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COURSE
GUIDE

POL 231
ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND
DIPLOMACY

Course Team

Dr
...
edu
...
nou
...
ng

Published by
National Open University of Nigeria
First Printed 2013
ISBN: 978-058-435-8
All Rights Reserved
Printed by

ii

COURSE GUIDE

POL 231

CONTENTS

COURSE GUIDE

PAGE

Introduction
...

Course Aims
...

Working through this Course…………………………
Course Materials……………………………………
...

Textbooks and References
...

Assignment File………………………………………
Assessment……………………………………………
...

Final Examination and Grading………………………
Course Marking Scheme……………………………
...

Summary………………………………………………

iv
iv
iv
v
v
vi
vi
vii
viii
viii
viii
viii
ix
ix
ix
x
x

iii

POL 231

COURSE GUIDE

INTRODUCTION
POL 231 Essentials of International Relations and Diplomacy is a
three-credit unit course that introduces students to the subject matter,
meaning, nature and scope of international relations
...
These interactions include all activities that engage
the attention of humanity
...
Among these are the International System,
International Law, International Politics, Ideology, Sovereignty, Balance
of Power, Non-alignment, Realism, Liberalism, Systems theory, Game
theory, Functional theory, Foreign Policy Analysis, the Level of
Analysis construct, Power, Power theory and Decision-making theories,
principles and actions
...

It will assist you to give meaning to actions that unfold among state and
non-state actors in historical times, in the contemporary world and in the
future
...


COURSE AIMS
The overall aim of this course is to:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
iv

introduce you to the subject matter of international relations
enhance your knowledge, understanding and appreciation of
international events as they affect your country, regions and the
international community
assist you to identify and explain the emergence of a range of
new issues in the realm of international relations
assist you to acquire a basic understanding of the evolution of the
academic field of international relations
expose you to the concepts, theoretical framework and discourse
conventions of the academic field of international relations
help you to acquire the ability to conduct independent research on
topics in international relations using a range of relevant sources
assist you to develop a more thorough understanding of the
explanatory power of major theories in international relations

POL 231

•
•

COURSE GUIDE

assist you to develop critical thinking and analytical skills on
issues relating to international relations
guide you to develop an understanding of the foreign policy
processes that inform the actions of countries around the world,
including your own country
...
In
addition, each unit also has specific objectives
...
You may also want to refer to them
during your study of the unit to check on your progress
...
In this way,
you can be sure that you have done what was required of you by the
unit
...
By meeting
these objectives, you should have achieved the aims of the course as a
whole
...


WORKING THROUGH THIS COURSE
To complete this course you are required to read the study units, as well
as other related materials
...
At the end of the course, you are
going to sit for a final examination
...


COURSE MATERIALS
The major components of the course include the following:
1
...

3
...

5
...


STUDY UNITS
There are 24 study units in this course spread through five modules
...
These self-assessment exercises are designed to test
you on the materials you have just covered
...
Together with tutor-marked assignments, these exercises will
assist you in achieving the stated learning objectives of the individual
units and of the course
...
J
...
International Politics: A Framework for Analysis
...
Prentice-Hall
...
Jones & Steven J
...
The Logic of International
Relations
...
Boston: Little, Brown and Company
...
The Limits of Foreign Policy
...
P
...

Hans, J
...
Politics among Nations
...
New
York: Alfred A
...

Charles, F
...
Kegley Jr
...
Rosenau
(1987)
...
New Directions in the Study of Foreign Policy
...

Richard, Snyder, Henry, Bruck, & Burton, Sapin (1954)
...


vii

POL 231

COURSE GUIDE

James, Rosenau (1966)
...
”
In R
...
Farrell (Ed)
...


PRESENTATION SCHEDULE
Your course materials give you important dates for the timely
completion and submission of your TMAs and attending tutorials
...
You should guard against lagging
behind in your work
...
The marks you obtain for these
assignments will count towards the final mark you obtain for this course
...
These assignments are meant to assist you to
understand the course
...
First, are the
tutor-marked assignments; second, is a written examination
...

The assignments must be submitted to your tutor for formal assessment
in accordance with the deadlines stated in the assignment file
...
At the end of the course, you will need to sit for
a final examination of three hours duration
...


TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENTS
There are 21 tutor-marked assignments in this course
...
This implies that the total marks for the best
three (3) assignments, will constitute 30 per cent of your total course
mark
...
You will be able to complete your assignments from
the information and materials contained in your references, reading and
study units
...

When each assignment is completed, send it to your tutor
...
If, for any reason you cannot complete your work on
time, contact your tutor before the assignment is due to discuss the
possibility of an extension
...


FINAL EXAMINATION AND GRADING
The final examination for this course will be of three hours’ duration
and have a value of 70 per cent of the total course grade
...
All areas of the course will be assessed
...
The final
examination covers information from all aspects of the course
...

Table 1 Course Marking Scheme
ASSESSMENT
Assignments
Final examination
Total

MARKS
Best three marks of the assignments, 10% each
(on the average) = 30% of course marks
70% of overall course marks
100% of course marks

HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS COURSE
In distance learning, the study units replace the conventional university
lecture
...

Each of the study units follows a common format
...
Next to this is
a set of learning objectives
...
You
should use these objectives to guide your study
...
If this is made a habit, then you will significantly improve
your chances of passing the course
...
As
soon as you are allocated a tutorial group, you will be notified of the
dates, times and location of tutorials, together with the name and phone
number of your tutor
...
You must
mail your tutor-marked assignments to your tutor well before the due
date (at least two working days are required)
...

Do not hesitate to contact your tutor by telephone, e-mail, or via the
discussion board if you need help
...

Contact your tutor if:
•
•
•

You do not understand any part of the study unit
You have difficulties with the assignments/exercises
You have a question or problem with your tutor’s comments on
any assignment or with the grading of an assignment
...
This is the only chance
to have face-to-face contact with your tutor and ask questions
...
To gain the
maximum benefits from the tutorials, prepare a list of questions before
hand, you will learn quite a lot from participating actively in the
discussions
...
Upon completion
of this course, you should be acquainted with the various theories,
principles and concepts of international relations and diplomacy
...

We wish you success with the course
...

Meaning of International Relations
...

Scope of International Relations
...

Approaches to the Study of
International Relations
...


1
1
6
10
14
19

26

Unit 4

International Relations and
International Politics
...

International Relations and
International Society
...


Module 3

The International System
...

Power
...

Diplomacy
...


47
60
82
86
94

Theories and Paradigms in
International Relations
...

Realism
...


102
125
133

Unit 2
Unit 3

Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Module 4

Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3

26
30
38
42

Unit 4
Unit 5

Module 5

Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5

Foreign Policy Analysis
...


138
151

Basic Concepts in International
Relations
...

Balance of Power
...

Non-Alignment
...


163
168
174
180
185

POL 231

MODULE 1

MODULE 1

MEANING, NATURE AND SCOPE OF
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5

Meaning of International Relations
Nature of International Relations
Scope of International Relations
Origin and Development of International Relations
Approaches to the Study of International Relations

UNIT 1

MEANING OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
Meaning of International Relations
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
It concerns
peoples and cultures all over the world
...
IR is new and dynamic and has a special appeal to everybody
...
This assumption is not accurate because despite the fact that
leaders play a major role in international affairs, many other people
participate as well
...
In fact, the choices we make in our daily lives ultimately affect
the world we live in
...
0

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•

explain the meaning of international relations
identify the boundaries of international relations
...
0

MAIN CONTENT

3
...
The field of international
relations concerns the relationships among the various governments of
the world
...
Indeed, no nation can live in isolation
independent of other nations
...
This explains
why all states in the international system live in an atmosphere of
interdependence
...
However, scholars have persisted in
their attempt to define international relations
...
” There is no
escaping from world affairs, yet we cannot shape them totally to our
will
...
There are
multiple contests and conflicts of interests, which ensure that both
foreign policy and domestic politics that constantly pushed and pulled in
contradictory directions for the safety and prosperity of each nation and
indeed the survival of humanity hang on this sea-saw
...
” Another scholar, Seymon Brown
postulates that international relations is the investigating and study of
patterns of actions and reactions among sovereign states as represented
by their governing elites
...
Power is germane to
international politics
...
This explains why some scholars define international relations
in terms of power relations between states
...
”

2

POL 231

MODULE 1

As a field of study, IR has elastic boundaries
...
Whereas some Universities
offer separate degrees or Departments of IR, others teach international
relations as part of political science
...
In democratic countries, foreign policy was regarded as
something outside the scope of party politics; and the representative
organs did not feel themselves competent to exercise any close control
over the mysterious operations of foreign offices
...
In continental Europe, conscription
and the chronic fear of foreign invasion created a more general and
continuous popular awareness of international problems
...

Indeed, political relations among nations cover a range of activitiesdiplomacy, war, trade relations, cultural exchanges, participation in
international organisations, alliances and counter- alliances
...

The movement of armies and of diplomats, the creating of treaties and
alliances, the development and deployment of military capabilitiesthese issues dominated the study of IR in the past, particularly in the
Cold War era
...

The study of IR involves the mastery of some basic concepts
...
Some of these concepts are international
politics, international system, foreign policy, domestic politics, defence
policy, national interest, sovereignty, diplomacy, international law,
international order, security, conflict and conflict resolution and so forth
...
The international system is a set of
relationships among the world’s states, structured according to certain
rules and patterns of interaction
...
The history of the present international system
started in 1648 after the peace of Westphalia
...
Underneath this complexity, however,
lie a few basic principles that shape the field
...

3

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

Conversely, the international system lacks such governments
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...


What is international relations?
Who are the actors in IR?
Mention the activities covered in international relations
...
0

CONCLUSION

Our world is large and complex
...
The
scope and complexity of the interactions among these groups make
international relations a challenging subject to master
...
Largely, the field is interdisciplinary relating
international politics to economics, sociology history and other
disciplines
...
0

SUMMARY

In this unit, we have examined the meaning of international relations
and the various definitions given by different scholars
...
Broadly, IR concerns the relationships among
world governments
...
Today, the multidisciplinary approach is the best approach to
the study of IR
...
The international
system is a set of relationships among the world’s states, structured
according to certain rules and patterns of interaction
...
The history of the present
international system started in 1648 after the peace of Westphalia
...
Underneath
this complexity, however, lie a few basic principles that shape the field
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...


Describe the boundaries of international relations
...

Explain why IR scholars use theories and concepts
...

4

POL 231

7
...
W
...
International Relations: A General Theory
...

Carr, E
...
(1946)
...
(2nd ed
...

Deutsch, K
...
The Analysis of International Relations
...
J
...


5

POL 231

UNIT 2

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

NATURE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
Nature of International Relations
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
Indeed, contemporary international relations is
a study of the world community in transition
...


2
...


3
...
1

Nature of International Relations

IR deals with the relationship between nation states, international
organisations and other groups
...
The most important actors in IR are states
...
The nature of the
international system from the realists’ perspective is anarchical
...
In domestic society within states, governments can
enforce contracts, deter citizens from breaking rules and use their
monopoly on legally sanctioned violence to enforce a system of law
...

6

POL 231

MODULE 1

The development of sovereign states dictates the very structure of
international politics and determines the pattern of relations in IR
...
This essential anarchy of a system of sovereign states leads
to the conclusion that the study of IR must be distinct from the study of
domestic politics
...
Indeed, a history of the
practice of war, diplomacy and international law offers intriguing
insights into the nature of modern international society and the politics
of what Hedley Bull famously called the anarchical society
...

When we look at the world of global politics, we inevitably see
international or trans-national governmental organisations (IGOs) such
as the United Nations (UN) or the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
...
We also find that
many issues that we associate with IR transcend this basic description
...
Many observers became impatient with the descriptive,
moralistic and legalistic orientation of the 1920s and realised that as
important as treaties and international organisations were to IR,
objectives such as security and expansion, processes such as trade and
diplomacy, and means such as propaganda and subversion had to be
studied as well
...
These studies
assessed the phenomenon of nationalism, the influence of geography on
a country's foreign policy, and particularly the effect of power or lack of
it on a nation's fate
...
To this end, the traditional approaches of a
historical, descriptive and analytical nature, which are gradually
supplemented or replaced by other approaches; attempt to give greater
order and form to the volume of data available
...
These approaches have already made a
significant impact on the study of international relations
...
Indeed, the best way to begin to get a grip on this
wide-ranging and challenging subject is not to become an expert in
every aspect of world politics
...

Rather, you need to find a way to cope with complexity and
multidisciplinary approach
...
IR, at its most basic
level, is a matter of orientation
...
The key is to find
ways of describing and analysing world politics that can both
acknowledge the vast array of causal and determining factors yet give us
the critical leverage we need
...

ii
...

iv
...

Why is IR constantly changing?

4
...
Its nature from the realists’ perspective
is anarchic
...

