Political theory – the mold of international relations

Political theory – the mold of international relations

Political theory plays an integral role in shaping the study and practice of politics and international relations. It is about different ways with the help of which the nature and character of international politics can be interpreted, understood and assessed.

International relations are sometimes referred to as international studies, but the two states of affairs are not perfectly synonymous. This is actually the amend of relationships bordered by countries, including the role of states, inter-governmental institutions (IGOs), international non-governmental institutions (INGOs), non-governmental institutions (NGOs) and multinational corporations (MNCs).

It covers the areas of both academic and public policy. It is sometimes positive and sometimes normative, seeking to scrutinize and to devise the foreign policy of meticulous states. Every now and then, it is measured as a branch of political science. However, an important segment of academia prefers to look upon it as an interdisciplinary domain of revise. The features of international relations have been studies for years after years, since the period of Thucydides. However, it became a secluded and definable discipline on the onset of the twentieth century.

International relations, separately from the study of political science, draw upon a number of diversified meadows like technology, engineering, economics, history, international law, philosophy, geography, social work, sociology, anthropology, criminology, psychology, gender studies, and cultural studies. Apart from that, it engrosses a varied range of issues like globalization, state sovereignty, international security, ecological sustainability, nuclear proliferation, nationalism, economic growth, global fund, terrorism, organized crime, human security, foreign interventionism, and human rights. However, the diverse issues are merely limited to the mentioned items.

If the history of international relations is delved deeper, the origin can be traced back to thousands of years. For example, Barry Buzan and Richard Little trust that the interaction of old Sumerian municipality-states, commenced in 3,500 BC. It was the first fully fledged international system.

Its history is founded upon the sovereign states. The history can often be found back to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. It was a milestone in the development of the contemporary state system. Before that, the medieval system of political power in Europe was based on a vague hierarchy and religious order. However, Westphalia still represented layered systems of sovereignty. This happened especially within the Holy Roman Empire. The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 is a notion that reflects an emerging parameter that sovereigns had no internal equals within a definite area and there were no external superiors as well that could stand as the ultimate power within the sovereign borders of the region. This was effective more than the Peace of Westphalia.

The theory of international relations has a widespread custom of drawing on the work of the social sciences of the other kinds. In the expression “International Relations”, “I” and “R” are capitalized for distinguishing the academic discipline of International Relations from the phenomena of the same. Whatever it is, manifold works can be cited from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (sixth century BC), Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War (fifth century BC), Chanakya’s Arthashastra (fourth century BC) and so on and so forth. Apart from these, Hobbes’ Leviathan and Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince provide more elaboration.

Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) was a contemporary of Grotius and, like the latter, he answered the concerns found and faced during his time and at his place. On the one hand, Grotius used to think that a state without any political authority would still be governed by natural law. On the other hand, Hobbes held that there is no natural law in which such moral value or fundamental human commonality is engraved. This sounds that both of the thinkers were in stark contrast.

Similarly, the works of Kant and Rousseau are drawn upon by liberalism. The former’s work is pretty often quoted as the first elaboration of democratic peace theory. Moreover, Francisco de Vitoria, Hugo Grotius and John Locke gave the initial accounts of global entitlement and this was meant for ensuring rights on the basis of usual humanity. In the modern era, Marxism has been groundwork of international relations.

The theories of international relations can be divided into two categories, namely, “positivist” and “post-positivist”. The former aims at repeating the ways of the natural sciences in the method of analyzing the influence of material forces, while the latter concentrates upon constitutive questions, for instance, the meaning and implication of ‘power’, what creates it and how it is implanted. The post-positivism is also known as Reflectivity Theory.

Whatever the theory be, ‘sustainable growth’ matters most. However, the quoted term raises a number of criticisms at different stages and dissimilar phases. John Baden writes, “In economy like in ecology, the interdependence rule applies….Several suggestions to save our environment and to promotes model of ‘sustainable growth’ risk indeed leading to reversal effects.”

Some critics say that the term is indeed too vague. For example, both Jean-Marc Jancovici and the philosopher Luc Ferry articulate the same inspection. Of course, the term is more charming than meaningful.

Sylvie Brunel, a French geographer and specialist of the third world, raises the question of the person who benefits from ‘sustainable growth’. Apart from that, she opines that the central ideas of this phenomenon are concealed form protectionism through urbanized nations hindering the growth of other countries.

The aim is not that one nation should trample the other, but it is of universal growth in order to make a world state. Everybody should come forward to take steps and, what is more, to activate the plans rather than mere strategy. If the plans of ‘sustainable growth’ are to be activated in case of the political theory playing an indispensable part in shaping the study and practice of politics and international relations, the foremost step for every nation will be to work hand in hand. One nation is interdependent on the other. It is like a chain rather than a pyramid. If one nation is neglected, the entire bond will collapse. Therefore, it will be intelligent and wise to work together for betterment of the globe.