Notes: International Relations- 1 | Political Science & International Relations: Mains Optional - UPSC PDF Download

 Page 2


                                            
 
• The academic discipline of International Relations (frequently shortened to IR) emerged 
in the aftermath of World War I (1914–18), an important impetus being the desire to 
find ways of establishing enduring peace. 
• The central focus of the discipline has been on the study of the relations of states, and 
those relations have traditionally been understood primarily in diplomatic, military and 
strategic terms. The school has been primarily dominated by the American school 
despite the existence of English and post-colonial schools. 
• The term was coined by the British philosopher and legal reformer, Jeremy Bentham in 
his Principles of Morals and Legislation to acknowledge that territorially-based political 
units were coming to have a more clearly national character, making relations between 
them appear genuinely ‘international’. 
• The Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War between catholic 
and protestant states that formed the Holy Roman empire, is regarded by many as the 
key event ushering in the contemporary international system. established sovereignty 
as the distinguishing feature of the state. The period from 1648 to 1776 saw the 
international society that had been taking shape over the previous 200 years come to 
fruition. 
• The Westphalian world order established 'an exact and reciprocal Equality': the first 
formal acceptance of sovereign equality, ensuring territorial integrity and non-
interference in domestic affairs. (India’s Panchsheel doctrine may be seen inspired by 
the Westphalian idea). 
• Here the idea of international was mainly concentrated on regional politics, or politics 
among the neighbouring states. In fact, the same concerns were seen in Kautilya’s 
mandala theory. In terms of international affairs, it was dominated by European nations 
that dominated the colonial world. 
• The defeat of Napolean the leading states increasingly set themselves apart from the 
smaller ones as a kind of great powers' club. This system, known as the 'Concert of 
Europe', lasted until the First World War. It was characterized by regular meetings of 
the club, with the aims of maintaining the European balance of power and reaching 
collective decisions on various potentially divisive issues. 
• Since President of Jefferson of USA, he believed the essential principles of government 
to be of "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances 
with none.” 
Page 3


                                            
 
• The academic discipline of International Relations (frequently shortened to IR) emerged 
in the aftermath of World War I (1914–18), an important impetus being the desire to 
find ways of establishing enduring peace. 
• The central focus of the discipline has been on the study of the relations of states, and 
those relations have traditionally been understood primarily in diplomatic, military and 
strategic terms. The school has been primarily dominated by the American school 
despite the existence of English and post-colonial schools. 
• The term was coined by the British philosopher and legal reformer, Jeremy Bentham in 
his Principles of Morals and Legislation to acknowledge that territorially-based political 
units were coming to have a more clearly national character, making relations between 
them appear genuinely ‘international’. 
• The Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War between catholic 
and protestant states that formed the Holy Roman empire, is regarded by many as the 
key event ushering in the contemporary international system. established sovereignty 
as the distinguishing feature of the state. The period from 1648 to 1776 saw the 
international society that had been taking shape over the previous 200 years come to 
fruition. 
• The Westphalian world order established 'an exact and reciprocal Equality': the first 
formal acceptance of sovereign equality, ensuring territorial integrity and non-
interference in domestic affairs. (India’s Panchsheel doctrine may be seen inspired by 
the Westphalian idea). 
• Here the idea of international was mainly concentrated on regional politics, or politics 
among the neighbouring states. In fact, the same concerns were seen in Kautilya’s 
mandala theory. In terms of international affairs, it was dominated by European nations 
that dominated the colonial world. 
• The defeat of Napolean the leading states increasingly set themselves apart from the 
smaller ones as a kind of great powers' club. This system, known as the 'Concert of 
Europe', lasted until the First World War. It was characterized by regular meetings of 
the club, with the aims of maintaining the European balance of power and reaching 
collective decisions on various potentially divisive issues. 
• Since President of Jefferson of USA, he believed the essential principles of government 
to be of "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances 
with none.” 
• The same idea was taken forward and developed into a coherent policy by President 
James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy that opposed 
European colonialism in the Americas. 
1. It argued that any intervention in the politics of the Americas by foreign powers was 
a potentially hostile act against the United States. 
2. At the same time, the doctrine noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere 
with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal affairs of European 
countries. 
• The doctrine asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly 
separate spheres of influence. The separation intended to avoid situations that could 
make the ’New World’ a battleground for the ’Old World’ powers so that the U.S. could 
exert its influence undisturbed. (Indian foreign policy under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv 
Gandhi may be seen as application of Munroe doctrine in its neighbourhood.) 
• The nineteenth-century Europe's international society had taken the form of a joint 
hegemony by the great powers' club. The theoretical perspective that draws on this 
experience is known as the English School of international relations, the most 
systematic and comprehensive presentation of whose ideas came from Hedley Bull’s 
‘anarchical society’ through the so-called ‘billiard ball model’, focussing on the 5-6 
dominant powers. Sovereign states interacting within the state-system are thus seen to 
behave like a collection of billiard balls moving over the table and colliding with each 
other. 
• The billiard ball model of world politics has two key implications. 
1. First, it suggests a clear distinction between domestic politics, which is concerned 
with the state’s role in maintaining order and carrying out regulation within its own 
borders, and international politics, which is concerned with relations between and 
amongst states. In this sense, sovereignty is the hard shell of the billiard ball that 
divides the ‘outside’ from the ‘inside’. In short, borders matter. 
2. Second, it implies that patterns of conflict and cooperation within the international 
system are largely determined by the distribution of power among states. 
• The international arena was in a state of anarchy due to absence of world government. 
They recognized that some states are more powerful than others, and, indeed, that 
strong states may sometimes intervene in the affairs of weak ones. This is why the study 
of international politics has conventionally given particular attention to the interests 
and behaviour of so-called ‘great powers’. 
• The implications of international anarchy are profound. Most importantly, in the 
absence of any other force attending to their interests, states are forced to rely on self-
Page 4