The legalistic approach to the study of IR in the pre-World War I
became obsolete in the post-World War II era
...
IR is the setting upon which the many dramas of
world politics are played out
...
Learning to
understand the historical development of the state, the international
system, globalisation, and so forth offers huge insights in to the nature
of IR
...
Despite the anarchical
nature of the international system, the international environment is not
chaotic
...
0

SUMMARY

States are the most important actors in IR
...
The nature of the
international system from the realists’ perspective is anarchical
...
The content as well as the approaches to the subject is
continuously expanding as scholars apply the insights and techniques of
many disciplines and the tools of modern technology to the problems of
international affairs
...
The multidisciplinary, multifaceted and
inter-disciplinary approach bridges the gap between theory and practice
...


6
...


4
...


Explain why international relations is often described as
anarchical
...

Explain the different approaches to the study of international
relations
...

Identify the various actors in the international system
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

2
...


Bull, H
...
The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World
Politics
...
New York: Palgrave Books
...
C
...
S
...
The Theory and Practice of
International Relations
...
Englewood Cliffs, N
...
:
Prentice-Hall
...
D
...
C
...
International Relations: The
World Community in Transition
...
Krishan Nagar, Delhi:
A
...
T
...
S
...
(1965)
...
New York:
Appleton- Century-crofts
...
0
2
...
0
4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
0

INTRODUCTION

As a field of study, IR has elastic boundaries
...
Since it contains a myriads of disciplines,
attempts to intellectualise it have often been thematically and
analytically confined to boundaries determine by the available data and
facts
...
IR also
covers such areas as state sovereignty, ecological sustainability,
biodiversity, nuclear proliferation, nationalism, terrorism, economic
development, organised crime, foreign interventionism, human security
and human rights
...


2
...


POL 231

3
...
1

Scope of International Relations

MODULE 1

The scope of international relations has greatly expanded over the years
and of late scholars have tried to build up certain theories of
international politics
...
They conceived international relations as
generalised picture of the international scene and did not build up any
theories with a view to explaining the behaviour on the international
scene
...
The scholars, instead
of giving a historical narrative of the world have preferred to discuss the
various events
...
IR theory is basic to
the study of world politics in that it represents a series of attempts to
explain or understand the world in ways that frame the debates in
foreign policy, law, ethics, security studies etc
...

The need for a general viewpoint has influenced the development of IR
as an academic discipline
...
Some arguments highlight specific
characteristics of international politics
...
The fact that nation-states are
sovereign means that they are legally and politically independent
...
Thus, the focus
of the introductory course remains the political processes of international society
...
Many scholars have
made significant contributions to the formulation of such a theory, and
many practitioners of diplomacy have called attention to the need for
further work in this field
...
As Stanley Hoffmann has suggested,
“the discipline of international relations is concerned with the factors
and activities which, affect the external policies and the power of the
basic units into which the world is divided and these include a wide
variety of transnational relationships, political and non-political, official
and unofficial, formal and informal
...
Thus, a
philosophy of international relations may be an appropriate term for this
area of ideology, visions, values, principles, plans and solutions in the
area of foreign politics
...
Similarly, any student of
international relations should also have some knowledge of the most
important writings and the distinctive contributions of eminent scholars
in the field
...
H
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...


Why is theory basic to the study of world politics?
How can you keep abreast with current affairs?
Why is world politics complex?
List some of the sub-fields of IR
...
0

CONCLUSION

As a field of study, IR has elastic boundaries
...
Since it contains a myriads of disciplines,
attempts to intellectualise it have often been thematically and
analytically confined to boundaries determine by the available data and
facts
...
IR
theory attempts to elaborate general principles that can help orientate us
in our encounter with the complexities of world politics
...


5
...
We
established that as a field of study, IR has uncertain boundaries
...
Since it contains a myriads of
disciplines, attempts to intellectualise it have often been thematically
and analytically confined to boundaries determine by the available data
and facts
...
The subject deals with important aspects of human nature and
conduct, with the behaviour and standards of groups, with the principles
and forces underlying and motivating national and international actions,
with ideological considerations, with ends and means, and with values
and value judgments and hypotheses
...


6
...

2
...


Enumerate clearly the scope of international relations
...

Explain why the scope of IR is ever expansive
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Goldstein, J
...
& Pevehouse, J
...
(2011)
...
San Francisco: Longman, Pearson Education
...
(1960)
...
Contemporary Theory in International
Relations
...
J
...

Kaplan, M
...
System and Process in International Politics
...


13

POL 231

UNIT 4

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
Origin and Development of International Relations
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
For instance, the
Chinese philosopher Mencius in the fourth century B
...
C) and Niccolo
Machiavelli wrote works that are studied today for their insights into the
kinds of problems that still confronts political leaders
...


2
...


3
...
1

Origin and Development of International Relations

The earliest writings on international relations were largely concerned
with proffering practical advice to policy makers
...
C, Kautilya, under
the Indian emperor Chandragupta (326-329 B
...

However, the intention of these authors was not so much as to provide
general analysis of the relations between states but as to offer advice on
the most effective forms of statecraft
...
In the United States, Great Britain, and Switzerland, institutes
dedicated to the study of international law and organisation were
established
...

Aside from these descriptive studies from which one could deduce few
generalisations, most work in the field during this decade had a
normative orientation: Writers were less concerned with the variables or
conditions affecting government behaviour in external relations than
with judging the policies of states according to their own values
...

Therefore, the study of international relations emerged from this earlier
status as a poor relation of political science and history
...
It lacks a clear-cut
conceptual framework and a systematic body of applicable theory; and it
is heavily dependent upon other disciplines
...

Some behaviourally oriented students insist that international relations is
on the way to becoming a science, or at least that this should be the
object of all those who are trying to give greater meaning and
significance to the field
...
” However, Stanley Hoffman has
argued that it is possible to distinguish the field of international relations
for analytical purposes, and that therefore it “should be treated as an
autonomous discipline
...
” However, the failure of the League of Nations and of the
collective security system clearly revealed the inadequacy of pure
aspiration as the basis for a science of international politics, and made it
possible for the first time to embark on serious and critical analytical
thought about international problems
...

Many observer became impatient with the descriptive, moralistic and
legalistic orientation of the 1920s and realised that as important as
treaties and international organisations were to IR, objectives such as
security and expansion, processes such as trade and diplomacy, and
means such as propaganda and subversion had to be studied as well
...
The development of basic
animosities between the United States and the Soviet Union, led to the
Cold War rivalry that dominated the international system from 1947 to
1990
...
In
these circumstances, policy makers have had to cope with extremely
difficult, dangerous, and unprecedented problems
...

The disillusionment of the two decades of aggression and war gave
impetus to a realist school of international politics
...
Indeed, much
of the period after World War II focused on the search for a new
international system to replace the old order that was shattered in two
world wars and to work out a new pattern of relationships in a world
dominated by two superpowers
...

ii
...

iv
...
0

CONCLUSION

Clearly, the international system is changing in a number of ways
...
Academic
studies in the 1920s largely continued to expand on the pre-war
16

POL 231

MODULE 1

perspectives, although establishment of the League of Nations gave
observers something new to write
...
In its early stages, as Carr has pointed out in
one of the basic works in the field, it was “markedly and frankly
Utopian,” for “the passionate desire to prevent war determined the
whole initial course and direction of the study
...


5
...
Both the content of and the approaches to the subject are
expanding as scholars apply the insights and techniques of many
disciplines, and the tools of modern technology, to the problems of
international affairs
...
The
development of basic animosities between the United States and the
Soviet Union, led to the Cold War rivalry that dominated the
international system from 1947 to 1990
...
In these circumstances, policy
makers have had to cope with extremely difficult, dangerous, and
unprecedented problems
...


6
...

2
...


Explain the origin of international relations
...

Explain the emergence of the realist school of IR
...
0

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Goldstein, J
...
& Pevehouse, J
...
(2011)
...
San Francisco: Longman, Pearson Education
...
(1960)
...
Contemporary Theory in International
Relations
...
J
...

Palmer, N
...
& Perkins, H
...
(2004)
...
Krishan Nagar, Delhi:
A
...
T
...
S
...
N
...
(Ed)
...
New York: The Free Press of
Glencoe
...
N
...
Action and Reaction in World Politics
...

Singer, J
...
(1965)
...
Chicago:
Rand Mcnally & Co
...
0
2
...
0

4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
2
Classical or Traditional Approach
3
...
4
The Realist and the Idealist Approach
3
...
1 The Realist Approach
3
...
2 The Idealist Approach
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
An approach consists of a criterion of selection, i
...
criteria
employed in selecting the problems or questions to consider and
selecting the data to bring to bear in the course of analysis
...
In
simple words, an approach is a set of standards governing the inclusion
and exclusion of questions and data for academic purposes
...
As different scholars have adopted
different criteria of selecting problems and data and adopted different
standpoints, this resulted in different approaches for the study of
international relations
...
0

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•

explain the meaning of approach in IR
discuss the classical approach
explain the scientific approach
...
0

MAIN CONTENT

3
...
An approach consists of a criterion of selection, i
...
criteria
employed in selecting the problems or questions to consider and
selecting the data to bring to bear in the course of analysis
...

Hedley Bull has divided the various approaches for the study of
international policy into two categories: (1) classical approach and (2)
scientific approach
...
2

Classical or Traditional Approach

The classical approach is also known as traditional approach
...

These writers mainly made descriptive analysis of international
relations
...
According to Hedley
Bull, the traditional approach is “the approach to theorising that derives
from philosophy, history and law
...
Therefore,
general propositions about IR must derive from a scientifically imperfect
process of perception or institution, and that these general propositions
cannot be accorded anything more than the tentative inconclusive status
appropriate to their doubtful origin
...

Most scholars adopted the traditional approach until the scientific
approach made its appearance
...
The traditional approach mainly
concerns itself with the historical tensions and lays emphasis on
diplomatic, historical and institutional studies
...
The
historical approach focussed on the past or on a selected period of
history to find out an explanation of what institutions are, how they
came into being and makes an analysis of these institutions as they
20

POL 231

MODULE 1

stand
...

The philosophical approach regarded the state as an agent of moral
improvement of international relations, and stood for attainment of
perpetual peace
...
The legal approach
laid emphasis on the need of having a system of world law to regulate
the behaviour of nation states and insisted on a code of international law
to ensure world peace and security
...

Finally, the institutional approach focussed on the formal structure for
the maintenance of peace and enforcement of principles of international
law
...


3
...
The devotees of
the scientific approach aspire to a theory of international relations
...
It lays more emphasis on the methods of
study rather than the subject matter
...
The scientific approach applies scientific
methods and ignores the boundaries of orthodox disciplines
...
A notable feature of this approach is that it is interdisciplinary and
draws from various social sciences like sociology, psychology and
anthropology
...
Its objective has not been to assess the main
issues in the cold war or describe current international developments,
but to create explanatory theories about international phenomena, and in
some cases, even to propose the development of a general and predictive
science of international relations
...
Scholars who are more
concerned with substance rather than method, particularly those of the
21

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

older generation tend to favour the first approach while those who are
particularly absorbed with method and techniques, including large
proportion of younger generation prefer the latter
...
Morton Kaplan is a leading proponent of the
scientific approach
...
4

The Realist and Idealist Approach

The two variants of the classical approach are; the realist approach and
the idealist approach
...
4
...
This is a
fixed doctrine
...
Thus, realism
unequivocally accepts as its guiding principle, the permanence of the
struggle for power
...
In the 20th century, George Kennan, Hans J
...
were the leading exponents of the
realist theory
...
In his view, international
politics, like all politics, is a struggle for power
...

Political leaders and People may ultimately seek freedom, security,
prosperity or power itself
...
They may hope that this
ideal will materialise through its own inner force, divine intervention, or
the natural development of human affairs
...

Nevertheless, whenever they strive to realise their goal by means of
international politics, they do so by striving for power
...
4
...
It regards the power politics as the passing phase of history
and presents the picture of a future international society based on the
notion reformed international system free from power politics,
22

POL 231

MODULE 1

immorality and violence
...
This approach is quite
old and found its faint echoes in the Declarations of the American War
of independence of 1776 and French revolution of 1789
...
He made a strong plea for world peace and
international organisation
...

Because of their optimism, the idealists regard power struggle as nothing
but the passing phase of history
...
The difficulty
with this approach is that such a system could emerge only by following
moral principles in mutual relations in place of power, which is not
possible in practice
...

ii
...

iv
...

Identify three realist thinkers in IR
...

What are the variants of the traditional approach?

4
...

David Singer realised this and made his observation, “science is not a
substitute for insight and methodological rigour is not a substitute for
wisdom -both imagination and rigour are necessary but neither is
sufficient
...
As a method, the
classical approach insists on the need for borrowing from history, law
and philosophy and on depending upon judgement; and as the subject
matter, it is concerned with the general questions of the nature of the
study, the role of the use of force, and the significance of diplomacy
...

