," in fact the
government, collectively own and control the production
and distribution of all goods and services.
Capitalism
Socialism
History toward IR
Inquiry in international relations often begins with history. Without
any historical background, many of today’s key issues are
incomprehensible.
Arabs- Israel Conflict (6 days war 5th June 1967-10th June 1967)
• Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria attacked on Israel but
Israel defeated them
Sudan Civil War (1956- present)
• West Sudan (Arab Muslim) and South Sudan (Christian) divided in
2010
• Muslim north and Christian/animist south and the Darfur crisis
beginning in 2003
• Currently, Darfur Genocide problems facing due to demanded to
History toward IR
Athens and Sparta War (431-403 B.C.E)
• The Peloponnesian War
• Sparta defeated Athens while Athens had strong Naval force
than Sparta
USA attacked Iraq (2003-2011)
• Remove Saddam Hussain’s ideas (basic interest) after 9/11
attacked
• Arouse Shia and Sunni civil war and USA left Iraq in 2011
USA attacked on Vietnam 1965-1973
• North Vietnam (communism/China), South Vietnam (France)
History toward IR
Realists might draw the lesson from both Vietnam
and Iraq that the United States did not use all of its
military might— political actors constrained military
actions— otherwise, the outcome may have been
different.
Liberals might conclude that the United States
should never have been involved since the homeland
was not directly affected and one country’s ability to
construct or reconstruct another state should be
IR Philosophies: Plato
Philosophy can help us answer questions in international relations.
Much classical philosophy focuses on the state and its leaders— the
basic building blocks of international relations— as well as on
methods of analysis.
Plato (c. 427–347 bce), in The Republic
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato (c. 427–347 bce), in The
Republic, concluded that in the “perfect state,” the people who
should govern are those who are superior in the ways. He argued
that the life force in man is intelligent.
Only a few people can have insight into what is good; society should
submit to the authority of these philosopher-kings. Many of these
ideas are developed in The Republic.
IR Philosophies: Plato
Introduction: Political thoughts of Plato
Theory of justice, State as body, The Philosopher King,
Plato’s Communism: On state, on marriage, and on education, many
restrictions on king (restrict control system)
Concept of Republic: Base of justice (establish exemplary justice
system)
Division of Society: Philosopher, Forces, and working persons
Theory of education: male and female have equal opportunities,
Division of education
Level1: 6 year (telling stories)
Level 2 6-18 years (mental, physical and music)
Level 3: 18-20 years (Philosophy, physical and mental)
IR Philosophies: Aristotle
Aristotle (c. 384–322 bce),
The philosopher Aristotle (384–322 bce), lay both in substance
(the search for an ideal domestic political system) and in method.
Analyzing 168 constitutions, Aristotle looked at the similarities and
differences among states, becoming the first writer to use the
comparative method of analysis. He concluded that states rise and
fall largely because of internal factors.
Views on State: Human is social animal (Human can
not live alone), evolution of state (individual-familyvillage-city…..and finally establish and manage the
state
IR Philosophies: Aristotle
State progress: It depends on moral values and political institutions
i.e. Pakistani politics want to survive themselves than interest of
country’s development.
State as Body
Disagree with Plato’s communism (people have no fully control on
state, education and king etc)
Plural state of people’s state (only have rights to choose/elect
persons for establishment of state)
Thoughts of slavery: There should develop a slavery department
manage them because people needs to get slaves for working with
them
State official: middle class should be included in the state of body
IR Philosophies: Aristotle
Aristotle’s Political thoughts
He wrote a book on Politics- 8 volumes after empirically
studied the 168 constitutions of different states in which
analyzed the differences and similarities of social laws and
customs of those states.
Thoughts of Justice should equal for all human.
Morality (Moral values for building the societies)
Distributive (State laws) and Corrective (trading laws) laws
Educational Thoughts:13 years (telling stories), 13-21
years (learning formally different subjects), and after 21 onward years (studying the philosophies)
IR Philosophies: Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) In Leviathan
He described life in a state of nature as solitary, selfish, and brutish.
Individuals and society can escape from the state of nature through a
unitary state.
State of Nature: (human is selfish person from the initial stage)
Introduction: Graduation from Oxford in 15 years of his age.
Study politics and travel Europe and wrote famous book “Leviathan”
(sea monster).
Monarchy (one state control) is the best.
Human nature is selfish because people are living in the forests and
caves.
State of nature (human was disputing with each other for getting
IR Philosophies: Thomas Hobbes
Establishing law of nature for living peacefully
Origin of state for controlling humans’ selfishness and living
peacefully and signed the socially contract. One state will sign
the contract (specific written statements of laws) with people.
State has supreme power to enforcedly implementation on the
laws by people of societies. Otherwise state will punish if they
hurt each other.
