Introduction to International Relations

The central focus of the discipline has been the study of relations among states. International
relations emerged as a subject to study relations among states in order to find ways to
establish inter sate peace and protect the world from catastrophic wars and conflicts.

Beginning of IR is associated with emergence of nation states in 1648 with the advent of
“Treaty of Westphalia”. However, the academic discipline of international relations
emerged after the end of World War One, an important reason being the desire to find ways
of establishing enduring peace (long lasting peace). IR is still considered one of the youngest
disciplines as its first chair was established in 1919 in University of Whales, which was
known as Woodrow Wilson chair. IR is also considered as American Social Science,
because it was started by American scholars and has revolved around USA‟s foreign policy.

Peace of Westphalia (1648)

Peace of Westphalia was a series of treaties that brought an end to the Thirty Years‟ War
(1618-1648) in Europe. The Peace of Westphalia is commonly said to mark the beginning of
modern international politics. It established basic rules that have defined the international
system of states. Sovereignty and territorial integrity of states has been the most
important features of Westphalia. Westphalian system was based on following two
principles:

 States enjoy sovereign jurisdiction: they have complete control over what happens in
their territory.
 Relations between and among states are structured by the acceptance of the
sovereign independence of all states. Thus, states are legally equal.

However, the nature and focus of the discipline has changed significantly over time.
Evolution of International politics can be divided into distinct phases, which are described
below:

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First phase (1648-1919): Westphalian World Order

This phase was dominated by politics among European nations. It was hardly international in
the true sense, because IR was all about politics of Europe; therefore, it was restricted to a
region. During this period, USA was following Policy of Isolationism (Munroe Doctrine)
and rest of the world was colonized.

Politics in Europe was shaped by Great Powers (great power politics). These great powers
were attempting to ensure survival and security with respect to each other. There was an
absence of authority (anarchy), which leads to insecurity and therefore, all great powers tried
to achieve Balance of Power by using internal or external balancing. Balance of Power
promotes arms race and formation of alliances. Formation of alliances and counter alliances
can lead to conflicts and then finally wars like World War one.

Balance of Power

Balance of power is a concept that refers to a condition in which no one state predominates
over others, tending to create general equilibrium and curb the hegemonic ambitions of all
states. BOP is suggested as a strategy for protection of national interest, sovereignty,
territorial integrity as well as regional peace. BOP has been one of the most widely used
concepts in international politics. The status of the theory of BOP in international politics is
at par with Newton‟s law of gravity.

Arms Race: An arms race is a concerted build up that occurs as two or more states acquire
weapons or increase their military capability in response to each other.

Westphalian world order can be understood with the help of billiard balls model.

Billiard balls model: It was suggested by Arnold Wolfers. This model is particularly
associated with the realist theory. The states are like billiard balls that collide with one
another. Sovereignty is the hard impenetrable outer shell of the ball which enables it to
withstand the impact of the collision. Not all balls are of the same size, which is why
international politics gives attention to the interests and behaviour of 'great powers'. There
were 4 to 5 great powers in Europe and they shaped the politics of Europe. Power and
survival are the primary concerns of states. States operate in anarchy.

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Second phase (1919-1939): from first World War one to World War two:

It is also called the Inter-War period. During this period an attempt was made to replace the
Westphalia World Order of Balance of Power by a New World Order of Collective Security.
Woodrow Wilson suggested the New World Order in his 14 point speech made to the US
congress. Following were the core features of his speech:

 He suggested creation of League of Nations.

 He suggested that League of Nations can help replace balance of power with
collective security.
 He also suggested free trade among nations and an end to all economic barriers
between countries.
 Freedom of navigation on all seas should be ensured.
 Promotion of democracy.
 Recognition of people‟s right to self – determination.
Wilson‟s 14 point speech tries to suggest conditions for peace. They were suggested in order
to prevent the re occurrence of world war. At the same time 14 point speech was reflective of
America‟s foreign policy. It was an attempt to create new world order, which was based on
Philosophy of Capitalism. Therefore, it aimed at building and protecting American
hegemony. Wilson’s ideas represented the liberal approach to IR. It was a liberal
approach of creating condition for enduring peace.

League of Nations failed to prevent a reoccurrence of world war. Principle of collective

security failed to prevent arms race and formation of alliances. Eventually the system of
League of Nations collapsed with the outbreak of Second World War.

Collective Security

The idea or practice of common defence, in which a number of states pledge themselves to
defend each other, based on the principal of “all for one and one for all”. To ensure
successful collective security, there must be an international body that has the moral
authority and political capacity to take effective action e.g. League of Nations and United
Nations.

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Why league failed? Following are the reasons:

 The League never genuinely lived up to its name; it was never properly a „league of
nations‟. Some major states did not join, most notably the USA, because of the refusal
of the isolationist Congress to ratify US membership. Thus, the world system during
inter – war period was designed by USA but was operated by European powers.
 Responsibility to operate the new system was on Britain and France. They neither had
any experience nor motivation to implement the new idea of Collective Security.
They adopted the idea only under the pressure of USA, but were skeptical about the
idea. They continued with their old policies of arms race and formation of alliances.
Moreover, they preferred to follow policy of appeasement of fascist powers (Italy and
Germany) against the threat of Communism. They allowed League of Nations and
Collective Security to collapse.
 Other prominent countries also joined and later left the organization. Germany joined
in 1926, only to leave after the Nazis came to power in 1933. Japan abandoned the
League in 1933 after criticism of its occupation of Manchuria, while Italy walked out
in 1936 after criticism of its invasion of Abyssinia. The Soviet Union, which entered
the League in 1933, was expelled in 1939 following its attack on Finland.
 League also lacked effective power. It could only make recommendations, not
binding resolutions; its recommendations had to be unanimous; and anyway, no
mechanism existed for taking military or economic action against miscreant states.
 As a result, the League of Nations stood by, largely powerless, as Germany, Italy and
Japan embarked on aggressive wars during the 1930s, which eventually led to the
outbreak of WW II.
Third phase (1945 –1919): phase of Cold War