Since the end of World War II, a great deal of changes has taken place
that has made it necessary for looking at it from a different angle
...
The scientific
23

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

approach suffers from the serious flaw that it puts exclusive reliance on
methods and tends to stress that the method itself will determine the
nature of the subject matter
...
Both
scientific and the classical methods are useful in the study of
international relations
...
0

SUMMARY

An approach consists of a criterion of selection, i
...
criteria employed in
selecting the problems or questions to consider and selecting the data to
bring to bear in the course of analysis
...
This approach was mainly in vogue until
the middle of the last century, even though until now, certain writers
continue to subscribe to this approach
...
The main objective of the
scholars adopting traditional approach was to report and analyse current
international problems and to speculate on these sources and outcomes
of various policy alternatives for specific states or for international
organisation
...
The scientific or behavioural
approach to the study of international politics became popular in the
wake of World War II
...
This approach relies on the simple
proposition that international politics like any other social activity
involves people and hence can be explain by analysing and explaining
the behaviour of people as it reflected in their activities in the field of
international relations
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...

3
...

Explain in detail the realist approach to the study of IR
...


24

POL 231

7
...
(1995)
...
New York: Palgrave Books
...
J
...
International Politics: A framework for Analysis
...
J
...


Morgenthau, H
...
(1948)
...
New York: McGraw Hill1
...
D
...
C
...
International Relations: The
World Community in Transition, (3rd ed
...
I
...
B
...

Wright, Q
...
The Study of International Relations
...

Zawodny, J
...
(1967)
...

San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Company
...
0
2
...
0
4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
0

INTRODUCTION

In the past, some scholars used the terms, international relations and
international politics interchangeably
...
They postulate that a distinction ought to exist between the
two terms
...


2
...


POL 231

MODULE 2

3
...
1

International Relations and International Politics

Modern scholars argue that international politics should deal with the
politics of the international community focussing on the diplomacy and
the relations among states and other political units
...

Those who subscribe to this broader and more nebulous term differ in
the role they assign to international politics in international relations
...
Taking a brief glance at the world around us, we
find that some of the principal actors in world politics, the agents of
international relations that make up the political landscape of our subject
area, are not nations at all
...
In the past, historians,
political scientists, geographers, and legal scholars monopolised the
field of international relations
...

Most students of international relations concur to the view that
international politics should be used primarily to denote official political
relations between governments acting on behalf of their states
...
Indeed,
international relations is synonymous with international affairs
...
It is to find a way of engaging with a
hugely complex, but fascinating and politically urgent, aspect of our
lives
...
Those aspects
of our world that we describe as political form the framework of the
world within which we live
...

IR embraces all kinds of relations traversing state boundaries, be they
cultural, economic, legal, political, or any other character, whether they
be private or official and all human behaviour originating on one side of
a state boundary and affecting human behaviour on the other side of the
boundary
...
New insights and techniques to enhance the
understanding of the “core” and the “peripheral” aspects of IR are
constantly used
...

While the historians, economists, sociologists, geographers,
anthropologists and other specialists make their distinctive
contributions, the fact remains that the working relationships of states
are conditioned principally by the enactments and engagement of
governments
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
What is international politics?
i
...

iii
...
0

CONCLUSION

In this unit, we learnt the distinction between international relations and
international politics
...
IR is synonymous with international affairs
...
Most students
would agree that the term international politics is used primarily to
describe official political relations between governments acting on
behalf of their states, although at least one political scientist has
asserted, rather cryptically, that international politics today is not
conducted between or- among nations, nor in its most important phases
even between states
...

As Stanley Hoffmann has suggested, “the discipline of international
relations is concerned with the factors and activities which, affect the
external policies and the power of the basic units into which the world is
divided” and these include a wide variety of transnational relationships,
political and non-political, official and unofficial, formal and informal
...
0

MODULE 2

SUMMARY

International relations is a broader and wider term that encompasses
international politics
...

However, modern students especially those who study political
behaviour have come to question this usage
...

Whereas international politics denotes official political relations
between governments acting on behalf of their states, international
relations embraces the totality of the relations among peoples and
groups in the world society
...
Indeed,
International politics is part of international relations that deals with the
political aspects of the relationships
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...

3
...

Explain the differences between international politics and IR
...


7
...
(1995)
...
(3rd ed
...

Holsti, K
...
(1967)
...

Englewood Cliffs, N
...
: Prentice Hall Inc
...
J
...
Politics among Nations: The Struggle for
Power and Peace
...

Zawodny, J
...
(1967)
...

San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Company
...
0
2
...
0

4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
2
Sources of International Law
3
...
0

INTRODUCTION

International law is common to all states
...
If all states in the international system obey
international law, there will be no recourse to war
...
They argue that in reality,
international law is a law among states not over them
...


2
...


3
...
1

International Relations and International Law

Scholars have various definitions of International law
...
Others regard it
as superior to the municipal laws
...
In his words, it is a law for the intercourse
of states with one another not a law for individuals; it is a law between,
not above, the single states
...
They
typically designate the adjudicators of such tribunals
...
Therefore, in interstate dispute resolution, states act as
gatekeepers both to the international legal process and from that process
back to the domestic level
...

According to Ellery Stowell (1931), international law embodies certain
rules relating to human relations throughout the world, which are
generally observed by humankind and enforced primarily through the
agency of the governments of the independent communities into which
humanity is divided
...
They must be performed in good faith, regardless of
inconsistent provisions of domestic law
...
Clearly, the power and preferences of states
influence the behaviour of both governments and of dispute resolution
tribunals
...

Essentially, international law provides the framework for political
discourse among members of the international system
...
In playing this role,
international law performs two different functions
...
The first set of
functions are called the ‘‘operating system’’ of international law, and the
second set of functions are the ‘‘normative system
...
Breach of a legal obligation creates legal
responsibility, which does not require a showing of intent on the part of
specific state organs
...
Although actors may disagree about the interpretation or
applicability of a set of rules, discussion of issues purely in terms of
interests or power is no longer legitimate
...
In the pure ideal type, states lose their
gate keeping capacities though in practice, these capacities are
exaggerated
...
Yet within that political context,
institutions for selecting judges, controlling access to dispute resolution,
and legally enforcing the judgments of international courts and tribunals
have a major impact on state behaviour
...
In a preliminary fashion,
the interaction of these two systems are explored, specifically the
conditions under which operating system changes occur in response to
normative changes
...

International law remains principally a body of rules and practices to
regulate state behaviour in the conduct of interstate relations
...
Human rights law is an example of the
normative system regulating behaviour within states
...


3
...

However, states are sovereign and recognise no central authority, thus
international law rests on different basis
...

Four sources of international law are identifiable- treaties, customs,
general principles of law and legal scholarship (including past judicial
decisions)
...
A principle in international law states that
32

POL 231

MODULE 2

treaties, once signed and ratified must be observed (pacta sunt
servanda)
...
Treaties and other international obligations such as debts are
binding on successor governments whether the new government takes
power through election, a coup or a revolution
...
When states
behave towards each other in a certain way for a long time, their
behaviour becomes generally accepted practice with the status of law
...

Actions such as theft and assault recognised in most national municipal
laws as crimes have the same meaning in international arena
...

The fourth source of international law is legal scholarship
...
Only the writings of the most highly qualified and respected
legal figures could be recognised, and then only to resolve points not
resolved by the first three sources of international law
...
3

The Legality of International Law

Some writers, especially those of the Austinian school argue that, what
is called international law is not law at all but a branch of international
morality
...
It has also been argued that
international law is not true law because it is not binding
...
From the
foregoing, Austin argued that international law is not true law since
neither the UN nor any other international organisation has jurisdiction
over states
...

The dual character of international law results from its Westphalian
legacy in which law functions among, rather than above, states and in
which the state carries out the legislative, judicial, and executive
functions that in domestic legal systems are performed by separate
institutions
...
Legal capacity can be expressed and recognised in terms of
rights and duties, and is a major portion of constitutions
...
Dahl identified a number of items that
the constitutions generally specify, several of which are also specified
by international law
...
In order for the operating system
to maintain vibrancy and resiliency, and to ensure the stability necessary
for orderly behaviour, the operating system must provide for dynamic
normative systems that facilitate the competition of values, views, and
actors
...

For instance, who are the authorised decision makers in international
law? Whose actions can bind not only the parties involved, but also
others? How does one know that an authoritative decision has taken
place? When does the resolution of a conflict or a dispute give rise to
new law? The operating system answers these questions
...
For
example, the Vienna Convention on Treaties entails no institutional
mechanisms, but does specify various operational rules about treaties
and therefore the parameters of law making
...
Some of the primary components include the
following:
•

•

34

Sources of Law: These include the system rules for defining the
process through which law is formed, the criteria for determining
when legal obligations exist, and which actors are bound (or not)
by that law
...
For example, the operating
system defines whether United Nations (UN) resolutions are
legally binding and what role they play in the legal process
...
The
operating system also determines how, and the degree to which,
those actors might exercise those rights internationally
...


POL 231

•

•

MODULE 2

Jurisdiction: These rules define the rights of actors and
institutions to deal with legal problems and violations
...
For example, the Convention on Torture
(1985) allows states to prosecute perpetrators in their custody,
regardless of the location of the offense and the nationality of the
perpetrator or victim, affirming the ‘‘universal jurisdiction’’
principle
...
Thus for example,
the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provides for
the creation of the institution, sets general rules of decision
making, identifies the processes and scope under which cases are
heard, specifies the composition of the court, and details
decision-making procedures to name a few
...

ii
...

iv
...

vi
...

viii
...
0

CONCLUSION

States are the subjects of international law, which means that they
control access to dispute resolution tribunals or courts
...
States also implement, or
fail to implement, the decisions of international tribunals or courts
...
Indeed, the tradition in international law has long been
that only sovereign states have full international legal personality, this
accords states an exclusive right to conclude international agreements
and to bring claims regarding treaty violations
...
There is a strong
connection between international politics, international law, and
domestic politics
...

35

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

International law provides the framework for political discourse among
members of the international system
...
In playing this role, international law performs two
different functions
...
Some scholars find it difficult to agree with
the term, international law since all states are sovereign and equal in the
international system
...


5
...
Indeed, states are
the subjects of international law, which means that they control access to
dispute resolution tribunals or courts
...
States also implement, or fail to
implement, the decisions of international tribunals or courts
...
Indeed, the tradition in international law has long been
that only sovereign states have full international legal personality, this
accords states an exclusive right to conclude international agreements
and to bring claims regarding treaty violations
...
Clearly, the power and preferences of states influence
the behaviour of both governments and of dispute resolution tribunals
...

International law provides the framework for political discourse among
members of the international system
...
Treaties, customs, general principles of law and legal
scholarship are the sources of international law
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...


Explain the nexus between international law and IR
...
”
Explain the sources of international law
...


3
...


7
...
L
...
The Law of Nations
...
New York: Oxford
University Press
...
E
...
Law and Society in the Relations of States
...

Goldstein, J
...
& Pevehouse, J
...
(2011)
...
San Francisco: Longman, Pearson Education
...
& Nicholas De B
...
Making International
Law Work
...
London
...
D
...
C
...
International Relations: The
World Community in Transition
...
Krishan Nagar, Delhi:
A
...
T
...
S
...
(1952)
...
(3rd ed
...

Wright, Q
...
Contemporary International Law: A Balance Sheet
...
Y
...


37

POL 231

UNIT 3

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
International Relations and International Society
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
The international system
consists among others of political, economic, physical and cultural
environment
...
The international system is the prevailing
structure of the international community
...
An international
system is a collection of independent political entities- tribes, city-states,
nations or empires that interact with considerable frequency and
according to regularised processes
...
0

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•
•

explain the meaning of IR
identify the international society
establish the link between IR and the international society
define the international system
...
0

MAIN CONTENT

3
...
This vital feature of our political landscape
continues to shape the internal system 365 years after
...
The significance of this
treaty is that it put an end to the dominion of the leader of the Holy
Roman Empire into the territories of princes and sovereigns
...
A history of the practice of war, diplomacy and international law
offers intriguing insights into the nature of modern international society
and the politics of what Hedley Bull famously called the anarchical
society
...
This is not just, because it helps us
understand how the great powers of modern Europe acted and offers
insights into the conduct of European statecraft
...
What started as
a political settlement to a European problem eventually spread across
the globe
...
Until date, this trend still underpins
contemporary international relations
...
The international society provides the platform for
interaction between states that remain the principal actor in international
relations
...
Studies of past and present
tendencies towards integration as well as towards conflict in the
international community suggest factors that have important bearing on
contemporary diplomacy and political behaviour
...
Deutsch, Amitai Etzioni, and Ernst B
...
In fact, Deutsch who was the first academic to
propound community approach to international relations concluded that
most cases of successful integration occurred in the pre-modern era
...
He posits that conditions are
ripest in modern times for the formation of transnational structures
...
Its own
rich history characterises its attempts to avoid the polarisation seen in
the debates between realists and liberals and by its commitment to the
study of what Hedley Bull, one of the school’s chief contributors calls
“the anarchical society
...
Therefore, the approach looks at balance of power and
international law, great power politics and the spread of cosmopolitan
values
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...

v
...
0

CONCLUSION

International system may be studied historically or from the perspectives
of contemporary world politics
...
A history of the practice of war, diplomacy
and international law offers intriguing insights into the nature of modern
international society and the politics of what Hedley Bull famously
called the anarchical society
...
This is not
just, because it helps us understand how the great powers of modern
Europe acted and offers insights into the conduct of European statecraft
...
What started as a political settlement to a European problem
eventually spread across the globe
...
Indeed, the
defining character of the international society remains the Westphalian
model that emerged in 1648
...
0

SUMMARY

The emergence of the modern international system in 1648 marked the
effective beginning of an international society that allows for
considerable interaction between states in the international system
...
The Peace of Westphalia incorporated the
treaties of Münster and Osnabrück and officially put an end to the long
wars between Protestant and Catholic powers that had raged across the
continent
...
The “international society” approach to IR
theory, often referred to as the “English school” or the Grotian School,
exists outside the mainstream social science debates that dominate US
international studies
...
”

6
...


