Meaning & Nature of IR

0:15 hello students now we will study the meaning and the nature of international relations you know we have discussed the evolutionary history of the discipline so it would be interesting if we focus what the discipline is actually all about and what is the nature of our discipline we will be proceeding like this first we'll be talking about the difficulties in defining the discipline then we will understand how the discipline is understood both as a subject and object there are two different views so far as the understanding of international relations is concerned there is a narrow View and there is a broad view and we can include those narrow and Broad View under the traditional View and there is another

1:02 view called the current view then we will come to the nature of international relations particularly discussing whether is it's a subfield or subd discipline of political science or it is an autonomous discipline now let me focus on the difficulties in defining the discipline you know it's very difficult to define a very Dynamic discipline like international relations and fix its nature and scope once for all now we have already discussed how our discipline is dynamic and what was the role of major events and traditions for the evolution and the growth of the discipline so it's very difficult to fix its nature and scope and even to have a

1:48 fixed understanding of its meaning there are so many reasons for this first the term International politics international relations and global politics where and still use interchangeably and there is no unanimity among the scholars over the contents of this terms we have already discussed the issue of nomenclature of the discipline as some of them describe it as International politics others call it as international relations some call it as international studies and some even call it as World politics or global politics so there is no unanimity and that may be a reason why it's difficult to understand the meaning of the discipline Global Community is dynamic

2:35 and international environment also changes rapidly leading to the alteration in our approach and perspective so you know the global environment in which discipline is located you know the global environment in which we all are linked you know that changes so fast nobody thought about covid nobody thought about the how Hamas will attack Israel and to what extent it could do such a big damage nobody thought about you know Russia attacking Ukraine because everybody was thinking that it was just threatening but it happened so that explains that nothing you can predict in a 100% firmness that okay this will happen or this will not happen because it's a dynamic discipline

3:20 and because World politics is so Dynamic that's very difficult to understand the fixed meaning of international relations Scholars put forward the definitions that explains the essence of the subject rather than its main inquiry areas so this is another problem that whenever you know any scholar defines international relations you know they just focus on the essence of the subject rather than its main inquiry areas so that may be another problem why it's difficult to define the discipline the newness of the subject also create difficulties if definitions of the old social science disciplines like history economics or political science are still in the melting part then how one can expect any definition

4:06 of international relations as the last word so the traditional social science disciplines they are still struggling to find you know what should be the exact meaning what should be the exact nature what are the exact areas to study and it's so difficult for a dynamic discipline like international relations so it is another reason why it's difficult to Define and understand the discipline in a very fixed way way still know we will try to understand and analyze some of the important definitions given by prominent Scholars of the discipline so one good thing can be that you know when we look at the definitions that also will help us to understand how Dynamic the discipline is so that will be clear when we go to the definition part let us now focus on how

4:54 the subject is understood both as a subject and object the capital letter and small letters are used to distinguish the academic subject of international relationss in capital from the phenomena or the object of international relations that is in small letters as Chris Brown Put it nicely that international relations the upper case is the study of international relations the lower case saying IR doesn't describe events but seeks to understand the events means the capital IR that is the subject or the separate academic discipline distinct from other social sciences when we say international

5:40 relations not capitalized it describes the object of the disciplines investigation the actors institutions interest and identities on a global scale so I would just give a small example uh also you know when you say that you are going to attend the international relations class so you are talking about the discipline and when you sit in the class now you study international relations from the teacher you are talking about the object of the discipline different theories Concepts methods issues that you study under the object of the discipline we had discussed the subjects nomenclature and the disciplinary growth as highly

6:25 debated and even contested the same thing is also applicable about its meaning from as different Scholars understand its meaning differently now let me focus on the narrow view of international relations as I said there is no consensus about what international relations actually signifies I'm talking of the small case its preliminary meaning is the analysis of relations between the nation states so basic meaning you know you can say is what is international relations it's the analysis of relations between the nation states the scholar study these relations from different perspectives right and your analysis and understanding will

7:10 flow from the perspectives you choose if somebody studying international relations from realist perspective and you prefer to use that perspective you will be a realist if somebody studies it from critical perspective so you are a critical theorist so it is all your perspective what kind of you know theoretical lens you are using there are two broad views on Interstate relations particularly one can be called as the narrow View and the one view that can be called as the broad view in other words you can say International politics is the narrow View and international relations is the broad view let me now Focus the narrow view of international politics till