Cold war was about rise of Super Powers in the world. Two super powers had emerged:
capitalist USA and communist USSR. Super powers meant extraordinary power. Other
states combined also cannot challenge a super power. Therefore, super powers are different
from great powers. Other states were reduced to satellites (compromising their sovereignty)
of superpower blocs. It led to a bipolar world order. However, there was a third way also
suggested by NAM countries.

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 Cold War
Cold War describes a situation where there is no war, yet no peace. The term was used to describe
the tension and conflict in the bilateral relationship of the US and the USSR in post-world war II
period. It denoted high state of rivalry and it is believed that if certain conditions had been absent,
it would have resulted into another World War. Cold War resulted in rival Military blocs of NATO
versus Warsaw Pact, led by USA and USSR respectively.

Presence of nuclear weapons (nuclear deterrence) ensured that cold war does not turn into a hot
war. Cold war had an impact all over the world. The worst affected regions have been third world
countries. They became ground for proxy wars between two super powers.

Cold war had a strong ideological dimension. It has been described as a war between two ways of
life (Communism VS Capitalism). Thus, end of cold war is described as the victory of the liberal
way of life over the communist way of life.

Nuclear Deterrence

Deterrence aims to prevent an enemy from attacking. It has been the principal strategy during the
nuclear age. The term deterrence comes from latin word „Deterre‟ which means „to frighten‟ the
potential adversary from attacking.

Deterrence is a psychological concept. Its goal is to convince the adversary that the costs of
attacking will exceed the benefits. It is an old concept, traditionally used for conventional
weapons. However, now it is more associated with nuclear weapons. Its significance grew during
the Cold War when nuclear weapons threatened the survival of the principal adversaries (USA and
USSR).

After end of Second World War, American president Roosevelt had again tried to suggest a
liberal international economic order. USA suggested creation of following institutions:

 United Nations
 World Bank
 International Monetary Fund
 International trading organization – GATT

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However, this time American attempt to build liberal world order was challenged by
communist USSR. US hegemony got restricted only to the western world.

During Cold War, traditional idea of balance of power was replaced by nuclear deterrence.
Nuclear deterrence, which means nuclear balance of power, is given the credit for the peace
during the cold war.

Collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 marked capitalisms triumph over communism.

Fourth phase (since 1991): since the end of cold war

Disintegration of Soviet Union in December, 1991 marked the end of Cold War. Francis
Fukuyama calls it “End of History”. Bipolar world got converted into a unipolar world.
USA emerged as the only superpower of the world. This phase is dominated by application of
liberal and capitalist principles. This phase denotes growth of free trade, liberalization and
globalization. Globalization has led to greater interconnectedness and rise of global civil
society.

There has been a tremendous increase in the number of non-state actors, which are
increasingly affecting world politics (MNCs, NGOs and transnational terrorist networks).
Thus, international politics is no more state centric and monistic in nature, instead today we
have multiple actors and world politics look more complicated and pluralistic.

Billiard balls model is not able to explain post-Cold War era, world has fundamentally
changed and it is not state centric any more (rise of non – state actors). In this context, John
burton proposes the concept of Cobweb model to explain the nature of the world order in
post-cold war period. Cobweb shows how world politics has been transformed by the forces
of globalization. Globalization has made the hard shell of nation states porous. Now people
are interacting with each other in many ways at multiple levels. Thus, a dense network of
relations like the web of spider has emerged. Today‟s world comprises of multiple actors and
multiple ways in which societies are interacting with each other. Therefore, cobweb model
tries to explain the increasing interdependence between societies. Thus, cobweb has
replace billiard ball model.

However, since the global financial crisis of 2008, world is witnessing a decline of liberal
world order. It is being challenged by the return of state centric geopolitics. Today the idea of
globalization and free trade is threatened by increasing protectionism. Moreover, the
hegemony of western countries like USA is being challenged by emerging economies like

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China. Fareed Zakaria describes it as post American world. In fact, BRICS economies is
said to reflect “decline of the west and rise of the rest”.

Fundamental feature of present world order is the competition and conflict between USA and
China. Here USA is acting as status quoist power and China as a revisionist power. Graham
Allison tries to predict the future of this rivalry by proposing the idea of Thucydides’s
trap.

Thucydides’s Trap: was coined by Harvard professor Graham Allison to capture the idea
that the rivalry between an established power and a rising one often ends in war. Professor
Graham Allison first used the phrase and argued that “the defining question about global
order in the decades ahead will be: can China and the US escape Thucydides’s trap?”
He elaborated on the concept in a book, Destined for War (2017), in which he examined the
historical precedents of rivalry between established and rising powers. He was able to
conclude that “China and the US are currently on a collision course for war”.

Joseph Nye has proposed a 3-D chess board model to explain today‟s world order. This
model says militarily, world is unipolar; economically, it is multipolar in nature and there is a
diffused social and cultural power being exercised by NGOs and MNCs (non state actors).

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