Explain why the international society is described as the
anarchical society
...

Explain the view that the international society is the arena where
states interact
...

3
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Bull, H
...
The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World
Politics
...
New York: Palgrave Books
...
(1968)
...
Englewood
Cliffs, N
...
: Prentice-Hall
...
S
...
International Relations
...
Patpaganj,
Delhi: Longman, Pearson Education
...
S
...
C
...
International Relations,
...
San Francisco: Longman, Pearson Education
...
(1960)
...
Contemporary Theory in International
Relations
...
J
...

Kaplan, M
...
System and Process in International Politics
...

Olson, W
...
& Fred, A
...
(1966)
...
(2nd ed
...
J
...


41

POL 231

UNIT 4

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

IDEOLOGY AND INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
Ideology and International Relations
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
Indeed, the main issues that divide nations and peoples are
ideological in nature, and conflicting ideologies are a major cause of war
in the international arena
...


2
...


3
...
1

Ideology and International Politics

The most common way to define ideology is as “a fairly coherent and
comprehensive set of ideas that explains and evaluates social conditions,
helps people understand their place in society, and provides a program
for social and political action
...

42

POL 231

MODULE 2

Indeed, an ideology presupposes a system of ideas, usually a closed
system put together in some logical way
...

Examples of “conscious ideologies” are liberalism, conservatism,
socialism, feminism, nationalism, anti-imperialism, totalitarianism,
communism, fascism, Nazism, Marxism, socialism, liberalism,
collectivism, individualism and even vegetarianism
...
We know what they are, and we can
subscribe to them or reject them
...

Ideologies may be classified in a variety of ways
...

Undoubtedly, ideologies became an important factor in international
relations after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917
...
The struggle between Democracy and
Communism or as the Soviets described it, between Socialism and
Capitalism dominated international relations in the greater part of the
20th century
...

Therefore, one can argue that World War II was in part an ideological
conflict as World War I had also been
...
The Cold War that led to the bifurcation of the
international system into East/West blocs may be viewed as an
ideological conflict as well as a test of strength and will between the
Soviet Union and the Western democracies
...
While its development produced a new cohesiveness
within some nations and groups of nations, it exerted a disturbing and
dangerous influence in others
...
During the Cold War, the split between
the Communist and non-Communist worlds constituted one of the major
threats to peace
...

Understandably, ideologies may be good or bad depending on the
situation
...
In
examining ideology and IR, it is important to know that IR is a site of
cultural practices imbued with conscious and unconscious ideologies
...
This is
precisely what Francis Fukuyama claims in his famous 1989 essay “The
End of History?” and later elaborates on in his book The End of History
and the Last Man (1992)
...
Not only are there no coherent ideological challenges to
liberalism; liberalism itself is free of irrational internal contradictions
that lead to the collapse of ideologies
...
For Fukuyama, all this marks
“the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution” signifying that
liberalism is “the final form of human government
...

Today, in many countries, it may be argued that ideologies have lost
their old appeal, however, in international politics this seems to be less
true
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...

v
...


4
...

Identify the components of ideologies of the status quo
...

Did the collapse of the USSR mark the end of Communism?
What is the relationship between ideology and international
relations?

CONCLUSION

Throughout the 20th century, most of international relations centred on
ideological issues with complicate and obstruct efforts to emphasise
long-range problems and needs
...
Ideologies became an
important factor in international relations after the Bolshevik Revolution
in Russia in 1917
...
Since the end of
World War II, ideology has had powerful impact in international
relations
...


5
...
An
ideology presupposes a system of ideas, usually a closed system put
together in some logical way
...
Examples of “conscious
ideologies” are liberalism, conservatism, socialism, feminism,
nationalism, anti-imperialism, totalitarianism, communism, fascism,
Nazism, Marxism, socialism, liberalism, collectivism, individualism and
even vegetarianism
...

The introduction of ideology into world politics is a 20th century
phenomenon
...
To be sure, ideologies are sources of
international conflicts and they greatly complicate the task of the
peaceful resolution of conflicts
...
Fukuyama argues that liberal democracy as a system of
governance has won an “unabashed victory” over other ideas to the
point that liberalism is the only legitimate ideology left in the world
...


6
...


Critically examine the view that ideology is a disturbing element
in world affairs
...

Explain the relationship between ideology and international
relations
...


2
...

4
...
0

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Francis, Fukuyama (1992)
...
New
York: Free Press
...
S
...
International Relations
...
Patpaganj,
Delhi: Longman, Pearson Education
...
J
...
Politics among Nations: The Struggle for
Power and Peace
...

Palmer, N
...
& Perkins, H
...
(2004)
...
(3rd ed
...
I
...
B
...


46

POL 231

MODULE 3

MODULE 3

THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5

The Evolution and Structure of the International System
Power
Power Theory
Diplomacy
International Regimes

UNIT 1

THE EVOLUTION AND STRUCTURE OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
The International System: The Arena of Interaction
3
...
3
Actors in the International System
3
...
1 State Actors
3
...
2 Non-State Actors
3
...
3 Classification of Non-State Actors
3
...
4
...
5
The Forms of Interaction
3
...
0

INTRODUCTION

The unit discusses the structure and characteristics of the international
system
...


2
...


3
...
1

The International System: The Arena of Interaction

International relations occur through the regularised interactive
processes among state and non-state actors
...
Although
interactions take numerous and diverse forms they can be classified
either by type or issue areas
...
The
classification by type shows that irrespective of the issue area,
interactions are either conflictual or collaborative
...
The
international system has the following identifiable characteristics
...
2

The Boundaries of the System

All international systems have identifiable boundaries outside which the
actions and interactions among the constituent political units do not
affect the environment
...
Hence,
the boundaries of the system refer to the line between interaction and the
environment
...
Interactions in this system had no effect,
whatsoever on Medieval Europe or China or the Americas
...
The expansion, which followed a historical sequence—the
voyages of discovery, the slave trade, and colonisation—ultimately
incorporated the West African sub-region into the European
international system
...
3

MODULE 3

Actors in the International System

An actor in world politics has been defined as “any entity which plays
an identifiable role in international relations
...
” In general, actors are classified into
two: state and non-state actors
...
3
...

2
...

4
...


Historically, actors have been organised as city, states, empires and
kingdoms, and in contemporary times as states or nation-states of
varying sizes and configurations
...
Each political unit is independent and sovereign and is ready
to deploy all its power and capabilities in defence of its status
...
This is the
central paradigm of the school of thought known as Realism or the
Realist school
...


Although these assumptions do not establish a genuine scientific basis,
they had a definite appeal because they were easily applicable to the
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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

practical problems of international relations
...
As
Hans Morgenthau asserts in his book, Politics among Nations (1949, p
...
” He
asserts further, “All political policy seeks either to keep power, to
increase power, or to demonstrate power
...
21)
...
In Morgenthau's view, the obvious measure
of a nation's power is in the military strength
...
54)
...

Realists maintain that governments act rationally because they have
ordered preferences
...

It is thus, the structural constraints of the international system, which
will explain the behaviour of the units, not the other way around
...

69-72)
...

Though they may choose to interfere little in the affairs of non-state
actors for long periods of time, states nevertheless set the terms of the
intercourse, whether by passively permitting informal rules to develop
or by actively intervening to change rules that no longer suit them
...
94)
...
95), states are the units whose interactions
form the structure of the international-political systems
...
The death rate among states is remarkably low
...


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3
...
2 Non-State Actors
The growth of non-state actors, particularly multinational corporations
(MNCs), international organisations such as the United Nations, and
transnationally organised groups, in the post-World War II period, led to
the abandonment of the traditional view which saw states as the only
actors in the international system
...
In their 1971 essay collection Transnational Relations and World
Politics, they identify the phenomena of “transnational interaction”
which they define as “the movement of tangible or intangible items
across state boundaries when at least one actor is not an agent of a
government” (Keohane and Nye, 1971, p
...
The authors highlight
the importance of non-governmental actors in a great number of
international interactions
...
They conclude that
the state is no longer the only important actor in world politics
...
With the growth of interdependence
and communication between societies, a great variety of new
organisational structures operating on a regional and global basis, was
established
...
While some authors recognise that these non-sovereign entities
and their activities have led to fundamental changes in world politics,
others maintain that the structure of the international system can still be
treated, based on inter-state relations
...
Kjell
Skjelsbaek, in his essay “The Growth of International Nongovernmental Organisation in the 20th Century” (1971), gathered a vast
amount of empirical data showing the rapid growth of international nongovernmental organisations (INGOs) since 1900 and particularly after
World War II
...
While the number of INGOs increased on
an average of 4
...
2 per cent between 1962 and 1968 (Skjelsbaek, 1971,
p
...
In his examination of the distribution of INGOs by field of
activity, he found that the categories of economic/financial organisations
and commercial/industrial organisations constituted the greatest
percentage of organisations established in the period 1945-54
(Skjelsbaek, 1971, p
...

Another empirical study was carried out by Richard Mansbach et al
...
In this study, the authors contend that the state-centric model has
become “obsolete” due to the growing involvement of non-state actors
in world politics (Mansbach et al
...
273)
...
, 1976, pp
...
Their findings indicate
that half of the interactions in the regions involve nation-states as actors
and targets simultaneously and that 11 per cent involves non-state actors
exclusively
...
, 1976, pp
...

Richard Mansbach and John A
...
In this study, they use a data set of event interactions between
American-based and West German-based actors during the period 19491975 (Mansbach and Vasquez, 1981, p
...
In the first part of their
study, they rank order the number of actors that appear in their data
according to the frequency of their behaviour
...

The authors then investigate the rank order of actors by per cent of
conflict they initiate and receive to indicate that non-state actors are not
only present but also significant in world politics
...
Only eight of the 26 governments in
the study are involved in any conflict at all (Mansbach and Vasquez,
1981, pp
...
Their findings also suggest the importance of
examining the role of bureaucratic agencies as individual actors because
their results show that there are “significant deviations from the conflict
score of specific agencies of a government and the aggregate score for
the national government as a whole” (Mansbach and Vasquez, 1981, p
...
Under conditions of complex interdependence, Keohane and Nye
view non-state actors as possible direct participants in world politics
...
The authors argue
that transnational actors such as multinational firms, private banks and
other organisations have become “a normal part of foreign as well as
domestic relations” (Keohane and Nye, 1977; 1989, p
...
These actors
are important not only because of their activities in pursuit of their own
interests, but also because they “act as transmission belts, making
government policies in various countries more sensitive to one another”
(Keohane and Nye, 1977; 1989, p
...

The recognition that states are not the only actors in the international
system led to the introduction of what Oron Young described as the
“Mixed-Actor Perspective
...
According to
Young (1972, p
...
Instead, the mixed-actor
world view envisions a situation in which several quantitatively different
types of actor interact in the absence of any settled pattern of
dominance-submission or hierarchical relationships
...
3
...
Because the study of transnational
relations and non-state actors is a relatively new phenomenon, much of
the terminology used for classifying actors is unclear and contradictory
...
Another problem concerns the categorisation of
more complex non-state actors that are neither purely governmental nor
purely private in nature
...

An initial classification of non-state actors distinguishes between two
major
types
of
international
organisations:
International
Governmental Organisations (IGOs) and International NonGovernmental Organisations (INGOs)
...

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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

Both IGOs and INGOs are alike in having participants from more than
one state
...
8)
...
This type of organisation has meetings of the state
representatives at relatively frequent intervals, detailed procedures for
decision-making, and a permanent secretariat
...
Other examples are the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the International Trade
Organisation (ITO), the European Union, the Economic Community of
West Africa States, ECOWAS, and the African Union (AU)
...
These
are multi-lateral institutions
...