                                            
 
• The academic discipline of International Relations (frequently shortened to IR) emerged 
in the aftermath of World War I (1914–18), an important impetus being the desire to 
find ways of establishing enduring peace. 
• The central focus of the discipline has been on the study of the relations of states, and 
those relations have traditionally been understood primarily in diplomatic, military and 
strategic terms. The school has been primarily dominated by the American school 
despite the existence of English and post-colonial schools. 
• The term was coined by the British philosopher and legal reformer, Jeremy Bentham in 
his Principles of Morals and Legislation to acknowledge that territorially-based political 
units were coming to have a more clearly national character, making relations between 
them appear genuinely ‘international’. 
• The Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War between catholic 
and protestant states that formed the Holy Roman empire, is regarded by many as the 
key event ushering in the contemporary international system. established sovereignty 
as the distinguishing feature of the state. The period from 1648 to 1776 saw the 
international society that had been taking shape over the previous 200 years come to 
fruition. 
• The Westphalian world order established 'an exact and reciprocal Equality': the first 
formal acceptance of sovereign equality, ensuring territorial integrity and non-
interference in domestic affairs. (India’s Panchsheel doctrine may be seen inspired by 
the Westphalian idea). 
• Here the idea of international was mainly concentrated on regional politics, or politics 
among the neighbouring states. In fact, the same concerns were seen in Kautilya’s 
mandala theory. In terms of international affairs, it was dominated by European nations 
that dominated the colonial world. 
• The defeat of Napolean the leading states increasingly set themselves apart from the 
smaller ones as a kind of great powers' club. This system, known as the 'Concert of 
Europe', lasted until the First World War. It was characterized by regular meetings of 
the club, with the aims of maintaining the European balance of power and reaching 
collective decisions on various potentially divisive issues. 
• Since President of Jefferson of USA, he believed the essential principles of government 
to be of "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances 
with none.” 
• The same idea was taken forward and developed into a coherent policy by President 
James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy that opposed 
European colonialism in the Americas. 
1. It argued that any intervention in the politics of the Americas by foreign powers was 
a potentially hostile act against the United States. 
2. At the same time, the doctrine noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere 
with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal affairs of European 
countries. 
• The doctrine asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly 
separate spheres of influence. The separation intended to avoid situations that could 
make the ’New World’ a battleground for the ’Old World’ powers so that the U.S. could 
exert its influence undisturbed. (Indian foreign policy under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv 
Gandhi may be seen as application of Munroe doctrine in its neighbourhood.) 
• The nineteenth-century Europe's international society had taken the form of a joint 
hegemony by the great powers' club. The theoretical perspective that draws on this 
experience is known as the English School of international relations, the most 
systematic and comprehensive presentation of whose ideas came from Hedley Bull’s 
‘anarchical society’ through the so-called ‘billiard ball model’, focussing on the 5-6 
dominant powers. Sovereign states interacting within the state-system are thus seen to 