7:56 1950s it was known and studied as inter National politics you know morganto is considered as the main proponent of this view who believed that International politics is a struggle for and the use of power among nations I already mentioned that you know marant loved the concept of power and politics among nations so much that he even titled the famous work which he did or the famous book which he wrote that was called politics among nations Harold and Margaret Define International Politics as those aspects of interactions and relations of independent political communities in

8:41 which some element of opposition resistance or conflict of purposes or interest is present so basically you know they Define International politics in confrontational or in conflictual terms according to hotman International politics is a field of study that focused upon the process by which states are just their National interest to those of other states so basically know you will find that you know hutman is focusing on on the national interest of the states the power Politics the the kind of self-help the kind of Anarchy so these kinds of you know issues are important for all these definitions the emphasis is basically on the conflictual

9:28 and confrontational side of the state interaction so those who are talking of international politics they're basically highlighting the political interactions between and among the states and they are also talking about the competitive side of State interactions or the confrontational side of State interactions now let me focus on the broad view of international relations you know international relations encompasses all the relevant contents and relationship we discussed that in know it is much broader and you know wider than the term International politics because it not only studies the political interactions between the states only rather it focuses on non-political interactions such as

10:13 economic political know scientific know cultural every aspect all states relationship both conflictual and Cooperative friendly and unfriendly power relationship and peace relationship now they are all covered under the study of international relations it also deals with the best and the worst of humanity respect and hatred cooperation and War causes for War and the possibilities of Peace so all kinds of you know interaction State interactions particularly are the main focus of those who understand the discipline as international relations Hopman defined the discipline of international relations as it is is

10:59 concerned with the factors and the activities which affect the external policies and the power of the basic units into which the world is divided so Hopman is basically talking of the world consisting of independent and sovereign states and he's talking of the policies these countries follow towards each other so basically that was his understanding of international relations and when he's saying that he also making a distinction between the domestic politics and international politics ADH doctor thinks that the international relations primarily studies the nation states because by all standards they are the most important actor but also includes other important

11:46 groups such as race private or cultural bodies Regional organizations like NATO to the extent that they influence the interactions among the major groups that is the sovereign states so according to doctor you know international relations covers basically all kinds of interactions with other states or countries with other countries but at the same time he also recognizes the importance of States interaction with non-state entities but when it comes to the their Primacy the states are the uh Sovereign actors or they are the principal actors thus the international relations mainly study nation states their political and non-political relations their interactions with each other and various other political and

12:33 non-political entities and groups so when we talk of international rels we are not just talking of state to state interaction it also includes the interaction of the state with the non-state entities and it also includes all kind of interaction not just political you know it can be of any kind of interaction right so if you compare the traditional meaning of international politics and international relations you will find the content of international relation is much better and broader so the understanding of international relation is much broader and much better than the international politics definitions but all these two you know kinds of understanding the international politics View and the international relations view the privilege State over

13:19 all other International actors and entities so that is their common point so even if they are different from each other but they agree with this common point that you know the the states are the primary actors in international relations now let me focus on the current view the traditional concept entails a notion of international relations in the world of sovereign states the effects of Anarchy on their foreign policies the patterns of their interactions and the organization of world politics where State actors are regarded at the most crucial ones we have discussed how in those who think of international politics and international relations they think of these type of things that know states are the primary

14:06 actors you know they function in a condition of Anarchy they try to Checkmate each other through balance of power through diplomacy and through other foreign policy tools and that is the reason why they are considered as the primary and crucial actors so traditional view of world of States can be contrasted with a modern view or the Contemporary view that considers the world soci soety right so you can compare and contrast the world of states with the world of society which is the present Focus so State actors are important they also play an important role in international politics but at the same time we should not ignore the crossb activities by all kinds of individual actors social actors

14:51 International organizations or the operation of diplomacy and international law so all actors are important you know there are sports persons there are celebrities you know there are big CEOs of big companies there are you know popular leaders there are know opinion makers so they are all important for understanding their role is important to understand how the world politics actually operates and works so we cannot ignore the social side of international politics or social dimensions of international politics key actors include economic entities such as the transnational corporations like Google Amazon Alibaba Reliance Ambani Etc the non-governmental organizations