INGOs also have states as their constituent members, but the state
representatives are non-governmental agents
...
Like IGOs, they have a permanent
secretariat, regular scheduled meetings of representatives of the
membership, and specified procedures for decision-making
...

The distinction between IGOs and INGOs, however, is not always clear,
because a number of international organisations allow for both
governmental and non-governmental representation
...
Organisations
such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International
Telecommunication Union and certain other international organisations,
although composed primarily of governments, also allow the
participation of such private associations, for example, labour unions,
employers groups and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment
...
Here, IGOs are
defined as organisations established by intergovernmental treaty and
INGOs are defined as “any international organisation which has not
been established by an inter-governmental agreement” including those
which accept governmental agencies or ministries as members (Union of
International Associations, 1990, p
...
INGOs are international
organisations with individuals or private groups as members, such as the
World Council of Churches, Red Cross, and Amnesty International
...
A final category of non-state actors are nonGovernmental organisations or NGOs which are established usually to
pursue social and humanitarian causes, promote self-help projects to
help the poor, family planning, poverty alleviation, and a host of related
objectives
...
4

The Structure of the International System

The structure examines the distribution of power and influence in the
system, particularly the forms of dominant and subordinate
relationships
...
Another
example is the contemporary international system in which, following
the demise of the Soviet Union, the United States has emerged as the
only hyper power, the most powerful state in the world, with a
preponderance of power incomparable to that of any other state, or a
group of states for that matter
...

In other historic international systems, such as in Europe from the 17th
to the 19th centuries, power is distributed equally among a large number
of states in such a way that none is capable of dominating or leading the
others for any length of time
...
Sometimes the
structure is bipolar
...
This
was the structure of the international system during the cold war, i
...
,
between the end of World War II and the collapse of the Soviet Union
(from about 1947 to 1990)
...

The structure paradigm reveals the great or major powers in each
system, the nature of their dominance, and their relationship with other
political units
...

Thus the structural constraints of the international system will explain
the behaviour of the units, not the other way around
...

69-72)
...
79)
...
93)
...
Although states may vary in size, wealth,
power and form, they are functionally similar (Waltz, 1979, pp
...

As Waltz (1979, p
...
Formally, each is the equal of
all the others
...

International systems are decentralised and anarchic
...
The structure of the
international system will therefore change only with changes in the
distribution of power
...
99) puts it: “in defining
international-political structures, we take states with whatever traditions,
habits, objectives, desires, and forms of government they may have
...
We abstract from
every attribute of states except their capabilities
...
93)
...
72)
...

International politics, according to Waltz, is like economics where the
structure of a market is defined by the number of firms that compete in it
(Waltz, 1979, p
...


3
...
1 The Contemporary International System
In the 18th and 19th centuries, international relations was largely a
European affair with not more than 20 countries fully engaged in the
interaction process
...
The extension of the European state system into the
rest of the world in the last decades of the 19th century and the
subsequent emergence of over 200 independent political units in Africa,
Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and in other corners of the world
has created a truly global international system
...
The system has a multiplicity of actors grouped broadly into
two categories, namely; states and non-state actors
...
There is a great diversity in the size, population
resource endowment, military capability, economic strength and
industrial capacity among the state actors
...
The rules of
interaction revolve around the concepts of sovereignty, territorial
integrity and equality of states
...

In the contemporary international system, the existence of nuclear
weapons restrains war between the major powers
...
Groups like Al Qaeda have demonstrated
their capacity to precipitate conflict that could lead to the death of
millions, if they could lay their hands on nuclear weapons
...
This new reality distinguishes the contemporary
international system from all historic systems
...
5

The Forms of Interaction

These interactions are adversarial or collaborative and take the form of
diplomatic contacts, trade, rivalries, war, sports, culture, tourism,
immigration, etc
...
6

The Rules and Norms of Interaction

The rules of interaction may be explicit or implicit
...
Relations between states in a system are often
regulated by certain assumptions and values accepted by all the
component units
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...

v
...

vii
...

Describe the nature and type of actors in the international system
...
0

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

CONCLUSION

Although all international systems have the same characteristics, they
can be differentiated one from the other based on the extent to which
power is distributed among the actors and components parts
...
In essence,
power symmetries determine the structure and character of the
international system
...
0

SUMMARY

In this unit, we have examined the historical evolution of the
international system paying particular attention to its characteristics, the
nature of the actors, the extent to which power determines the structural
relations among the various components and actors
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...

3
...

Describe the nature of the contemporary international system
...

“Power determines the structure of the international system
...


4
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Archer, C
...
International Organisations
...
London:
Routledge
...
L
...
International Organisations
...

Bull, H
...
The Anarchical Society: A Study of World Order
...

Frankel, J
...
International Relations in a Changing World
...

Grieves, F
...
(1979)
...

New York: Pergamon Press
...
& Smith, S
...
Explaining and Understanding
International Relations
...


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Jacobson, H
...
(1984)
...
New York:
Knopf
...
O
...
(1986)
...
New York:
Columbia University Press
...
O
...
International Institutions and State Power
...

Keohane, R
...
& Nye, J
...
(Eds)
...
Transnational Relations and
World Politics
...

Keohane, R
...
& Nye, J
...
(1989)
...
(2nd
ed
...

Light, M
...
(Eds)
...
International Relations: A
Handbook of Current Theory
...

Mansbach, R
...
, Ferguson, Y
...
(1976)
...
New
Jersey: Prentice Hall
...
J
...
Politics among Nations
...

Rosenau, J
...
(1990)
...
New York:
Harvester Wheatsheaf
...
& Starr, H
...
Choices in World Politics: Sovereignty
and Interdependence
...

Skjelsbaek, K
...
“The Growth of International Non-governmental
Organisation in the Twentieth
Century
...

Taylor, P
...
Non-state Actors in International Politics: From
Trans-regional to Sub-state Organisations
...

Union of International Associations (1990)
...
Munich: Saur
...
R
...
“The Actors in World Politics
...
N
...
A
...
The Analysis of International Politics, pp
...
New York: The Free Press
...
0
2
...
0

4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
2
Indices of Power
3
...
3
...
3
...
4
Smart Power
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
Power
is to international relations just as money is to economics and
commerce
...

Power determines the relative influence of state actors in the
international system, just as it shapes the structure of the system itself
...


2
...


3
...
1

Power

Hans Morgenthau, the archetypal realist, asserts in his book Politics
among Nations: "International politics, like all politics, is a struggle for
power
...
Power here, has been defined both in
relational and material terms
...
" The
relational nature of power is hence, demonstrated with this example
...
As long as this condition existed, the
power of either nation vis-a-vis the other was almost zero, even though
with their capabilities, they could mutually annihilate each other
...
However, a small increase in the capabilities of one of the
two nations could translate into a major advantage in terms of its power
...
The
United States is clearly now more powerful than Russia, and can in
consequence exercise power over Russia
...
Power in material
terms equates capabilities
...
" It is often suggested that a nation's power is the sum total of its
capabilities
...
Whereas capabilities are measurable, there are certain
qualities to power that are more psychological and relational
...
Since a nation's power
may depend in considerable measure on what other nations think it is or
even on what it thinks other nations think it is
...
State A might perceive state B as being more powerful
although in reality this may not be so
...
Similarly, state A might
consider itself more powerful than state B and might wage war against B
only, to suffer defeat and humiliation
...

In Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, Joseph Nye, one
of the foremost authorities on power, defines power as follows:
Power is like the weather
...
Just as farmers and meteorologists try to forecast the
weather, political leaders and analysts try to describe and predict
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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

changes in power relationships
...
The
dictionary tells us that power is the capacity to do things
...

The dictionary also tells us that power means having the capabilities to
affect the behaviour of others to make those things happen
...
However, there are several ways to affect
the behaviour of others
...

Some people think of power narrowly, in terms of command and
coercion
...
! You say "Jump!" and they jump
...
Suppose those whom you command, like my
granddaughters, already love to jump? When we measure power in
terms of the changed behaviour of others, we have first to know their
preferences
...
The playground bully who
terrorises other children and makes them jump at his command loses his
power as soon as the class returns from recess to a strict classroom
...
Power always
depends on the context in which the relationship exists
...
What is more, as we shall see, sometimes
we can get the outcomes we want by affecting behaviour without
commanding it
...
It is possible to get many desired outcomes without having
much tangible power over others
...

Practical politicians and ordinary people often find these questions of
behaviour and motivation too complicated
...
Consequently, they consider a
country powerful if it has a relatively large population and territory,
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extensive natural resources, economic strength, military force, and social
stability
...
When people define power as synonymous with the
resources that produce it, they sometimes encounter the paradox that
those best endowed with power do not always get the outcomes they
want
...
What wins in one game
may not help at all in another
...
Having power resources does not
guarantee that you will always get the outcome you want
...
America was the world's only
superpower in 2001, but we failed to prevent September 11
...
Yet strategies are often inadequate and leaders frequently
misjudge-witness Japan and Germany in 1941 or Saddam Hussein in
1990
...
It is equally important to
understand what game you are playing
...

In earlier periods, international power resources may have been easier to
assess
...
" Nevertheless, over the centuries, as technologies
evolved, the sources of strength for war often changed
...
At the end of
the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Prussia presented its fellow victors at the
Congress of Vienna with a precise plan for its own reconstruction with
territories and populations to be transferred to maintain a balance of
power against France
...

However, within half a century, popular sentiments of nationalism had
grown greatly, and Germany's seizure of Alsace and Lorraine from
France in 1870 became one of the underlying causes of World War I
...
In short, power resources cannot be
judged without knowing the context
...
For example, the
distribution of power resources in the contemporary information age
varies greatly on different issues
...
However, the context is far
more complex than first meets the eye
...
On the top board of classic interstate military issues, the
United States is indeed the only superpower with global military reach,
and it makes sense to speak in traditional terms of unipolarity or
hegemony
...
The United States cannot obtain
the outcomes it wants on trade, antitrust, or financial regulation issues
without the agreement of the European Union, Japan, China, and others
...
On the bottom
board of transnational issues like terrorism, international crime, climate
change, and the spread of infectious diseases, power is widely
distributed and chaotically organised among state and non-state actors
...
This is
among several issues that are now intruding into the world of grand
strategy
...
They mistake
the necessary for the sufficient
...
In the long term, that is the way to lose, since
obtaining favourable outcomes on the bottom transnational board often
requires the use of soft power assets
...
2

Indices of Power

The following are the indices of power:
Geography: According to Morgenthau, the most stable factor upon
which the power of a nation depends is geography
...

The decisive role that Morgenthau claims for geography, as a factor in a
nation's power may have been right in the 19th and early 20th centuries
...
In any case, Russia's huge landmass did
not prevent it from defeat by tiny Japan in a naval battle in 1904
...
In this scenario, geography or territoriality
remains important in calculating the power of nations
...
This factor is significant although not
decisive
...
For
instance, even though the Arab states have grown very rich from their
oil resources, none of them can be described as a powerful nation
...
Japan has little raw materials yet
its technology has transformed it into an economic giant and thus a
powerful nation
...
Its
significance is however dependent on other considerations as well
...
Population is in fact potential power
...
China,
whose population endowed it with potential power, was granted great
power status in the UN Security Council in the late forties for that very
reason even though it was at the time not a powerful state
...
Industrialisation leads to an increase in population,
which in turn may generate further industrialisation
...

Governmental System: The extent to which a nation's government
contributes to it power is difficult to assess
...
After all, there have been instances where dictatorial states have
overwhelmed democracies
...
Students of power however
believe that democracy offers greater advantage because it derives its
essence from the consent and voluntary support of the governed whereas
dictatorships depend on coercion
...
These were all dictatorships, yet they evolved highly
effective methods of psychological indoctrination of their citizens
...
Both democratic and dictatorial governments can
and have effectively harnessed these resources to increase their power
...

National Character and Morale: National character is an elusive
concept very difficult to define
...
For instance, in the late 1930s, the Japanese viewed the
West and the United States in particular as a decadent, corrupt and
spineless society, which would disintegrate in the face of a sustained
military attack
...

In contrast, the Japanese held a self-image of absolute superiority and
invincibility
...
The result of this was the nuclear
bombardment of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945
...
It was Japan's national
character and morale, rather than a rational calculation of power, which
led the island nation to attack the United States in 1941
...

Ideology: Ideology's peculiar function is to justify power and transform
it into authority
...
As a source of power, ideology is largely a
phenomenon of totalitarian states
...
The Soviet Union also used ideology to
compel its Eastern bloc satellites to comply with its international
political posture
...