behave like a collection of billiard balls moving over the table and colliding with each 
other. 
• The billiard ball model of world politics has two key implications. 
1. First, it suggests a clear distinction between domestic politics, which is concerned 
with the state’s role in maintaining order and carrying out regulation within its own 
borders, and international politics, which is concerned with relations between and 
amongst states. In this sense, sovereignty is the hard shell of the billiard ball that 
divides the ‘outside’ from the ‘inside’. In short, borders matter. 
2. Second, it implies that patterns of conflict and cooperation within the international 
system are largely determined by the distribution of power among states. 
• The international arena was in a state of anarchy due to absence of world government. 
They recognized that some states are more powerful than others, and, indeed, that 
strong states may sometimes intervene in the affairs of weak ones. This is why the study 
of international politics has conventionally given particular attention to the interests 
and behaviour of so-called ‘great powers’. 
• The implications of international anarchy are profound. Most importantly, in the 
absence of any other force attending to their interests, states are forced to rely on self-
help. 
• This caused power to be conceptualised in terms of a zero-sum game, wherein one 
state’s gain is another state’s loss. In this view, anarchy makes states fear for their 
survival, and because power is the ultimate guarantor of survival, they constantly 
monitor their position in the international power hierarchy. 
• In this sense power became both means and ends in IR. This continuous struggle for 
power is only restrained by the emergence of balance of power. BoP is a maxim of IR 
which is a condition in which no one state predominates over others, tending to create 
general equilibrium and curb the hegemonic ambitions of all states. 
• The Concert of Europe (1815) which emerged out of the Congress of Vienna, called by 
the Prince of Austria. The Concert was an attempt at formulating some nascent form of 
collective security. Some important developments included: 
1. The main diplomatic development was the greatly increased use of conferences to 
consider, and sometimes settle, matters of general interest. 
2. In international law, the powers sought to draft various treaties that laid down rules 
in various technical and economic areas as well as over a few humanitarian issues, 
notably slavery and the treatment of those wounded in war. 
3. The Concert did help to bring some measure of peace and order to Europe (nearly 
100 years till WWI), elsewhere it was one of the mechanisms whereby the European 
powers legitimized their increasing domination of Asia and Africa. 
• The First World War brought an abrupt end to the Concert of Europe. New powers, 
notably the USA and Japan, had appeared and there were increasing demands for 
national liberation in India and other parts of the European empires. Moreover, existing 
smaller states were less willing to be dictated to by the great powers' club. 
• In this phase, the systematic study of international politics as a discipline began led by 
the American school. The study looked to evolve theories to avoid war and establish 
peace. Eric Hobsbawm regards 1914 as the beginning of the ‘short twentieth century’.  
• One of the earliest proponents of this new and rising discipline was US President, 
Woodrow Wilson. Wilson was critical of the international order based on balance of 
power, which he believed was one of the reasons behind the ‘total war’. 
• Wilson proposed a ’New World Order’ against the Westphalian one which had existed 
till the First World War. Wilson proposed the liberal world order with new norms of 
behaviour for international politics. 
• President Woodrow Wilson’s vision of international society was articulated in his 
Page 5


                                            
 
