Political Science Concepts in the Study of International Relations and in an Introductory Course

1984 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 20-23
Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Diplomatic History ◽  
Introductory Course ◽  
Compelling Argument ◽  
Current Events ◽  
The Subject ◽  
University Leaders

The most compelling argument for including international relations within political science is that its focus and core principles are found in the dominant concerns of political science.Until the late 1930's, approaches to the study of international relations were those of diplomatic history, international law or current events. History for a time had a monopoly on the study of international relations and the classic works of Harold Nicolson, Webster, Mowat and Butterfield were the centerpieces of the subject. Diplomatic history was a branch of historical studies and its rigor and systematic approach earned the admiration of university leaders.International law completed with diplomatic history and added a new dimension of hope for change and reform.

Indicators of Cross-National and International Patterns

1969 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Rummel
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International System ◽  
Diplomatic History ◽  
World War ◽  
World Government ◽  
World Citizenship ◽  
Current Events

Substantive foci in the study of international relations have altered in time with changes in the international system and the coming of academic age of new generations of scholars. Prior to World War I, the central substantive concepts were international law and diplomacy. Historiography was the major method, and, given the nature of the historical approach during this period, few theoretical generalizations emerged.World War I revolutionized the study of international relations. The horrible consequences of this first modern war and the idealistic fervor of the war years were instrumental in overlaying the traditional concepts of international law and diplomacy with two new foci: current events and international organizations. Feeling that the citizen should be made aware of the international world—educated for world citizenship—and that he should be given the guidance that the diplomatic history and international law specialist did not provide, many international relations scholars began to accent contemporary affairs. This new interest, however, had no methodological underpinning except fidelity to the “facts,” and involved few attempts to delineate recurring patterns of events. The “guidance” given to the student often turned out to be little more than special pleading.The focus on international organizations also reflected an internationalistic viewpoint. International organizations were conceived of as the structural beginning of world government and as a mechanism for international understanding and peace. This focus articulated itself in descriptive studies of the structure and rules of international organizations, past and present, and blueprints for their alteration.

An International Relations Perspective on the Reform Needs of the Human Rights Council

2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-80
Author(s):  
Wolfgang S. Heinz
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Subject

Abstract: This article approaches the matter of institutional reform of the United Nations Human Rights Council from an international relations perspective. A well-known tension exists between State representatives acting for their governments in international organisations, but whose decisions are presented as UN policies. The latter should be guided primarily by the UN Charter and public international law. However, in reality, different worldviews and foreign policy considerations play a more significant role. In a comprehensive stock-take, the article looks at four major dimensions of the Council, starting with structure and dynamics and major trends, followed by its country and thematic activities, and the role of key actors. Council reform proposals from both States and civil society are explored. Whilst the intergovernmental body remains the most important authority responsible for the protection of human rights in the international sphere, it has also been the subject of considerable criticism. Although it has made considerable progress towards enlarging its coverage and taking on more challenging human rights crises, among some of its major weaknesses are the election of human rights-unfriendly countries into its ranks, the failure to apply stronger sanctions on large, politically influential countries in the South and North, and lack of influence on human rights crises and chronic human rights problems in certain countries. Whilst various reform proposals have emerged from States and NGOs, other more far reaching propositions are under sometimes difficult negotiations. In the mid- to long-term, the UN human rights machinery can only have a stronger and more lasting impact if support from national/local actors and coalitions in politics and society can be strengthened.

Some Problems in the History of the Law of Nations in Asia (1963)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. H. Alexandrowicz
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Law Of Nations ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law

This chapter considers problems in the study of the history of the law of nations in Asia. It argues that international lawyers have focused their attention on the legal aspects of contemporary problems of international relations and politics, and on the operation of tribunals and quasi-tribunals and the case law they produce. Writers of present day treatises of international law devote just a few introductory pages to the history of the subject and these short chapters are often based on similar introductions in nineteenth-century treatises. The chapter discusses some of the elements of legal change in which European–Asian relations played a significant role; the gradual elimination of the natural law outlook by growing European positivism; the principle of universality of the law of nations and the principle of identity of de facto and de jure State sovereignty; and the use of capitulations to delay the ‘entry’ of Asian States into the family of nations.

