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International relations theory

International relations theory is the study of international relations (IR) from a theoretical perspective. It seeks to explain behaviors and outcomes in international politics. The four most prominent schools of thought are realism, liberalism, constructivism, and rational choice.[1] Whereas realism and liberalism make broad and specific predictions about international relations, constructivism and rational choice are methodological approaches that focus on certain types of social explanation for phenomena.[2]

This article is about the theoretical discipline. For international studies, see International relations.

International relations, as a discipline, is believed to have emerged after World War I with the establishment of a Chair of International Relations, the Woodrow Wilson Chair held by Alfred Eckhard Zimmern[3] at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.[4] The modern study of international relations, as a theory, has sometimes been traced to realist works such as E. H. Carr's The Twenty Years' Crisis (1939) and Hans Morgenthau's Politics Among Nations (1948).[5][6]


The most influential IR theory work of the post-World War II era was Kenneth Waltz's Theory of International Politics (1979), which pioneered neorealism. Neoliberalism (or liberal institutionalism) became a prominent competitive framework to neorealism, with prominent proponents such as Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye. During the late 1980s and 1990s, constructivism emerged as a prominent third IR theoretical framework, in addition to existing realist and liberal approaches. IR theorists such as Alexander Wendt, John Ruggie, Martha Finnemore, and Michael N. Barnett helped pioneer constructivism. Rational choice approaches to world politics became increasingly influential in the 1990s, in particular with works by James Fearon, such as the bargaining model of war.


There are also "post-positivist/reflectivist" IR theories (which stand in contrast to the aforementioned "positivist/rationalist" theories), such as critical theory.

Early history of the field[edit]

Early international relations scholarship in the interwar years focused on the need for the balance of power system to be replaced with a system of collective security. These thinkers were later described as "Idealists".[6] The leading critique of this school of thinking was the "realist" analysis offered by Carr.


However, a more recent study, by David Long and Brian Schmidt in 2005, offers a revisionist account of the origins of the field of international relations. They claim that the history of the field can be traced back to late 19th century imperialism and internationalism. The fact that the history of the field is presented by "great debates", such as the realist-idealist debate, does not correspond with the historic evidence found in earlier works: "We should once and for all dispense with the outdated anachronistic artifice of the debate between the idealists and realists as the dominant framework for and understanding the history of the field". Their revisionist account claims that, up until 1918, international relations already existed in the form of colonial administration, race science, and race development.[7]

Statism: Realists believe that nation states are the main actors in international politics. As such it is a state-centric theory of international relations. This contrasts with liberal international relations theories which accommodate roles for non-state actors and international institutions. This difference is sometimes expressed by describing a realist world view as one which sees nation states as billiard balls, liberals would consider relationships between states to be more of a cobweb.

[11]

Survival: Realists believe that the international system is governed by , meaning that there is no central authority.[9] Therefore, international politics is a struggle for power between self-interested states.[12]

anarchy

Self-help: Realists believe that no other states can be relied upon to help guarantee the state's survival.

Realist (or Hobbesian, after ), which views states as independent competing units

Thomas Hobbes

Rationalist (or Grotian, after ), which looks at how states can work together and cooperate for mutual benefit

Hugo Grotius

Revolutionist (or Kantian, after ), which looks at human society as transcending borders or national identities

Immanuel Kant

The "English School" of international relations theory, also known as International Society, Liberal Realism, Rationalism or the British institutionalists, maintains that there is a 'society of states' at the international level, despite the condition of "anarchy", i.e., the lack of a ruler or world state. Despite being called the English School many of the academics from this school were neither English nor from the United Kingdom.


A great deal of the work of the English School concerns the examination of traditions of past international theory, casting it, as Martin Wight did in his 1950s-era lectures at the London School of Economics, into three divisions:


In broad terms, the English School itself has supported the rationalist or Grotian tradition, seeking a middle way (or via media) between the power politics of realism and the "utopianism" of revolutionism. The English School rejects behavioralist approaches to international relations theory.


One way to think about the English School is that, while some theories identify with just one of the three historical traditions (Classical Realism and Neorealism owe a debt to the Realist or Hobbesian tradition; Marxism to the Revolutionist tradition, for example), English School looks to combine all of them. While there is great diversity within the 'school', much of it involves either examining when and how the different traditions combine or dominate, or focusing on the Rationalist tradition, especially the concept of International Society (which is the concept most associated with English School thinking). The English School maintains that "the most distinguished theories of international politics can be divided into three basic categories: realism, which emphasises the concept of 'international anarchy'; revolutionism, which concentrates on the aspect of the 'moral unity' of the international society, and rationalism, which is based on the aspect of 'international dialogue and intercourse."[41] Therefore, the English School highlights the assiduous interaction between the main strands of IR theory in the understanding of interstate relations.


In Hedley Bull's The Anarchical Society, a seminal work of the school, he begins by looking at the concept of order, arguing that states across time and space have come together to overcome some of the danger and uncertainty of the Hobbesian international system to create an international society of states that share certain interests and ways of thinking about the world. By doing so, they make the world more ordered, and can eventually change international relations to become significantly more peaceful and beneficial to their shared interests.

Post-structuralism[edit]

Post-structuralism differs from most other approaches to international politics because it does not see itself as a theory, school or paradigm which produces a single account of the subject matter. Instead, post-structuralism is an approach, attitude, or ethos that pursues critique in particular way. Post-structuralism sees critique as an inherently positive exercise that establishes the conditions of possibility for pursuing alternatives. It states that "Every understanding of international politics depends upon abstraction, representation and interpretation". Scholars associated with post-structuralism in international relations include Richard K. Ashley, James Der Derian, Michael J. Shapiro, R. B. J. Walker,[42] and Lene Hansen.

