Course Title: Global Trends

Chapter One

Understanding International
Relations
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Conceptualizing Nations,
Nationalism and States

The Nature and Evolution of

International Relations

Actors of International Relations

Power, Anarchy and Sovereignty in

the International System
 1.1. Conceptualizing Nations, Nationalism and States

❑For nationalists, a nation is a collective group of people who share a number

of common social, cultural and ethnic characteristics.

❑It is a social collective involving various criteria and characteristics that are
unique to each nation. These characteristics can include language, tradition,
ethnicity, religion, myths, beliefs, symbols and blood ties. It can also be
deemed as persons Ethnic Origin.

❑The idea of the nation is largely subjective and is self-selective in the

sense that each nation defines what it is to be part of that nation.

❑The nation, in this sense, is a social phenomenon that differentiates different

peoples in the world.
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Nationalism
❑Nationalism is the doctrine that asserts the nation as the basic political unit in
organizing society.

❑As a political doctrine, nationalism is the belief that the world’s peoples are
divided into nations, and that each of these nations has the right to self-
determination, either as governing units within nations or as nation states of
their own.

❑As a cultural ideal, nationalism is the claim that while men and women have
many identities, it is the nation that provides them with their primary form of
belonging.
❑
❑As a moral ideal, nationalism is an ethic of heroic sacrifice, justifying the use
of violence in the defense of one’s nation against enemies, internal or external.
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❑It is the most influential force in international affairs which is deemed as a
factor for the collapse of age old empires, marker for new borders, a
powerful component for the emergence of new states and it is used to
reshape and reinforce regimes in history.

❑Consequently nationalism is often cited as a source of wars, ethnic

conflict, persecution of minorities and belligerence.

❑While the nationalism of the nineteenth century was perhaps viewed

as a positive phenomenon that brought people together, as in the case
of Germany.

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 MAIN TYPES OF NATIONALISM

▪ Civic nationalism: A ‘social contract’ between citizens and the state

▪ Ethnic nationalism: Often involving a strong hereditary principle

▪ Cultural nationalism: The nation is bonded together through a sense of shared

culture.

▪ Liberal nationalism: Nationalism based upon the principles of equality, freedom,

tolerance, individual rights and identity

▪ Pan-nationalism: Form of ethnic and cultural nationalism in which various groups

in different states shares similar features or characteristics

▪ Diaspora nationalism: National grouping of ex-patriots who live outside their

homeland or home state
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 STATE
▪ Is a political entity of the society. Throughout history states have existed in many
forms, from the city states of ancient Greece to the feudal states of the
medieval period to the modern system of states in place today.

▪ The modern system of states originates from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
A number of important principles or elements emerged from the Westphalian
settlement such as:
* Population * Territory, * Government
* Sovereignty and * Reciprocal recognition.

▪ Therefore, In common parlance, the words ‘nation’, ‘state’ and ‘nationality’

are used interchangeably and this is not correct
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 1.2. The Nature and Evolution of International Relations

• Originally, the study of international relations (a term first used by Jeremy

Bentham in 1798) was seen largely as a branch of the study of law,
philosophy or history.

• Until the 1970s the study of international relations centered mainly on

international security studies that is, questions of war and peace.

• Today, international relations could be used to describe a range of interactions

between people, groups, firms, associations, parties, nations or states or
between these and (non) governmental international organizations.

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▪ International Relation [IR] is the study and practice of political relationships
among the world’s nations, especially their governments.

▪ Participation in international relations or politics is also inescapable. No

individual, people, nation or state can exist in splendid isolation or be master of
its own fate.

▪ On the other hand, there are legal, political and social differences between
domestic and international politics.

▪ Domestic law is generally obeyed, and if not, the police and courts enforce
sanctions.
▪ International law rests on competing legal systems, and there is no common
enforcement.
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• International politics is also about maintaining international order through
different international organization like UN by the mean's of power, coercion
and bargaining.

✓Evolution of IR
• In medieval Europe there were two institutions with pretensions to power over
the continent as a whole i.e.
A.The (Catholic) Church and
B.The Empire.

➢The Church was the spiritual authority, with its centre in Rome. The Empire
known as the Holy Roman Empire (includes todays Italy, France Netherlands
and Belgium.

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• In this climate of Medieval period, the increasingly self-assertive states were
not only picking fights with universal institutions but also with local ones and
leads to break out different driving forces/revolutions like:

✓ French revolution
✓ Industrial revolution
✓ Reformation

• The European states emerged in the midst of struggle and strife, and the
Treaty of Westphalia, 1648, which concluded the 30 years of bloodiest
warfare (1618-1648), has come to symbolize the new way of organizing
international politics.

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• From this point onwards, international politics was a matter of relations between
states and no other political units which separates the state from the pope and
the emperors. (Turning point in the International relations).

• Towards the end of the nineteenth century, other European countries joined in
this scramble for colonies in Africa.