15:37 like the Amnesty International Transparency International Etc global social movements such as the anti-globalization movement or anti- nuclear movements as well as the international organizations such as the United Nations and supernational Arrangements such as the European Union or Asian so all these actors you know they may be you know economic entities they may be non-governmental organizations there may be different kind of social movements occupy New York movement you know anti- globalization movement maybe anti nuclear movement maybe environmental movement so there are so many groups and organizations they are also playing an important role in international politics we cannot deny their role and at the same time there

16:23 are also you know prominent International organizations like the United Nations the IMF the world Bank the supranational arrangements such European union or the Asian that also play an important role in world politics although in a different way thus the world is organized as a formal Anarchy where States retain conable power and privileges but this International structure is also defined by both material and normative elements you know so material elements are important like you know balance of power your position in the international hierar how Anarchy operates you know the state structure so everything International structure everything is important for understanding the material Factor but at the same time the normative factors are

17:10 important the rule of you know international law the role of world public opinion the rule of you know ideas you know they are also important for understanding the working of international politics similarly you know it's a system where the states share the stage with a multitude of other actors and where trains in global politics are saved not only by the states but also by this variety of other actors and forces so we have reach start a stage where the states are the main actors but it is not the only actor there are other entities there are companies there are interg governmental organizations there are you know normative factors there are you know material factors there are you know interg governmental organizations there are supranational organizations there

17:56 are different kinds of movements so that will help us to have a comprehensive and a better perspective of international relation so the discipline is moving away from the study of international relations and focusing on the study of global Society so G are those days when we think of international Politics as something like the world of States rather we are now living in a society which is much integrated which is much globally connected where there is information technology re potion and where you feel the impact of an event that may have occurred in thousand kilometers away so now we are living in a global Society right so this is a much

18:42 broader view than the traditional you know understanding of international relations now let me talk about the nature of international relations whether it's a subdiscipline of political science whether it is an interdisciplinary discipline or whether it enjoys an autonomous disciplinary status as I said you in the beginning that the nature of international relations is highly contested whether it is an interdisplinary field or a subject in its own right so there are basically two views first view considers that it is an interdisciplinary field it is highly dependent on other social science disciplines so it is not an independent discipline and others consider it as a separate discipline like any other discipline such as sociology political

19:28 science or economics Scholars argue that there is nothing peculiar to the subject matter of ir so basically those who think in this line they argue that there is nothing you study very uniquely very very differently from other disciplines because other disciplines also study and capture all the issues you study under international relations international relations Burrows heavily from other social science disciplines so that is the argument that a lot lot of issues a lot of methodological issues a lot of you know tools and techniques borrowed from other social science disciplines and that's why you know it is heavily dependent on other social science disciplines for its own disciplinary stat many others consider it as a

20:16 subdiscipline of political science and there are so many reasons for that the first is the domestic and foreign policy issues are now closely intertwined so as we have discussed you know there was a Great Divide those who considered domestic Politics as separate from International politics but now we discussed that now in the Contemporary perspective on world politics that division is not now acceptable but still there there is a lot of debate that you know international relations and political science they are more or less talking of the same thing because domestic issues are now influencing to a great extent the international issues and international issues are also influencing the domestic politics you can't think of you know environmental issue economic issues trade issues you

21:03 know by dividing them as domestic or International because they influence each other secondly they cover analysis of the same phenomena right State you know power ideology Authority law although from different points of view so there are many issues you know you can study from political science perspective from IR perspective both the disciplines cover almost the same issues although I have studies it in a slightly different manner so that is another point on the basis of which some Scholars claim that it is a subdiscipline of political science thirdly besides States mod World also faces growing activity from non-governmental organization such as political parties interest groups and individuals so we already discussed about the role of non-state actors so

21:49 basically those who think in this line they think that know both political science and international relations they talk of the same actors maybe State actors maybe non-state actors so that is the reason why they consider it as a subdiscipline of political science finally the same research methods are used by both the disciplines they may be document analysis content analysis event analysis observation or comparison so you know the methodological issues are same methodologies and tools of data collection are same you know the same way they conduct the research so so that may be a reason why many of these schar consider international relations as a subdiscipline of political science in many Indian universities a is start as a

22:35 part of political science including in our University in aligar Muslim University you are offered a course in international relations as a part of your political science program so even if you look at the upsc union Public Service Commission you will find that they are not offering a separate subject on international relations rather international relations and political science are offered as one and the same optional what they call psir as a subject so on that basis there are arguments that you know political science is a dominant subject and international relations subdiscipline of political science now let us discuss about the autonomous discipline issue there are still some high Scholars who