Quality of Leadership: This is an important source of power
...
The
leadership harnesses and uses all the other resources with maximum
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effect to build national power
...
For instance, Nigerian leaders have been very
restrained in their response to military provocation from Cameroon over
the Bakassi Peninsular
...
That it has pursued a policy of restraint is a function of
its national leadership
...
National
leadership is therefore a decisive index of a nation's international power
...
3

Soft Power

The analysis of soft power in this section is based on the writings of
Joseph Nye, the scholar who first coined the expression and is
acknowledged as the foremost authority on the subject
...
It arises from the
attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals, and policies
...
America has long had a great deal of soft power
...
These are all examples of America's soft
power
...
Seduction is always more effective than
coercion, and many values like democracy, human rights, and individual
opportunities are deeply seductive
...
” However, attraction can turn to repulsion if
we act in an arrogant manner and destroy the real message of our deeper
values
...
Rome did not succumb to the rise of another empire,
but to the onslaught of waves of barbarians
...
As the world wends its way deeper into a
struggle with terrorism, it becomes increasingly apparent that many
factors lie outside American control
...
Nor can it launch a war whenever it wishes without alienating
other countries and getting the cooperation it needs for winning the
peace
...
It was also costly in terms of our
soft power-our ability to attract others to our side
...
Yet the United
States will need the help of such countries in the long term to track the
flow of terrorists, tainted money, and dangerous weapons
...
”
Everyone is familiar with hard power
...
Hard power
can rest on inducements ("carrots") or threats ("sticks")
...

The indirect way to get what you want is sometimes, called "the second
face of power
...
In this sense, it is also important to set the agenda and attract others in
world politics, and not only to force them to change by threatening
military force or economic sanctions
...

Soft power rests on the ability to shape the preferences of others
...
In a relationship or a marriage, power does not necessarily
reside with the larger partner, but in the mysterious chemistry of
attraction
...
It is difficult to run a
large organisation by commands alone
...
Similarly, contemporary practices of communitybased policing rely on making the police sufficiently friendly and
attractive that a community wants to help them achieve shared
objectives
...
If I can get you to want to do what I want, then I do not have
to use carrots or sticks to make you do it
...
Soft power is a staple of daily democratic politics
...
If a leader represents values that others want to follow, it will
cost less to lead
...
After all, influence can
also rest on the hard power of threats or payments
...
It is also the ability to attract, and
attraction often leads to acquiescence
...
In terms of resources, soft-power
resources are the assets that produce such attraction
...
Whether that
attraction can in turn, produces desired policy outcomes can also be
judge in particular cases
...

It occurs with all forms of power
...

One way to think about the difference between hard and soft power is to
consider the variety of ways you can obtain the outcomes you want
...
You can induce me to
do what you want by using your economic power to pay me
...
You can appeal to a
sense of attraction, love, or duty in our relationship and appeal to our
shared values about the justness of contributing to those shared values
and purposes
...
Soft power uses a different type of currency (not force, not
money) to engender cooperation-an attraction to shared values and the
justness and duty of contributing to the achievement of those values
...

Hard and soft powers are related because they are both aspects of the
ability to achieve one's purpose by affecting the behaviour of others
...
Command, the powerthe ability to change what others do-can rest on coercion or inducement
...
The types of
behaviour between command and co-option range along a spectrum
from coercion to economic inducement to agenda setting to pure
attraction
...
For example, sometimes countries may be attracted to others
with command power by myths of invincibility, and command power
may sometimes be used to establish institutions that later become
regarded as legitimate
...

However, the general association between the types of behaviour and
certain resources is strong enough to allow us to employ the useful
shorthand reference to hard-and soft-power resources
...
Governments sometimes
find it difficult to control and employ soft power, but that does not
diminish its importance
...
" Soft power is an important reality
...
H
...
Those
who deny the importance of soft power are like people who do not
understand the power of seduction
...
Kennedy, the senior statesman
John J
...
The only thing that matters is power
...
He understood the
importance of soft power
...
A country that
suffers economic and military decline is likely to lose not only its hardpower resources but also some of its ability to shape the international
agenda and some of its attractiveness
...

Both Hitler and Stalin tried to develop such myths
...
President Kennedy was properly concerned that although
polls showed the United States to be more popular, they also showed a
Soviet lead in perceptions of its space program and the strength of its
nuclear arsenal
...
The Vatican has soft power
despite Stalin's mocking question "How many divisions does the Pope
have?" The Soviet Union once had a good deal of soft power, but it lost
much of it after the invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia
...
Because of its brutal policies, the Soviet Union's
hard power actually undercut its soft power
...

Similarly, the United States' sphere of influence in Latin America in the
1930s was reinforced when Franklin Roosevelt added the soft power of
his "good neighbour policy
...
For example, in the past two decades, Norway has taken a
hand in peace talks in the Philippines, the Balkans, Colombia,
Guatemala, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East
...

Michael Ignatieff describes the position of Canada from a similar point
of view: "Influence derives from three assets: moral authority as a good
citizen which we have got some of, military capacity which we have got
a lot less of, and international assistance capability
...
They need legitimacy
...
The Polish government decided to send troops to postwar Iraq not only to curry favour with the United States but also as a
way to create a broader positive image of Poland in world affairs
...
As
we shall see later, many countries have soft -power resources
...
For example, Britain in
the 19th century and the United States in the second half of the 20th
century, advanced their values by creating a structure of international
rules and institutions that were consistent with the liberal and
democratic nature of the their economic systems
...
When countries make their power
legitimate in the eyes of others, they encounter less resistance to their
wishes
...
If a country can shape international rules that are
consistent with its interests and values, its actions will more likely
appear legitimate in the eyes of other countries
...


3
...
1 Sources of Soft Power
On sources of soft power, Joseph Nye writes the following: The soft
power of a country rests primarily on three resources: its culture (in
places where it is attractive to others), its political values (when it lives
up to them at home and abroad), and its foreign policies (when seen as
legitimate and having moral authority
...
Culture is the set of values and practices that
create meaning for a society
...
It is common
to distinguish between high culture such as literature, art, and education,
which appeals to elites, and popular culture, which focuses on mass
entertainment
...
Narrow values and
72

POL 231

MODULE 3

parochial cultures are less likely to produce soft power
...
The German editor, Josef
Joffe once argued that America's soft power was even larger than its
economic and military assets
...
S
...
Rome and Soviet Russia's cultural sway stopped
exactly at their military borders
...
"
Some analysts treat soft power simply as popular cultural power
...
They confuse the cultural
resources with the behaviour of attraction
...
" Coke and Big Macs do not necessarily attract
people in the Islamic world to love the United States
...
Excellent wines and cheeses
do not guarantee attraction to France, nor does the popularity of
Pokemon games assure that Japan will get the policy outcomes it
wishes
...
Tanks are
not a great military power resource in swamps or jungles
...

Serbs eating at McDonald's supported Milosevic, and Rwandans
committed atrocities while wearing T-shirts with American logos
...
In general, polls show that our
popular culture has made the United States seem to others "exciting,
exotic, rich, powerful, trend-setting-the cutting edge of modernity and
innovation
...
" For
example, in explaining a new movement toward using lawsuits to assert
rights in China, a young Chinese activist explained, "We've seen a lot of
Hollywood movies-they feature weddings, funerals and going to court
...
"
If American objectives include the strengthening of the legal system in
China, such films may be more effective than speeches by the American
ambassador about the importance of the rule of law
...
In some cases, such as Iran, the same
Hollywood images that repel the ruling mullahs may be attractive to the
younger generation
...

Commerce is one of the ways of transmitting culture
...
The ideas and values that
America exports in the minds of more than half a million foreign
students who study every year in American universities and then return
to their home countries, or in the minds of the Asian entrepreneurs who
return home after succeeding in Silicon Valley, tend to reach elites with
power
...
Similarly,
when the United States was trying to persuade President Musharraf of
Pakistan to change his policies and be supportive of American measures
in Afghanistan, it probably helped that he could hear from a son working
in the Boston area
...
For example, in the 1950s, racial segregation at home
undercut American soft power in Africa, and today the practice of
capital punishment and weak gun control laws undercut American soft
power in Europe
...

Jimmy Carter's human rights policies are a case in point, as were
government efforts to promote democracy in the Reagan and Clinton
administrations
...
Policies can have
long-term as well as short-term effects that vary as the context changes
...

Nonetheless, American soft power eroded significantly after the context
changed again later in the decade when the United States failed to rescue
the Argentine economy from its collapse
...

Domestic or foreign policies that appear to be hypocritical, arrogant,
indifferent to the opinion of others, or based on a narrow approach to
national interests can undermine soft power
...
So far, they distinguish
American people and culture from American policies
...

The 2003 Iraq War is not the first policy action that has made the United
States unpopular
...

When the policy changed and the memories of the war receded, the
United States recovered much of its lost soft power
...

The values a government champions in its behaviour at home (for
example, democracy), in international institutions (working with others),
and in foreign policy (promoting peace and human rights) strongly
affect the preferences of others
...
Nevertheless, soft power does not
belong to the government in the same degree that hard power does
...
In contrast, many softpower resources are separate from the American government and are
only partly responsive to its purposes
...
Today, Hollywood movies that show scantily clad
women with libertine attitudes or fundamentalist Christian groups that
castigate Islam as an evil religion are both (properly) outside the control
of government in a liberal society, but they undercut government efforts
to improve relations with Islamic nations
...
3
...
In their view, imitation or
attraction is simply that, not power
...
For example,
in the 1980s, Japan was widely admired for its innovative industrial
processes, but imitation by companies in other countries came back to
haunt the Japanese when it reduced their market power
...
Such observations are correct, but they miss the
point that exerting attraction on others often does allow you to get what
you want
...

At the same time, it is important to specify the conditions under which
attraction is more likely to lead to desired outcomes, and under which it
will not
...
All power depends on context-who relates to whom under
what circumstances-but soft power depends more than hard power upon
the existence of willing interpreters and receivers
...
Just as money can be
invested, politicians speak of storing up political capital to be drawn on
in future circumstances
...
Nonetheless, the indirect effects of attraction and a diffuse
influence can make a significant difference in obtaining favourable
outcomes in bargaining situations
...
Social psychologists have developed a
substantial body of empirical research exploring the relationship
between attractiveness and power
...
A dictator cannot
be totally indifferent to the views of the people in his country, but he can
often ignore whether another country is popular or not when he
calculates whether it is in his interests to be helpful
...
Thus, it was
impossible for the Turkish government to permit the transport of
American troops across the country in 2003 because American policies
had greatly reduced their popularity in public opinion and in the
parliament
...

Finally, though soft power sometimes has direct effects on specific
goals, it is more likely to have an impact on the general goals that a
country seeks
...

Successful pursuit of both types of goals is important in foreign policy
...
Soft power is particularly
relevant to the realisation of "milieu goals
...
It is easier to
attract people to democracy than to coerce them to be democratic
...

Other sceptics object to using the term "soft power" in international
politics because governments are not in full control of the attraction
...
In a liberal
society, government cannot and should not control the culture
...
The
Czech film director Milos Forman, recounts that when the Communist
government let in the American film titled “Twelve Angry Men”
because of its harsh portrait of American institutions, Czech intellectuals
responded by thinking
...
"
It is true that firms, universities, foundations, churches, and other nongovernmental groups develop soft power of their own that may reinforce
or be at odds with official foreign policy goals
...
This is particularly true,
since private sources of soft power are likely to become increasingly
important in the global information age
...
Of course, one must be
careful not to read too much into opinion polls
...
Opinions can change, and
such volatility cannot be captured by anyone poll
...
Popularity is not an end in itself
in foreign policy
...
As we shall see in the next unit, that attractiveness can
have an effect on our ability to obtain the outcomes we want in the
world
...
4

Smart Power

In Hard Power, Soft Power, Smart Power, Ernest J
...
Genuinely sophisticated smart power
approach comes with the awareness that hard and soft power constitute
not simply neutral "instruments" to be wielded neutrally by an
enlightened, all-knowing, and independent philosopher king; they
themselves constitute separate and distinct institutions and institutional
cultures that exert their own normative influences over their members,
each with its own attitudes, incentives, and anticipated career paths
...
The most obvious reason to
reflect seriously on smart power is the widely perceived shortcomings of
the policies of the U
...
administration over the past seven years
...

In contrast, leaders in other countries have been more sophisticated in
their use of the instruments of power
...
The individual
policy choices made by President Hu Jiantao and his advisors have
reflected a sophisticated analysis of the world as it is; and they have
deployed a balanced, integrated array of instruments to achieve their
78

POL 231

MODULE 3

narrow political goals as well as to advance their national purposes
...
Bush's
approach, which has focused largely on the need to maintain military
superiority
...
The leadership of the
PRC made conscious decisions to pursue this smarter course
...
" It could have been
diplomatically dysfunctional in its treatment of African nations and
clumsy in its pursuit of oil and mineral resources; instead, it created
what Josh Kurlantzick (2007) called a multifaceted "charm campaign"
offering African leaders foreign assistance and high-level attention
...
While the charm offensive of the PRC has
yielded mixed results, it was based on a sophisticated appreciation for
the full range of instruments of national power
...
A country's capacity
for creativity and innovation can trump its possession of armoured
divisions or aircraft earners, and new hi-tech tools can greatly enhance
the reach of military and non-military influence
...
Even if the U
...
administration had not displayed so
many weaknesses of its own making, there are some longer-term secular
trends, which would have provoked a demand for a new way to conceive
of and exercise state power
...
Armies and militaries remain important, but their relative role
has changed radically, in terms of both how the military conducts
warfare and in the mix of military to non-military assets
...
Sophisticated nations have everything from smart bombs to
smart phones to smart blogs
...