• The academic discipline of International Relations (frequently shortened to IR) emerged 
in the aftermath of World War I (1914–18), an important impetus being the desire to 
find ways of establishing enduring peace. 
• The central focus of the discipline has been on the study of the relations of states, and 
those relations have traditionally been understood primarily in diplomatic, military and 
strategic terms. The school has been primarily dominated by the American school 
despite the existence of English and post-colonial schools. 
• The term was coined by the British philosopher and legal reformer, Jeremy Bentham in 
his Principles of Morals and Legislation to acknowledge that territorially-based political 
units were coming to have a more clearly national character, making relations between 
them appear genuinely ‘international’. 
• The Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War between catholic 
and protestant states that formed the Holy Roman empire, is regarded by many as the 
key event ushering in the contemporary international system. established sovereignty 
as the distinguishing feature of the state. The period from 1648 to 1776 saw the 
international society that had been taking shape over the previous 200 years come to 
fruition. 
• The Westphalian world order established 'an exact and reciprocal Equality': the first 
formal acceptance of sovereign equality, ensuring territorial integrity and non-
interference in domestic affairs. (India’s Panchsheel doctrine may be seen inspired by 
the Westphalian idea). 
• Here the idea of international was mainly concentrated on regional politics, or politics 
among the neighbouring states. In fact, the same concerns were seen in Kautilya’s 
mandala theory. In terms of international affairs, it was dominated by European nations 
that dominated the colonial world. 
• The defeat of Napolean the leading states increasingly set themselves apart from the 
smaller ones as a kind of great powers' club. This system, known as the 'Concert of 
Europe', lasted until the First World War. It was characterized by regular meetings of 
the club, with the aims of maintaining the European balance of power and reaching 
collective decisions on various potentially divisive issues. 
• Since President of Jefferson of USA, he believed the essential principles of government 
to be of "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances 
with none.” 
• The same idea was taken forward and developed into a coherent policy by President 
James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy that opposed 
European colonialism in the Americas. 
1. It argued that any intervention in the politics of the Americas by foreign powers was 
a potentially hostile act against the United States. 
2. At the same time, the doctrine noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere 
with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal affairs of European 
countries. 
• The doctrine asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly 
separate spheres of influence. The separation intended to avoid situations that could 
make the ’New World’ a battleground for the ’Old World’ powers so that the U.S. could 
exert its influence undisturbed. (Indian foreign policy under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv 
Gandhi may be seen as application of Munroe doctrine in its neighbourhood.) 
• The nineteenth-century Europe's international society had taken the form of a joint 
hegemony by the great powers' club. The theoretical perspective that draws on this 
experience is known as the English School of international relations, the most 
systematic and comprehensive presentation of whose ideas came from Hedley Bull’s 
‘anarchical society’ through the so-called ‘billiard ball model’, focussing on the 5-6 
dominant powers. Sovereign states interacting within the state-system are thus seen to 
behave like a collection of billiard balls moving over the table and colliding with each 
other. 
• The billiard ball model of world politics has two key implications. 
1. First, it suggests a clear distinction between domestic politics, which is concerned 
with the state’s role in maintaining order and carrying out regulation within its own 
borders, and international politics, which is concerned with relations between and 
amongst states. In this sense, sovereignty is the hard shell of the billiard ball that 
divides the ‘outside’ from the ‘inside’. In short, borders matter. 
2. Second, it implies that patterns of conflict and cooperation within the international 
system are largely determined by the distribution of power among states. 
• The international arena was in a state of anarchy due to absence of world government. 
They recognized that some states are more powerful than others, and, indeed, that 
strong states may sometimes intervene in the affairs of weak ones. This is why the study 
of international politics has conventionally given particular attention to the interests 
and behaviour of so-called ‘great powers’. 
• The implications of international anarchy are profound. Most importantly, in the 