23:21 even think in the same way are the political scientists think that it's a subdiscipline of political science because there is no consensus on how based to understand its subject matter in conceptual and theoretical terms or its methods of knowledge production so basically you know there is argument within the discipline of international relations that it's not a separate discipline because there are so many issues in its conceptual and theoretical Arena or its methods of knowledge production that is more or less the same so because of this reason it is not just the political scientist think that that is a subdiscipline of political science rather some International relation Scholars think that it is a subdiscipline of political science

24:07 second differences in National setting sometimes also lead to the same conclusion you know you are studying international relations with Chinese characteristics you are studying international relations with Indian characteristics you are studying international relations with African characteristics so there are lots of diversity in the study of international relations and different countries are now studying International lessons in their own way and that may be a reason why there is no unit in the discipline and there's a lot of diversity and because of this diversity issue many consider it not as a separate discipline many other International relation Scholars however considered it as independent academic discipline so we

24:53 have seen how some consider it as a part of political science how some consider that it it is not an independent discipline because it it is highly dependent on other social science disciplines but now there are some Scholars who seriously argue that no it is an independent discipline in its own Merit there are different kinds of argument made for this now the first is the interaction between international relations and other social science and disciplines increased over the years but its dependence on other subjects has been considerably reduced so you know there was no problem or there was no doubt we have seen that in the early years of international relations how it borrowed heavily from history political

25:38 science economics and in in major parts of the world it was studied as a part of political science and still we have seen how it is you know offered as a paper in political science in India uh in Indian universities and colleges but despite that you know we can certainly say that over the years over the period of time international relations has established itself as a separate discipline and its dependence on other social science disciplines has been reduced substantially second an autonomous academic discipline requires mainly a systematic body of theory appropriate methodology and a distinct subject matter and today IR meets all the criterias so if you think of an

26:25 independent discipline and if you give priority to these factors you know it must have a separate methodology it has a you know systematic body of theory or it as a distinct subject matter so all these things are there we have already discussed that know they are all already there in international relations and there are arguments that you know on that basis we can also consider International relation as a separate discipline uh third you know it's not very uncommon for social science disciplines to adopt interdisciplinary and multidisiplinary approach if you look at other social science disciplines you will find that the system Theory which originated in biology first it was you know used in sociology and in anthropology then it

27:12 came to political science and and subsequently it was used in international relations so if there is anything good in terms of theory in terms of ideas in terms of concept in terms of methods though there is no harm to bring it or to borrow it from other social science disciplines you know other social science disciplines can also borrow the same things from international relations if there is any advancement in these areas so there is no problem there is no harm borrowing from the other social science disciplines now all disciplines including natural and medical Sciences are moving towards the transdisciplinary approach rather than the purely interdisciplinary and multidisiplinary approach the covid is the best example

27:58 right so if you just apply one single disciplinary perspective or interdisciplinary or even a multi-disciplinary perspective you will not understand the covid in its totality so you need a medical science approach you need a social science approach you need a political science approach you need an economics approach you need you know Natural Science approach to understand a v issue called covid so for example if you are a medical scientist you will look at at the medical issues related to covid for example uh you know you can think of the origin of the virus the severity of the virus the mutation of the virus the development of vaccines for dealing with the virus so these are

28:43 all medical issues if you are an economist you will look at the lockdown the effect of lockdown on global economy the national economy the rising level of poverty and unemployment so these are the economic that also need to be studied if you are from political science you will understand the role of opposition and the role of the ruling party and how you know the opposition was attacking the ruling party for its poor handling of covid that we have seen in India that we have seen uh in America in Brazil how the political leaders who were not successful in dealing with the uh covid you know they lost power I'm talking of Donald Trump of America or

29:29 bonaro of Brazil so you know you need a political approach you know how there is politics over covid over the origin of covid over the spread of the covid you know how there is politics over the distribution of vaccines for dealing with covid you know why India supplied covid vaccines to Bhutan to maldiv to Sri Lanka and many other countries but why not to Pakistan so these are all political you know issues you have to deal with so you need a political approach to deal with a comprehensive phenomena called Co you also need a sociological approach as a sociologist you have to discuss the role of religion the role of culture the covid appropriate behavior social distancing you know these are the issues that you have to study from a sociological