Any actor that aspires to enhance its position on the world stage has to
build strategies around 'these new fundamentals of "smartness
...

Their new power imposes new constraints on the unilateral actions of
79

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

the more established G-8 nations, including the United States
...
A final reason for
the hunt for smart power today is that target populations themselves
have become "smarter
...
These
newly educated populations demand different treatment than in the past,
as their world becomes urban and more middle class, individuals are
becoming more assertive
...
Democracy places distinct constraints on the design and
conduct of U
...
foreign policy just as it provides opportunities
...
Until very recently, the Bush administration officials have
demonstrated an unwillingness or inability to conceive of and deploy
power creatively, in ways appropriate to our times, and synthesising the
strengths of the different instruments of state power
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...

v
...
0

CONCLUSION

Since power is the currency of international politics, it is the most
important issue that dominates the interest of state actors
...

However, with technological development, power can be segregated into
three categories: hard power, soft power and smart power
...


80

POL 231

5
...
A state
that seeks to deploy power successfully should measure its means to its
ends and should know which of these categories of power or in
combination to deploy to each situation
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...

3
...

5
...


Define power and identify its various characteristics
...

Describe the indices of power
...

Explain smart power
...


7
...
& Wilson, III (2008)
...
616, Public Diplomacy in a Changing World
(Mar
...
110-124
...
& Nye, J
...
(2004)
...

Morgenthau, H
...
(1966)
...
(4th ed
...


81

POL 231

UNIT 3

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

POWER THEORY

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
Power Theory
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
Power is the central organising principle
of war causation
...

2
...


3
...
1

Power Theory

Power theory offers a theoretical framework to explain the incidence of
wars in the international system
...
These wars
do not start accidentally; they usually result from deliberate and
calculated acts of decision-makers in the belligerent states
...
State agents make a
conscious decision to go to war based on their calculations or
miscalculations of risks and benefits
...
War, as Michael Howard (1970: 41) asserts, “is simply the
use of violence by states for the enforcement, the protection or the
extension of their political power
...
Since states
wage war, and power is so central to the existence, indeed, the very
survival of states, it is simply logical that the causes of war should be
located on the correlation of power between them
...
In The
Causes of War, Geoffrey Blainey (1977: 149-50) writes: All war “aims
are simply varieties of power
...

Similarly, Quincy Wright (1941: 144) describes power as being
essentially “a function of state politics
...
From Thucydides to Machiavelli to Morgenthau; from
Realpolitik statesmen like Frederick the Great to Bismarck to Kissinger,
the causes of war are at bottom conflicts of power
...
Here, the Greek historian
describes the cause of war in power terms: “What made war inevitable
was the growth in Athenian power and the fear this caused in Sparta
...
Their decisions, their attitudes,
their perceptions, and their calculations are based on the fundamental
issues of power
...

Since states are rational actors whose decisions to go to war are based on
rational calculations of risks and gains and of the shifts in the power
equation in the international system, the power model rejects the
individual level of analysis theories that attribute war to man’s innate
aggressiveness
...
For
instance, it was the mutual perception of threat induced by the
exponential growth in the military capabilities of the great powers that
83

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

turned Europe by 1907 into an armed camp of two hostile coalitions
...
Similarly, it was Saddam Hussein’s calculations
and miscalculations of power that precipitated the Gulf War
...
” Irrespective of the underlying causes of international
conflict, power theory holds as sacrosanct the fact that wars result from
reasoned and rational calculations by both parties that they stand to gain
more by going to war than by remaining at peace (Howard, 1983: 22)
...

Consequently, this will promote cooperation rather than conflict in the
international system
...
In general, however, power theory
provides the most convincing explanatory paradigm on the causes of
war
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...

v
...
0

CONCLUSION

The unit has analysed power theory as the most convincing theory on
the fundamental causes of war in the international system
...
0

SUMMARY

Power is the central organising principle of war causation
...


84

POL 231

MODULE 3

6
...

2
...


Explain the basic assumptions of power theory
...

Assess the effectiveness of power theory to explain the causes of
war
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Blanning, T
...
W
...
The Origins of the French Revolutionary
Wars
...

Geoffrey Blainey (1977)
...
Sun Books
...
The Causes of War
...

Peter Paret & Michael Howard (1976)
...
Princeton
...
0
2
...
0

4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
2
Types of Diplomacy
3
...
1 Democratic Diplomacy
3
...
2 Coercive Diplomacy
3
...
3 Gun-Boat Diplomacy
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
It consists of the techniques and procedures for conducting
relations among states
...
It
embraces a multitude of interests, from the simplest matter of details in
the relations between two states to vital issues of war and peace
...

Indeed, diplomacy is that great engine used by civilised states for
maintaining peace
...

However, the following will suffice
...

Sir Ernest Satow defines diplomacy as the application of intelligence
and tact to the conduct of official relations between the governments of
independent states… the conduct of business between states by peaceful
means
...
0

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•
86

explain the origins of modern diplomacy
discuss the types of diplomacy
explain the importance of diplomacy to the international system
...
0

MAIN CONTENT

3
...
These measures come under the
rubric, conflict resolution mechanisms
...

To be sure, diplomacy in one form or the other has been in practice ever
since human beings organised themselves into separate and distinct
socio-political units
...
They had to employ messengers to facilitate
communication
...

They carried emblems of authority from their sovereigns or communities
and were received and treated with elaborate ceremonial
...
As a paradigm, diplomacy operates within the realm of
international relations and foreign policy
...
Although diplomacy often seeks to preserve the
peace and employs negotiation as its chief instrument, sometimes actors
find it necessary and expedient to employ coercion, threats and
intimidatory tactics to compel their adversaries to follow a particular
line of action
...

Historically, the earliest records of interstate diplomacy date from 2850
BCE
...

For much of this period, Akkadian, the Babylonian language, served as
the language of international diplomacy in the Middle East until
Aramaic replaced it much later
...
In Biblical lore, the Apostle Paul
described himself as an ambassador in the second letter to the Church of
Corinth
...
” The word gained currency in Italy in the
late 20th century and by the 15th century had become the common title
for the envoys of secular rulers
...

Modern diplomacy began in Renaissance Italy
...
Venice pioneered the
process of giving written instructions to envoys and maintaining an
archive of diplomatic correspondence
...
From there the practice spread to
France and Spain until it covered Europe
...

Undoubtedly, the diplomacy of the courts entered its golden age in the
18th century
...
Diplomats represented their
sovereigns, and often were merely the willing tools in the great contests
for empire and for European supremacy, which dominated that century
...

As diplomacy became less formal and restricted, its rules became more
standardised and more generally accepted
...
To place
diplomacy on a more systematic and formal basis, the Congress laid
down certain rules of procedure that regulate diplomatic practices until
date
...
The
diplomatic hierarchy thus established consisted of four ranks or classes
of representatives: (1) ambassadors, papal legates, and papal nuncios;
(2) envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary; (3) ministers
resident, later merged with the second rank: and (4) charges d'affaires
...
The ambassador who was senior in terms of length of
service in a country should be doyen or dean of the diplomatic corps in
that country
...
The Vienna conventions of
1961 and 1963, constituted an effort to state the commonly accepted
rules regarding the status of diplomatic officials
...
2

Types of Diplomacy

3
...
1 Democratic Diplomacy
By the early 20th century, the term democratic diplomacy had become
part of the diplomatic vocabulary
...
In
effect, the new order was not as different from the old as it seemed in
the atmosphere of hope that ushered in the 20th century
...

However, experience in democratic diplomacy has been disappointing
...
The first and most potent source of
danger, he declares, is the irresponsibility of the sovereign people
...
In other words, foreign affairs are too foreign to the citizens of a
state, and their implications are difficult to grapple
...
2
...
It emphasises the use of
threats and the exemplary use of limited force to persuade an opponent
to back down
...
In coercive diplomacy, one gives the opponent an opportunity
to stop or back off before employing force or escalating its use, as the
British did in the early stages of the Falklands dispute in 1982
...

Coercive diplomacy offers the possibility of achieving one’s objective
economically, with little bloodshed, fewer political and psychological
costs, and often with much less risk of escalation than does traditional
military strategy
...
Leaders
of militarily powerful countries are tempted to believe that they can with
89

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

little risk to themselves, intimidate weaker opponents to give up their
gains and objectives
...
For instance, Lyndon
Johnson, in his unsuccessful use of air power against Hanoi in 1965
decided to back off
...
Three principal
conditions are important for the success of coercive diplomacy:
•
•
•

The coercing power must create in the opponent’s mind a sense
of urgency for compliance with its demand
...

The threat to escalate conflict if the opponent fails to meet the
demand
...
If one demands a great deal, the opponent’s motivation not
to comply will likely be very high
...
Although its
use in the European balance-of-power era was evidently not
systematically articulated, it was part of the conventional wisdom of
statesmen in the business of statecraft and diplomacy
...
A fullblown ultimatum has three components: a specific, clear demand on the
opponent; time limit for compliance; and a threat of punishment for noncompliance
...
There are
several variants of coercive diplomacy
...
In this variant of the strategy, only the first element of an
ultimatum, a specific and clear demand, is conveyed and the coercing
power does not announce a time limit or attempt to create a strong sense
of urgency for compliance
...
It is on record that
Kennedy and Khrushchev did negotiate and agree upon a quid pro quo,
which ended the missile crisis, Khrushchev agreeing to remove the
90

POL 231

MODULE 3

missiles and bombers in return for Kennedy’s pledge not to invade
Cuba
...


3
...
3 Gunboat Diplomacy
The use of gunboat diplomacy in IR has become a common
phenomenon since the early 20th century
...
The
emergence of European states with ruthless and insatiable thirst for
territorial expansion and colonies in Africa, Asia and South America
brought in the new concept of gunboat diplomacy
...
They had worldwide propaganda to disguise or hide
aggressive policies, and by their contemptuous power projection
beyond their shores to acquire more territories
...
The British clearly demonstrated
the art of gunboat diplomacy in a disputed succession in Lagos in 1851
...
Thereafter, a succession of
British officials employed gunboat diplomacy in former Northern and
Southern Nigeria to reduce African resistance to a barest minimum
...
This explains why T
...
Tamuno posits that; British rule in
Nigeria was in the final analysis buttressed by force or the threat of
using it
...

Generally, they invoked strange doctrines of racial superiority,
materialism, and militarism in furtherance of their ends
...
Diplomats became agents of conquest, double-dealing, and espionage, whose business was not to work
for peaceful international relations but to provoke dissension rather than
understanding - to make the leaders and peoples of other nations weak,
blind, and divided in the face of the growing colonial menace
...

91

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...

vi
...

Which type of diplomacy encourages speaking softly, but
carrying a big stick?
Which type of diplomacy allows states to project power beyond
their shores?
What are the origins of modern diplomacy?
Why is diplomacy important to the international system?

4
...


Diplomacy embraces a multitude of interests, from the simplest matter
of details in the relations between two states to vital issues of war and
peace
...
Diplomacy is the great engine employed by civilised states
for maintaining international peace and stability
...


5
...
The endemic nature of conflict in
the international system makes it imperative for states and other
international actors to device ways of ameliorating its consequences
...
Modern diplomacy began in
Renaissance Italy
...
Venice pioneered the process of giving written instructions
to envoys and maintaining an archive of diplomatic correspondence
...
However, irrespective of
the method employed—negotiation or coercion— diplomacy's success
and effectiveness depends on a number of variables, the most important
being the relative power of the actors involved
...
Similarly, when war fails to win total
annihilation, it takes diplomacy to negotiate a truce
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...

3
...


Explain the origins of modern diplomacy
...
” Discuss
...

Explain the term, gunboat diplomacy
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Cable James (1980)
...
London: Macmillan
...
Force and Statecraft:
Diplomatic Problems of our Times
...

Morgenthau, H
...
(1985)
...
New York: McGraw Hill Inc
...
N
...
The Evolution of the Nigerian State
...


93

POL 231

UNIT 5

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

INTERNATIONAL REGIMES

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
International Regimes
3
...
0

INTRODUCTION

International regimes are the networks of rules, norm, and procedures
that regularise and govern behaviour and control arrangements that
affect relationships of interdependence
...
The rules of the game include some
national rules, some international rules, some private rules, and large
areas of no rules at all
...
To understand the international regimes that affect patterns of
interdependence, one must look at structure and process in international
systems, as well as at how they affect each other
...
In international political systems, the most important units
are states, and the relevant capabilities are their power resources
...
0

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•
94

explain the meaning of international regimes
explain the relevance of international regimes to the international
system
explain the three schools of thought within the study of
international regimes
...
0

MAIN CONTENT

3
...
This
could be arms control, international trade, or Antarctic exploration
...
International
regimes help to provide the political framework within which international economic processes occur
...
Thus, the complex apparatus of
principles, norms, rules, and procedures collapses into the single concept
of rules
...