Sovereignty: Absolute power has only one state which use
laws for controlling the unethical movements of people. People
are willingly agreed with the state to follow the laws.
IR Philosophies: Thomas Hobbes
Political Thoughts
Life: poor, hard, brutish due to the selfishness nature of human.
Because people want to protect themselves and only their family
members, so, people are selfish.
Social contract; State vs people, i.e. Long live the king-Iran (when the
king died, people have lot of freedom for three days)
Hence, State establishes the laws by the mutually agreement with the
people and force them to follow those contracted laws. Only this way
state can control and protect the people from unethical brutish people.
State force the people to live peacefully by implementation on
contracted laws otherwise state will punish them who violate the laws.
IR Philosophies: Jean- Jacques
Rousseau
Jean- Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) In Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of
Inequality among Men
In his book, Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality
among Men, Rousseau described the state of nature as an egocentric
world, with man’s primary concern being self- preservation— not unlike
Hobbes’s description of the state of nature.
Example: Rousseau posed the dilemma from the story of the hunting stag
(common good and interest) and the hare (self interest).
• Rousseau drew an analogy between these hunters and states. Do states follow short- term self- interest, like the
hunter who follows the hare? Or do they recognize the benefits of a common interest?
Rousseau’s preference was for the creation of smaller communities in
which the “general will” could be attained. Indeed, according to
Rousseau, it is “only the general will,” not a leviathan, that can “direct
the forces of the state according to the purpose for which it was
instituted, which is the common good.
IR Philosophies: Jean- Jacques
Rousseau
In Rousseau’s vision, “each of us places his person and all his
power in common under the supreme direction of the general will;
and as one we receive each member as an indivisible part of the
whole.
He described the state of nature in both national and international
society. Argued that the solution to the “state of nature is the social
contract”, whereby individuals gather in small communities where
the “general will” is realized.
State of Nature (Human were spending happy life because
individual do effort toward common interest “general will” of
belonging society).
IR Philosophies: Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), in both Idea for a Universal History and Perpetual
Peace.
Kant envisioned a federation of states as a means to achieve
peace, a world order in which man is able to live without fear of
war.
Kant’s analysis was based on a vision of human beings that
was different from that of either Rousseau or Hobbes. In his
view, though man is admittedly selfish, he can learn new ways of
cosmopolitanism and universalism.
Cosmopolitanism (the belief that all people are entitled to
equal respect and consideration, no matter what their
citizenship status or other affiliations happen to be), and,
IR Philosophies: Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), in both Idea for a Universal History and Perpetual Peace.
Sovereignties would remain intact (internal), but the new
federal order would be both preferable to a “ super- leviathan”
and more effective and realistic than Rousseau’s small
communities.
Associated with the idealist or utopian school of thought. In
Idea for a Universal History and Perpetual Peace (Continuing
forever or indefinitely peace), advocated a world federation of
republics bound by the rule of law.
The Scientific Method: Behavioralism
Behavioralism proposes that individuals, both alone and in
groups, act in patterned ways (customary ways of behavior).
The task of the behavioral scientist is to suggest plausible
hypotheses regarding those patterned actions and to
systematically and empirically test those hypotheses. Using the
tools of the scientific method to describe and explain human
behavior, these scholars hope to predict future behavior.
Many will be satisfied, however, with being able to explain
patterns, because prediction in the social sciences remains an
uncertain enterprise.
The Correlates of War project permits us to see the application
of behavioralism.
The Scientific Method: Behavioralism
Beginning in 1963 at the University of Michigan, the political
scientists David Singer and Melvin Small investigated one of the
fundamental questions in international relations: Why is there war?
Motivated by the normative philosophical concern with how peace
can be achieved, the two scholars chose an empirical
methodological approach.
Rather than focusing on one “big” war that changed the tide of
history, as Thucydides (Athens vs Sparta war) did, they sought to
find patterns among a number of different wars. Believing that
generalizable patterns may be found across all wars.
While, Singer and Small turned to statistical data to discover the
patterns.
Lecture Summary
What is IR?
Thinking theoretically
Realism theory
Liberalism theory
Marxism theory
Constructivism theory
History of Wars
Arab Vs Israel
Sudan civil war Vs Darfur
Athens Vs Sparta
USA Vs Iraq and Vietnam
Philosophies
Plato - Philosopher establish state
(Philosopher King)
Aristotle – State govern by community
Hobbes - Social contract b/w people and
State and state control them
Rousseau - State of Nature is socially
contracted individual focused on “general will”
Kant- State should ensure the Perpetual
peace (indefinite time peace)cosmopolitanism (equal respect) and
Universalism (universal truth and ideas)
Scientific method: behavioralism