FirstTHE Study OF IR

First: THE STUDY of
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
I IR as a Field of Study
II Levels of Analysis in IR
I-IR as a FIELD of STUDY
 What is IR?
 Difference between IR & Foreign Policy
 IR & Daily Life
 Subfields of IR
 IR & other Social Sciences
?WHAT IS IR
 IR is the field of Political Science that studies the Interactions that take
place among International Actors: Wars, alliances, trade, negotiations,
integration…...
1- It is a Scientific study of the International Interactions: Defines,
explains & predicts the phenomenon (International Interactions).
2- Interactions means Actions & Reactions that take place between

International Actors.
3- Interactions might be cooperation, conflict, or neutral actions.
4- It is concerned with all interactions:Pol., Ec., cultural etc….
5-Intractions are between International Actors( State & Non State

actors).
IR & Foreign Policy
 IR is not Foreign Policy:
Foreign Policy is the declared program of action of an International Actor to deal

with the external environment in order to achieve certain objectives.
Foreign Policy is thus the actions of an Actor: A or a group of Actors towards
another Actor: B or Actors or a certain Issue. How?
 International Relations is all kinds of interactions between 2 or more Actors:

Actions from A towards B & the reactions of B towards A.
 However, Foreign Policy & IR are related HOW?

IR is the sum of Interactions of the Foreign Policies of 2 or more Actors. Ex:
Arms race, Integration are results of actions & reactions of Actors.
IR & Daily Life
 IR is not confined to official policy makers( Presidents, Ministers of
Foreign Affairs & defense…)
 Ordinary people can influence IR, and they are affected by IR in their
daily life:
1- Ordinary people can influence IR HOW?

through voting in elections, Interest groups, demonstrations,
boycotting certain products….
2- Our daily life is affected by IR HOW?

-Global economy & economic competition affects job opportunities.
- Free trade affects industries in underdeveloped countries.
- European Integration affects people in North Africa How ?
Subfields of IR
 IR is a field of Political Science.
 It covers a wide range of interactions:
Wars, alliances, trade, integration….
 There are 2 subfields of IR:
1- International Security Studies.

2- International Political Economy.
International Security Studies -1
:((ISS
 Traditionally IR focused on questions of

war, peace, alliances, arms race, treaties…
 The focus is different from International Law:
studying the political aspects & implications
of such issues not the legal aspects ,ex.
 In the 1980’s peace studies program
emerged to broaden the concept of
security depending on an
interdisciplinary approach.
 Security studies remain to occupy
an important position in the study of IR
in spite of the end of the Cold War.
International Political -2
:(Economy (IPE
 Emerged in the 1970’s & 1980’s.
 It studies trade & financial relations
among nations, & international
economic &financial institutions, &
relations between north & south
including topics such as dependency,
debt, foreign aid, technology transfer,
environmental management, & global
telecommunications.
:Relationship between ISS & IPE
1- The principles & theories used to study

international security can be used to
understand IPE.
2- Political issues are affected by
economics ( US policy in the Middle East is
affected by its economic interests in the
region).
3- Economic issues are affected by political
considerations ( Foreign aid ).
IR & other fields of Social
Sciences
 The study of IR is an interdisciplinary
study. Analysis in IR needs knowledge
of other social science disciplines:
History, Economics, Sociology,
Anthropology, Economics,
Comparative Politics….Why
II Levels of Analysis in IR
 There are many factors affecting International
Interactions.
 Scholars classify those factors into groups of

similar factors called levels of analysis.
 Levels of analysis is a perspective on IR based on

a set of similar factors that suggests possible
explanations to WHY questions.
The most widely used scheme utilizes 3
levels:
1- System - Level.
2- State – Level.
3- Individual – Level.
:System – Level Analysis -1
 It is a world view that takes a “top-down”

approach to analyze IR.
 This level theorizes that International System

strongly influences the politics of
 It concentrates on the effect of the

International System ( Structure & Pattern of
interaction ) on IR.
 The main focus is characteristics of the
International System: distribution of power,,
balance of power, alliances…regardless of
the internal make up of states or their
leaderships.
 Ex: the effect of the cold war or the bipolar

system on the relations between small States
& the Super Powers.
:State – Level Analysis -2
 This level theorizes that States are the key
 The concern is with the characteristics of an
individual State & its impact on its behavior
in IR.
 This level studies the effect of political
systems ( types of government: democracies
& dictatorships ), economic characteristics,
foreign policy bureaucracy, interest groups,
ethnic politics, public opinion…. on IR
:Individual – Level Analysis -3
 This level depends on the argument
that people make policy.
 It argues that different persons act
differently in the same situation.
 It stresses on the effect of
psychological factors on decisions
( leaders personality, background,
perceptions….)
:The Global – Level of Analysis
 This level explains IR in terms of global
trends & forces that transcends (go beyond)
interactions of states.
EX.:
- The evolution of human technology, of
certain worldwide beliefs, the emergence of
global culture.
- the emergence of transnational integration
through worldwide scientific, technical &
business communities.
 Levels of analysis offer different sorts
of explanations to events:
 They suggest multiple explanations, &
complement each other.
Ex.:
 The Gulf War in 1991
 US invasion of Iraq March 2003
 1999 Kosovo war between Serbia &
NATO

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First: THE STUDY of

2- Interactions means Actions & Reactions that take place between

3- Interactions might be cooperation, conflict, or neutral actions.

4- It is concerned with all interactions:Pol., Ec., cultural etc….

5-Intractions are between International Actors( State & Non State

Foreign Policy is the declared program of action of an International Actor to deal

 International Relations is all kinds of interactions between 2 or more Actors:

 However, Foreign Policy & IR are related HOW?

1- Ordinary people can influence IR HOW?

2- Our daily life is affected by IR HOW?

1- International Security Studies.

 Traditionally IR focused on questions of

1- The principles & theories used to study

 Scholars classify those factors into groups of

 Levels of analysis is a perspective on IR based on

 It is a world view that takes a “top-down”

 This level theorizes that International System

 It concentrates on the effect of the

 Ex: the effect of the cold war or the bipolar

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