A declaration for international relations (based on Islamic Sufi teachings)

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 584-601
Author(s):  
Bijan Bidabad
Keyword(s):  
International Relation ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeEstablishing peace, security and discipline for individuals, nations and states in contemporary international order is of the highest importance at the present time. Regularization should be done through approaching natural rights of individuals and also through observing humanistic characteristics and ethics. The aim of this paper is to introduce a legal base to promote international relations. Design/methodology/approachA draft for International Relation Declaration based on Islamic Sufi teachings has been compiled, and actually it is an abstract of an extended survey on the subject and opinions in relation to the current international problems. FindingsThis draft has been codified in three main topics of public international law, foreign policy and diplomacy. Research limitations/implicationsTo conclude the draft, it should be scrutinized by many scholars in different disciplines, in the next step. Practical implicationsAs the mystical characteristics of Sufism and Gnosticism of all religions (Tariqa) are all united and based upon love towards the Creator and consequently towards the creatures of God, these provisions could be agreed upon and put into practice. Social implicationsDelicateness, truthfulness and righteousness of Islamic Sufism, which is the gist of all those elites’ divine messages for thousands of years, one after another, can be of a great help to regulate international relations. Originality/valueInternational Law scholars have not looked at this subject matter from the Sufism viewpoint. This paper will shed a light on this point of view from other angles related to the international law such as politics, law and institutions.

International Relations Theory, International Law, and the Regime Governing Atrocities in Internal Conflicts

1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Abbott
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Internal Conflicts ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Cross Fertilization

Over the last ten years, international relations (IR) theory, a branch of political science, has animated some of the most exciting scholarship in international law.1 If a true joint discipline has not yet emerged,2 scholars in both fields have clearly established the value of interdisciplinary cross-fertilization. Yet IR—like international law—comprises several distinct theoretical approaches or “methods.” While this complexity makes interactions between the disciplines especially rich, it also makes them difficult to explore concisely. This essay thus constitutes something of a minisymposium in itself: it summarizes the four principal schools of IR theory—conventionally identified as “realist,” “institutionalist,” “liberal” and “constructivist”—and then applies them to the norms and institutions governing serious violations of human dignity during internal conflicts (the “atrocities regime”).

scholarly journals From International Law and International Relations to Law and World Politics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Whytock
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
Direct Role ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Interdisciplinary Scholarship ◽  
Private Actors

Political scientists—primarily in the discipline’s international relations subfield—have long studied international law. After considering how political scientists and legal scholars define international law, this article identifies five stages of political science research on international law, including the current interdisciplinary international law and international relations (IL/IR) stage, and it reviews three trends in political science research that constitute an emerging sixth stage of interdisciplinary scholarship: a law and world politics (L/WP) stage. First, moving beyond the “IL” in IL/IR scholarship, international relations scholars are increasingly studying domestic law and domestic courts—not only their foundational role in supporting international law and international courts but also their direct role in core areas of international relations, including international conflict and foreign policy. Second, moving beyond the “IR” in IL/IR scholarship, political scientists are adapting their research on international law to the broader world politics trend in political science by studying types of law—including extraterritoriality, conflict of laws, private international law, and the law of transnational commercial arbitration—that govern the transnational activity of private actors and can either support or hinder private global governance. Third, moving beyond the domestic-international divide, political scientists are increasingly rejecting “international law exceptionalism,” and beginning to take advantage of theoretical convergence across the domestic, comparative, and international politics subfields to develop a better general understanding law and politics.

scholarly journals TOWARDS AN INFRASTRUCTURE-BASED SOCIOLOGY OF DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY PRACTICES: THE 'PILOT CASE' OF RUSSIA

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Musiani
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Multiple Challenges