• Colonial possessions became a symbol of ‘great power’ status, and the new
European nation-states often proved themselves to be very aggressive colonizers
since the colonized peoples had no nation-states and enjoyed no self-
determination.

• After all the world experienced the First World War in 1914 and the Second
world war in 1940’s and this is how the modern world was made.

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 1.3. Actors in International Relations
▪ The participants in international relations, often called actors, have a
great influence on the relationships between nations and on world affairs.

▪ The major participants include:

✓The state (nations themselves, the leaders of those nations)

✓Sub-state actors (groups or organizations within a nation),

✓Transnational actors (organizations operating in more than one

country), and international organizations.
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 ▪ The State Actors
▪ All states have their own capitals, armies, foreign ministries, flags and national
anthems.
▪ International politics come to be defined in terms of interactions between states
in an international system of states where these are ‘sovereign’ entities,
territorially bound, and independent ultimately of any external authority.
▪ Nations vary in size and power
▪ The great powers include the United States, Great Britain, Russia
(formerly the Soviet Union), France, China, Germany, and Japan.
▪ These powers are the most important actors in international relations.
▪ Leaders (The most important individual actor within a nation is the top leader
of that country, i.e. The president/The Prime Minister).
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▪ Non/Sub-State Actors

▪ Are groups and individuals within that nation that influence its international
relationships.

▪ These domestic actors, include particular industries with distinct interests in

foreign policy (such as the automobile or tobacco industry) and ethnic
constituencies with ties to foreign countries, as well as labor unions, cities, and
regions.

▪ These groups can influence a nation’s foreign policy in several ways, such as
by lobbying political leaders, donating money to political candidates or parties,
or swaying public opinion on certain issues.

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• Transnational Actors

✓Are Organizations/firms which are operating in more than one country.

✓Transnational actors include

A. Multinational corporations
B. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),
C. Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) like; EU

✓They are usually created to promote cooperation between different nations

on a particular issue or in a particular geographic region.

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 1.4. Levels of Analysis in International Relations
A. The individual level
• International relations can be analyzed from the perspective of individuals. Here
we would look at the behaviors, motivations, beliefs and orientation of the
individual in affecting a particular international phenomenon.

• This can be seen in the psychology and emotions behind people’s actions and
decisions, their fears and their visions as well as their access to information and
capacity to make a difference.

B. The group level

✓A group-level analysis focusing on foreign policy would look at the role of
lobbying groups, special interest groups and the way they influence national
decision-making on an issue.
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C. The state level
▪ Also known as ‘state-centrism’ .
▪ In this level of analysis the state acts as the arena in which state officials,
politicians and decision-makers operate.
▪ The state is seen as the framework that encapsulates society and as the main
point of reference for the individual.
▪ A state-level study would also require careful consideration of what kinds of
states we are looking at
❑ How they are ordered politically,
❑ Their geographical position,
❑ Their historical ties and experiences and their economic standing.
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D. The system level
✓ This level of analysis conceive the global system as the structure or context
within which states cooperate, compete and confront each other over issues
of national interest.

✓It is a level above the state.

✓It is usually distributed into three main types of systems i.e.

i. Uni-polar system
ii. Bipolar system and
iii. Multipolar system.

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• In a uni-polar international system there is one state with the greatest
political, economic, cultural and military power and hence the ability to totally
control other states.

• In the case of the bipolar system, there are two dominant states (super
powers) and the less powerful states join either sides through alliance and
counter alliance formations. (E.g.. Cold war period).

✓The problem with bipolar system is that it is vulnerable for zero-sum game
politics because when one superpower gains the other would inevitably lose.
• Multipolar system usually reflects various equally powerful states competing
for power.

✓ In such system, it is possible to bring change without gaining or losing power.

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 1.5. Power, Anarchy and Sovereignty in the
International System
Power
✓Power is the currency of international politics. As money is for economics,
power is for international relations (politics).

✓In the international system, power determines the relative influence of actors
and it shapes the structure of the international system.
✓Power can also be defined as ‘A’ s’ ability to get ‘B’.
Anarchy
✓Anarchy is a situation where there is absence of authority (government) be it in
national or international/global level systems.

✓Within a country ‘anarchy’ refers to a breakdown of law and order, but in

relations between states it refers to a system where power is decentralized and
there are no shared institutions with the right to enforce common rules.
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▪ An anarchical world is a world where everyone looks after themselves and no
one looks after the system as a whole.

Sovereignty
▪ Sovereignty is another basic concept in international relations and it can be
defined as an expression of:
i. A state’s ultimate authority within its territorial entity (internal sovereignty)
and,
ii. The state’s involvement in the international community (external
sovereignty).

▪ In short, sovereignty denotes double claim of states from the international

system, i.e., autonomy in foreign policy and independence/freedom in its
domestic affairs.
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