Psychological approaches to international relations[edit]

Psychological approaches to international relations focus on the impact of cognition and emotion on world politics. Through the analysis of political decision making, scholars have examined a broad spectrum of issues ranging from nuclear strategy and nuclear proliferation to deterrence, reassurance, signaling, and bargaining, as well as conflict management and conflict resolution.[49]


In the 1970s, scholars of world politics started drawing on new research in cognitive psychology to explain decisions to cooperate or compete in international relations. Cognitive psychology had assigned cognition a central role in the explanation of human decision-making. It found that people's behavior often deviates from the expectations of the traditional rational choice model. To explain these deviations, cognitive psychologists developed several concepts and theories. These include theories of misperception, the importance of beliefs and schemas in information processing, and the use of analogies and heuristics in interpreting information, among others.


Scholars of international relations took up these insights and applied them to issues in world politics. For example, Robert Jervis identified patterns of leaders' misperception in historical cases that led to unwanted escalation, failures of deterrence, and the outbreak of war.[50] Deborah Welch Larson and Rose McDermott have referred to belief systems and schemas as central drivers of information processing and foreign policy decision-making.[51] Keren Yarhi-Milo has investigated how policy-makers rely on cognitive shortcuts called "heuristics" when they assess the intentions of their adversaries.[52]


In addition to cognitive psychology, social psychology has long inspired research in international relations. Social psychologists have identified a fundamental human need for identity – the way in which a person or a group is, or wishes to be known by others. The resulting identity formation dynamics can contribute to conflicts between and among groups. Scholars of international relations have drawn on insights in social psychology to explore the dynamics of conflict among and between groups as well as processes of conflict management and resolution.[53]


More recently, scholars of international relations have started drawing on emotion research in psychology to shed light on issues in world politics. Research in psychology suggests that affect and emotions are core drivers in decision making and behavior. This has significant consequences for our understanding of foreign policy, escalation to war, conflict resolution, and numerous other issues in world politics. For example, Rose McDermott and Jonathan Mercer were among the first to use these new findings to argue that affective experience can have adaptive functions by facilitating quick and effective decision-making.[54] Thomas Dolan has drawn on affective intelligence theory to show that some emotional responses leaders may have to new events during wartime, such as joy or anxiety, tend to bring about change in their approaches to war, while others, like contentment or frustration, are prone to produce resistance to change.[55] Combining insights from experimental psychology and the sociology of emotions, Robin Markwica has developed "emotional choice theory" as an alternative model to rational choice theory and constructivist perspectives.[56]


Evolutionary perspectives, such as from evolutionary psychology, have been argued to help explain many features of international relations.[57] Humans in the ancestral environment did not live in states and likely rarely had interactions with groups outside of a very local area. However, a variety of evolved psychological mechanisms, in particular those for dealing with inter group interactions, are argued to influence current international relations. These include evolved mechanisms for social exchange, cheating and detecting cheating, status conflicts, leadership, ingroup and outgroup distinction and biases, coalitions, and violence.

Theory in international relations scholarship[edit]

In a 1955 article, Kenneth W. Thompson characterized IR theory as a recent phenomena in political science scholarship.[58] Thompson distinguished between "normative" IR theory, "general" IR theory, and IR theory as the "basis of action."[58]


In recent years, several IR scholars have remarked on what they see as a trend away from IR theory in IR scholarship.[59][60][61][62][63] The September 2013 issue of European Journal of International Relations and the June 2015 issue of Perspectives on Politics debated the state of IR theory.[64][65] A 2016 study showed that while theoretical innovations and qualitative analyses are a large part of graduate training, journals favor middle-range theory, quantitative hypothesis testing and methodology for publishing.[66]

Diplomatic history

Foreign policy

International legal theories

List of international relations journals

Philosophy of war

Baylis, John; Steve Smith; and Patricia Owens. (2008) The Globalisation of World Politics, OUP, 4th edition.

Braumoeller, Bear. (2013) The Great Powers and the International System: Systemic Theory in Empirical Perspective. Cambridge University Press.

Burchill, et al. eds. (2005) Theories of International Relations, 3rd edition, Palgrave,  1-4039-4866-6

ISBN

Chernoff, Fred. Theory and Meta-Theory in International Relations: Concepts and Contending Accounts, Palgrave Macmillan.

Guilhot Nicolas, ed. (2011) The Invention of International Relations Theory: Realism, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the 1954 Conference on Theory.

Haas, Michael (2017). International Relations Theory: Competing Empirical Paradigms, Lexington,  9781498544993

ISBN

Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society, Columbia University Press.

Jackson, Robert H., and Georg Sørensen (2013) Introduction to International Relations: Theories and Approaches, Oxford, OUP, 5th ed.

Lavelle, Kathryn C., (2020) The Challenges of Multinationalism, New Haven: Yale University Press.  9780300230451

ISBN

Van der Pijl, Kees, The Discipline of Western Supremacy: Modes of Foreign Relations and Political Economy, Volume III, Pluto Press, 2014,  9780745323183

ISBN

Morgenthau, Hans. Politics Among Nations

Pettman, Ralph (2010) World Affairs: An Analytical Overview. World Scientific Press.

Waltz, Kenneth. Theory of International Politics

Waltz, Kenneth. Man, the State, and War, Columbia University Press.

Weber, Cynthia. (2004) International Relations Theory. A Critical Introduction, 2nd edition, Taylor & Francis,  0-415-34208-2

ISBN

Wendt, Alexander. Social Theory of International Politics, Cambridge University Press.

Jack Snyder's in Foreign Policy

'One World, Rival Theories'

's 'One World, Many Theories' in Foreign Policy

Stephen Walt

Interviews with key IR theorists

Theory Talks