absence of any other force attending to their interests, states are forced to rely on self-
help. 
• This caused power to be conceptualised in terms of a zero-sum game, wherein one 
state’s gain is another state’s loss. In this view, anarchy makes states fear for their 
survival, and because power is the ultimate guarantor of survival, they constantly 
monitor their position in the international power hierarchy. 
• In this sense power became both means and ends in IR. This continuous struggle for 
power is only restrained by the emergence of balance of power. BoP is a maxim of IR 
which is a condition in which no one state predominates over others, tending to create 
general equilibrium and curb the hegemonic ambitions of all states. 
• The Concert of Europe (1815) which emerged out of the Congress of Vienna, called by 
the Prince of Austria. The Concert was an attempt at formulating some nascent form of 
collective security. Some important developments included: 
1. The main diplomatic development was the greatly increased use of conferences to 
consider, and sometimes settle, matters of general interest. 
2. In international law, the powers sought to draft various treaties that laid down rules 
in various technical and economic areas as well as over a few humanitarian issues, 
notably slavery and the treatment of those wounded in war. 
3. The Concert did help to bring some measure of peace and order to Europe (nearly 
100 years till WWI), elsewhere it was one of the mechanisms whereby the European 
powers legitimized their increasing domination of Asia and Africa. 
• The First World War brought an abrupt end to the Concert of Europe. New powers, 
notably the USA and Japan, had appeared and there were increasing demands for 
national liberation in India and other parts of the European empires. Moreover, existing 
smaller states were less willing to be dictated to by the great powers' club. 
• In this phase, the systematic study of international politics as a discipline began led by 
the American school. The study looked to evolve theories to avoid war and establish 
peace. Eric Hobsbawm regards 1914 as the beginning of the ‘short twentieth century’.  
• One of the earliest proponents of this new and rising discipline was US President, 
Woodrow Wilson. Wilson was critical of the international order based on balance of 
power, which he believed was one of the reasons behind the ‘total war’. 
• Wilson proposed a ’New World Order’ against the Westphalian one which had existed 
till the First World War. Wilson proposed the liberal world order with new norms of 
behaviour for international politics. 
• President Woodrow Wilson’s vision of international society was articulated in his 
Fourteen Points to drive the agenda of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Wilson 
argued that 'a general association of nations must be formed' to preserve the coming 
peace. 
• Wilson underlined security dilemma as a major cause of war. The international anarchy 
led to arms race and competition to acquire power leading to insecurity. The League of 
nations was based on a new principle of collective security rather than a balance of 
power which would help reducing insecurity and arms race. 
• Secondly, another major cause of the war was viewed to be the protectionist policies 
followed by the states. Lenin quoted the First World War to be an ‘imperialist war’ to 
acquire more and more colonies. 
• Collective security refers to an arrangement where 'each state in the system accepts 
that the security of one is the concern of all, and agrees to join in a collective response 
to aggression'. It can be contrasted with an alliance system of security, where a number 
of states join together, usually as a response to a specific external threat (sometimes 
known as 'collective defence’.) 
• Wilson in his 14 points speech to US Congress, proposed solutions: 
I. League of Nations with world-wide membership 
II. Collective Security rather than BoP 
III. Freedom of Navigation on High Seas 
IV. Free Trade 
V. Self- Determination 
VI. Promotion of Democracy- This idea emerges out of the democratic peace thesis, 
first proposed by Kant. He believed that that liberal states are pacific in their 
international relations with other liberal states, creating a ‘zone of peace’. This 
was revived by Michael Doyle in 1980’s. 
• This phase was dominated by idealism which is essentially a variant of liberal 
internationalism: it reflects a strong optimism about the prospects for international 
peace, usually associated with a desire to reform the international system by 
strengthening international law and embracing cosmopolitan ethics. 
• World War I was meant to be the ‘war to end all wars’, and yet within a generation a 
second world war broke out. E.H. Carr in his work ‘Twenty Years Crisis, 1919-1939’ 
wherein he criticised the entire peace settlement of 1919 and the wider influence of 
‘utopianism’ on diplomatic affairs, especially a reliance on international bodies such as 
the League of Nations. He was sceptical of those individuals and states who claim to be 
acting in the name of universal morality.