"Digital sovereignty" is the idea that states should “reaffirm” their authority over the Internet and protect their citizens, institutions, and businesses from the multiple challenges to their nation’s self-determination in the digital sphere. According to this principle, sovereignty depends on more than supranational alliances or international legal instruments, military might or trade: it depends on locally-owned, controlled and operated innovation ecosystems, able to increase states’ technical and economic independence and autonomy. Presently, digital sovereignty is understood primarily as a legal concept and a set of political discourses. As a consequence, it is predominantly analysed by political science, international relations and international law. However, the study of digital sovereignty as a set of infrastructures and socio-material practices has been largely neglected. In this proposal, I argue that the concept of (digital) sovereignty should also be studied via the infrastructure-embedded “situated practices” of various political and economic projects which aim to establish autonomous digital infrastructures in a hyperconnected world. Although this contribution is also a call for a wider and comparative research programme, I will focus here on the “pilot case” of Russia, which is the subject of an ongoing research project. Ultimately, the analysis of infrastructure-embedded digital sovereignty practices in Russia shows how the Russian discourse on Internet sovereignty as a centralized and top-down apparatus paradoxically open up technical and legal opportunities for mundane resistances and the existence of “parallel” Runets, where particular instantiations of informational freedom are still possible.

scholarly journals The “philosophy” of economic diplomacy as an instrument of “soft law”: history and modernity

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-134
Author(s):  
Igor' Olegovich Nadtochii ◽  
Oleg Alekseevich Novikov
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Order ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Economic Diplomacy ◽  
Continuous Application ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Global World ◽  
The Impact

The subject of this research is the phenomenon of economic diplomacy as an instrument of “soft law”, which is becoming widespread in the international relations of modern multipolar world. The object of this research is the international relations and the impact of international legal norms upon formation of their peculiarities. Attention is given to the differences between “soft” and “hard” international law, as well as international and “quasi-international” law. The author explores various historical aspects of international relations, within the framework of which are implemented certain legal mechanisms and instruments. Incompletion of evolution of the phenomenon of “soft law” at the present stage is observed. The conclusion is made that the task of “soft law” in international relations lies in the use of the established international legal toolset and correction of the global world order to the benefit of a certain country of group of countries. It is noted that that key criterion that determines “soft law” as a unique instrument of international relations and international law is the nature of the means that without the extensive use of non-legal instruments. At the same time, the authors claim that in a number of cases, the emergence of legal mechanisms is the result of continuous application of “soft law”.

Book I Diplomacy in General, 3 Introduction to International Law

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilmshurst Elizabeth
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Comprehensive Account ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law

This chapter provides a brief account of what international law is and what its sources are. This is particularly useful for those who have not studied the subject. International law may be defined as the law governing relations between States, and between States and international organizations. The chapter notes, however, that even this definition borders on the simplistic. In addition, the relevance of international law to the diplomat is emphasized in this chapter, as it contributes to the discussion later. Hence the chapter first briefly argues for the relevance of international law in the arena of international relations, before turning to a discussion on the nature, sources, and content of international law, in order to draw a more comprehensive account of what international law is about.

scholarly journals Origin, establishment and development of the idea of self-determination of peoples

2021 ◽  
pp. 60-73
Author(s):  
Azer Kagraman Ogly Kagramanov
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Territorial Integrity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right

The subject of this research is the examination of evolution of the idea of self-determination of peoples based on the fundamental works of the Russian and foreign scholars, thinkers of the antiquity and modernity. The author considers the transformations experienced by the principle of self-determination at various historical stages of development; as well as builds a corresponding systems of the development cycles. The conclusion is made that after conception of the idea of self-determination, the colonial powers viewed this concept as ethical, seeing the threat to legitimacy of the established order. Therefore, throughout almost a century, the leading countries refused to include this right into the corresponding international and domestic documents. The main conclusions are as follows: after consolidation of the principle in the Charter of the United Nations, it became the foundation for the emergence of news states and destruction of the colonial world; the principle served as a leitmotif for the development of human rights and international relations, but at the same time became a threat and challenge to the territorial integrity; wars between the countries are replaced with the civil and interethnic conflicts; the world is captured with such phenomena as state nationalism that subsequently grew into extremely radical forms, such as fascism and Nazism; the modern international law actively promotes the two competing principles – territorial integrity and self-determination; in modern world, the right to self-determination is not limited by peoples under the colonial past – there occur new forms of self-determination that threaten the existence of sovereign states. Uncertainty of the status of the newly emerged states formations serves as the source of domestic and international tension, which inevitably leads to intergovernmental clashes and negatively impacts geopolitical situation in separate regions and in the world as a whole.

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