30:14 perspective as a psychologist you have to study the role of individual factors the role of psychology how people you know they lost their near and dear family members how they were unemployed how they are dealing with with mental stress and Trauma how they were feeling lonely how they committed suicide you know so these are the issues that is covered by the psychologist uh then if you are a geographer you will look at the fact that why you know many people in Europe in America they lost their lives to covid and why not in you know it it happened in the same way in Africa in Asia or in other continents so you know there may be some reason that why more you know Europeans and more white people were killed duee to covid than

31:01 the black people I'm not stereotyping the issue but I'm saying there may be a you know geographical regon maybe our immunity is better than those people or maybe we are familiar with this kind of you know issues like Chia denu and many other issues so as a geographer you look at the issue in a very different perspective you look at the issue why you know many people have lost their life to covid in Europe and and America in comparison to the people in Asia Africa or even Latin America so there may be some issue from the geographical perspective you know there may be some historical perspective you know if you want to study Co from the historical perspective then you have to look at the

31:46 history of the pandemic particularly starting with the Spanish Flu of 1918 that you know affected almost 500 million people at that time and it also killed 50 million people so you know you need a very comprehensive approach you need a very transdisciplinary approach you can't divide in the the subjects into different artificial boundaries and you say that you know one perspective will help you to understand the issue in its totality so you need to be a medical practitioner you need the help of The Economist you need the help of the political scientist you need the help of the geographer you need the help of the you know psychologist many people should come together form a research team and understand the issue as important as Co

32:34 so so if all the disciplines are now borrowing from each other they are influenced by each other they are they borrowing the ideas the theories the concepts the methods from each other so there is no problem for international relation so it's natural for every subject nowadays to understand B get influenced you know by other disciplines so on that basis we can say that you know international relations it not just a multidisiplinary discipline rather it is now trying to become a transdisciplinary discipline borrowing ideas borrowing knowledge and methods perspectives and debates from many other disciplines that is one thing we must recognize thus IR is a a dynamic discipline and this is why its meaning disciplinary boundaries and knowledge

33:20 production methods are constantly changing so that shows that there is no problem in our discipline because you know it's a very dynamic discipline as we discussed and the everything because it's a dynamic discipline so it is natural that you know its methods of knowledge production research methology you know theories you know Concepts you know ideas everything are changing and we must accept that you can't stop the change right it's you know it's popularly said that know the only permanent thing in the world is change and I think you know there is no other better discipline that can better understand this concept you know if change is permanent thing in the world so you need a discipline that will analyze that will understand that will predict about the

34:05 change and that so this may be a reason why now many universities and research institutions in India and abroad they have started establishing separate international relations departments as it has emerged as an academic study uh with a distinct professional identity and discourse so you know nowadays people are realizing the importance of international relation and that is why you will find nowadays many of the University not just within the country many foreign universities they are also offering separate courses on international studies on International lessons or global politics whatever you say so that is how you know our discipline is so interesting so fascinating and so you can say you know

34:52 resourceful that it helps you to understand a comprehensive view of the world how how things are happening in the world how things are moving in the world how things are you know first changing in the world so everything you can understand in a very comprehensive very systematic very scientific Way by studying the discipline of international relations let us summarize what we have discussed so far first we discussed that it's really difficult to define a very Dynamic discipline like international relations and permanently fixed its nature and scope this is because of its interdisciplinary nature theoretical pluralism evolving character and diverse Focus areas we also discussed that

35:39 Capital international relations that is the subject is used to distinguish the small international relations that is the object we also discussed that there are three different views and the discipline first the narrow view the broad view and the current View in the narrow view we associated with International politics which concentrates mainly on state tostate interactions power dynamics military security and traditional diplomacy the broad view is associated with international relations which encompasses a wide range of factors issues and theoretical perspectives while it includes the

36:25 traditional focus on State to State relations and political issues international relations also explores economic social cultural and legal dimensions of global interactions the current view is associated with global Society approach which extends the scope of analysis even further and highlights the interconnectedness of local and Global processes and recognizes that contemporary political challenges often require solutions that transcend National boundaries and traditional political structures the nature of international relations is also

37:11 contested whether it is an independent academic discipline or a subdiscipline of political science but now it has been widely accepted that international relations has emerged as a separate academic field of study with a distinct professional identity and discourse so thank you for your attention we will discuss about the scope of international relations in our next video thank you once again [Music]