Principles are beliefs of fact, causation, and rectitude
...
Rules
are specific prescriptions or proscriptions for action
...
Haas argues that a regime
encompasses a mutually coherent set of procedures, rules, and norms
...
It is important to
understand regimes as something more than temporary arrangements
that change with every shift in power or interests
...
Krasner defines international regimes as:
Implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules, and decision-making
procedures around which actors' expectations converge in a given area
of international relations
...
Norms are standards of behaviour defined in terms of rights
and obligations
...
Decision-making procedures are prevailing practices for making
and implementing collective choice
...
The regime rests on four principles:
1
...


3
...


A principle which links the proliferation of nuclear weapons to a
higher likelihood of nuclear war
A principle that acknowledges the compatibility of a multilateral
nuclear non-proliferation policy with the continuation and even
the spread of the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes
A principle stating a connection between horizontal and vertical
nuclear proliferation (i
...
the notion that in the long run, the
proliferation of nuclear weapons can only be halted if the nuclear
powers are ready to reduce their nuclear arsenals)
A principle of verification (Hasenclever, 1997, 9)
...
Among
these are:
1
...

3
...


These norms have also engendered a number of detailed rules and
regulations that specify the obligations of states or make it possible to
distinguish between complaint and non-compliant states
...
g
...
” The authors assert further that: “While this treaty forms the
normative backbone of the regime, it must not be equated with the
regime as such
...

It is essential to distinguish clearly between international regimes, on the
one hand, and mere ad hoc substantive agreements, on the other
...
A
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theory of international regimes must explain why these intermediate
arrangements are necessary
...
Indeed, the purpose of regimes is to facilitate agreements
...
The current revolution in information
technologies is strengthening regimes particularly in this aspect
...

The most common conception of regimes combines elements of realism
and liberalism
...
Regimes do not
play a role in issues in which states can realise their interests directly
through unilateral applications of leverage
...
Although states continue to seek their
own interests, they create frameworks to coordinate their actions with
those of other states when such coordination is necessary to realise selfinterest that is, in collective goods dilemmas
...
Regimes do not constrain states, except in a very
narrow and short-term sense
...
Indeed, regimes are intervening variables between
the basic causal forces at work in IR
...
For example, the nuclear non-proliferation regime protects the
status quo in which only a few states have nuclear weapons
...
Yet, regimes do not always decline with the power of
hegemons that created them
...
Although hegemony may be crucial in establishing regimes, it is
not necessary for maintaining them
...

Working through the regime becomes a habit, and national leaders may
not seriously consider breaking out of the established rules
...
S
...
S
...
The
international economic regimes adjusted somewhat and survived
...
These institutions become the tangible manifestation of shared
expectations as well as the machinery for coordinating international
actions based on those expectations
...

Principles and norms provide the basic defining characteristics of a
regime
...
Changes in
rules and decision-making procedures are changes within regimes if
principles and norms are unaltered
...
Fundamental political arguments are more concerned
with norms and principles than with rules and procedures
...
For instance, in the area
of international trade, recent revisions in the Articles of Agreement of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provide for special
and differential treatment for less developed countries (LDCs)
...
Such rules violate one of the basic norms of the
liberal post war order, the most-favoured-nation treatment of all parties
...
The Third
World has used international regimes to enhance power and control over
international transaction flows in a number of issue-areas
...

Similarly, in the area of shipping, developing countries have supported
the United Nations Convention on Liner Conferences, which establishes
a norm of a 40-40-20 split of cargo between exporting, importing, and
third-country liners
...
Through international
agreements on business practices and technology transfer, developing
countries have sought to legitimate and thereby enhance the power of
national government to regulate multinational corporations
...

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However, the industrialised nations have treated these alterations in the
rules as temporary departures necessitated by the peculiar circumstances
of poorer areas
...
Graduation holds that
as countries become more developed they will accept rules consistent
with liberal principles
...


3
...
According to the explanatory variables that
these theories emphasise, they may be classified as power-based,
interest-based, and knowledge-based approaches, respectively
...
The realists who focus on power relationships, the
neoliberals who base their analyses on constellations of interests, and the
cognitivists who emphasise knowledge dynamics, communication, and
identities
...

One major difference separating the three schools of thought is the
degree of institutionalism that power-based, interest-based, and
knowledge-based theories of regimes tend to espouse
...

This attribute of regimes is termed regime strength
...
The most fundamental and most widely discussed of
these purposes is the enhancement of the ability of states to cooperate in
the issue-area
...
In a
sense, power theorists of regimes face this need even more than others,
since sustained international cooperation that is not readily reduced to a
form of external balancing represents a major puzzle to the realist
research program
...
According to these authors, the distribution of power
resources among actors strongly affects both the prospects for effective
regimes to emerge and persist in an issue-area and the nature of the
regimes that result, especially as far as the distribution of the benefits
from cooperation is concerned
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...


What do you understand by international regimes?
How many schools of thoughts explain international regimes?
Name the schools of thought
...
0

CONCLUSION

International regimes are the networks of rules, norm, and procedures
that regularise and govern behaviour and control arrangements that
affect relationships of interdependence
...
Indeed, regimes are institutions with explicit rules,
agreed upon by governments, which pertain to particular sets of issues in
international relations
...

Regimes can help solve collective goods problems by increasing
transparency because when everyone knows what everyone else is
doing, cheating becomes risky
...
Indeed,
with better international communication, states can identify conflicts and
negotiate solutions through regimes more effectively
...
0

SUMMARY

In this unit, we focused on international regimes
...
This could be
arms control, international trade, or Antarctic exploration
...
International
regimes help to provide the political framework within which international economic processes occur
...
According to the
explanatory variables that these theories emphasise, they may be
classified as power-based, interest-based, and knowledge-based
approaches, respectively
...
The realists who
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focus on power relationships, the neoliberals who base their analyses on
constellations of interests, and the cognitivists who emphasise
knowledge dynamics, communication, and identities
...

One major difference separating the three schools of thought is the
degree of institutionalism that power-based, interest-based, and
knowledge-based theories of regimes tend to espouse
...
0

TUTOR- MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...


Explain in detail what you understand by international regimes
...

Explain the significance of international regimes to the
international system
...


7
...
(1995)
...
(3rd ed
...

Hasenclever Andrea, Peter Mayer & Volker Rittberger (1997)
...
Cambridge
...
O
...
S
...
Power and Interdependence (4th
ed
...

Keohane, R
...
(1984)
...
Princeton
...
T
...
(Ed
...
Cornel University
Press
...
& Groom, A
...
R
...
(Eds)
...
St Martin’s
...
0
2
...
0

4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
2
Levels of Analysis
3
...
1 Individual Level of Analysis
3
...
2 State Level of Analysis
3
...
3 System Level of Analysis
3
...
4
Functional Theory
3
...
6
Decision Making Theories
3
...
1 The Rational or Unitary Actor Model
3
...
2 Bureaucratic Politics Model
3
...
3 The Hero-in-History Model
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
It explains in
detail Systems theory, Game theory and Functionalism
...


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2
...


3
...
1

Origin and Importance of the Theoretical Study of
International Relations

Although the study of international relations must account for the
unique, new, and non-recurring phenomenon, it is also concerned with
recurring processes and patterns of behaviour
...
They
provide opportunities for scholars to draw generalisations and
conceptualisations that cut across historical events
...
without having to describe specific historical wars,
alliances, crisis and other issues
...

Since World War II, international relations scholarship has moved from
mere description of events, the analysis of international treaties with a
legalistic and moral tone, to the development of explanatory theories and
paradigms on international phenomena
...
The
logic of international relations as a predictive science is based on the
claim that when enough basic propositions about the behaviour of policy
makers, states, and international systems have been tested and verified
through rigorous research methods, predictive statements, i
...
, theories,
can be advanced with sufficient clarity
...
2

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

Levels of Analysis

Another important aspect to the theoretical study of international
relations revolves around the “level of analysis” construct
...
These are the individual, the state, and
the system levels of analysis
...


3
...
1 Individual Level of Analysis
The Individual level of analysis focuses on the actions, behaviour,
attitudes, idiosyncrasies or psychology of individual policymakers
...
For
instance, in a discussion of the Nigerian civil war, the individual level of
analysis approach will consider the personality of the key players –
Ojukwu and Gowon – as causal factors in the war
...


3
...
2 State Level of Analysis
The State level of analysis assumes that all policymakers act essentially
the same way once confronted with similar situations
...
Many analysts consider the state
level to be the most important
...
For instance, on the issue of international
conflict, a pervasive and permanent feature of international relations,
analysts will want to know whether it arises from such attributes of the
state as sovereignty, territoriality, nationalism, power, economic
structure, etc
...
Domestic political pressures, national
ideologies, public opinion, economic and social needs, all contribute to
the way states interact with other actors in the international system
...
2
...
It considers the structure of the system and the distribution
of power and influence within the system, the form of superior and
subordinate relationships, etc
...
It proposes that states will form coalitions and counter-coalitions
to fend off hegemonic drives and that a “balancer” will intervene on
behalf of the weaker side to redress the balance or restore the
equilibrium
...
It makes no reference to
personalities, domestic pressures, or ideologies within states
...

Generally, each level of analysis contributes to our understanding of
international relations, although, each on its own fails to account for
certain aspects of the situation under consideration
...

Scholars employing the different levels of analysis to the study of
international relations have formulated theories and analytical models
suitable to each level
...
So also are Game theory, Field
theory, Power Transition theory, and Long Cycle theory
...
Other examples include Capability Analysis
...

It can also be described as a system level of analysis theory because
power symmetries between and among states create a balance of power
...
Another example is the Hero-in-History
model employed in foreign policy analysis
...
3

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

System Theory

General System Theory (GST) was first formulated by Ludwig von
Bertalanfy as an explanatory paradigm in Biology
...

GST approaches a subject holistically, i
...
as a totality, a whole entity,
or, to use international relations terminology, a world view
...
GST offers an alternative to the mechanistic
conception implicit in the literature on international relations in which
the society and the individual man are thought of in terms of the analogy
of the machine and its constituent parts
...
GST principles on the
other hand are based on the empirically verified fact that living beings
and their organisations are not collections of separate units, the sum of
which accounts for a total phenomenon
...

By way of contrast, the classical mechanistic approach conceptualised
phenomena as a closed system separated from the outer environment so
that the outcome results from initial conditions
...
The method is based on the concept of the sum of the parts;
it deduces the meaning of the whole from knowledge of the
characteristics of the parts
...
Any living system according to
the GST principle is composed of other organised complexes of open
systems
...

Another dimension of GST is that an organisation in the open system
maintains itself not in a state of equilibrium but in a steady state
...
No
matter the political decision, and with or without governmental
direction, men will do what they can to eliminate disruptions and restore
order; they will adapt old ways and ideas to novel circumstances
...

The open system approach leads to the generalisation that final
outcomes are not determined by initial conditions, rather, by conditions
of outflow and inflow over a period of time
...

Systems are said to be coupled when the output of one system affects an
input of the other system
...
NEPAD is a
case in point
...
Take for instance,
United States relations with the Soviet Union during the Cold War
...
Negative feedback operates in
the direction opposite from that of the input as exemplified by
US/Soviet or US/Cuban relations
...
In the case
of the latter, feedback was negative during the Apartheid era; it has been
positive since 1995
...
For instance an
increase in the capabilities of a national actor, if great enough and if at a
fast enough rate, may prevent other national actors from taking
compensating action
...

Steady State
In the steady state, some variables in the system continually readjust to
keep other variables within given limits
...

Political systems maintain steady-state stability
...

Variables
The systems theory also involves the study of relationships between
variables
...
For instance, physicists use
such variables as mass, energy, temperature, pressure, etc
...
The
variables permit generalisations as well as focus attention on specific
aspects of a problem
...

The Essential Rules of a System
The essential rules of the system describe general relationships between
the actors
...
The rules are not laws in the physical sense but
merely specify characteristic behaviour in the system
...
or any other
classificatory labelling model employed to designate actors in the
system
...

The Transformation Rules of a System
The transformation rules of a system are those rules, which relate given
sets of essential rules to given parameter values, depending upon the
previous state of the system
...
Thus given knowledge of the present
state of a system and of the value of its parameters, the future states of
the system can in principle, be predicted
...
e
...
Behaviour is thus a function of
internal system influences as well as of external influences
...

The Actor Classificatory Variables
The actor classificatory variables specify the structural characteristics of
actors
...
For instance, “nationstate” “alliance” and “international organisation” are actor categories
whose behaviour will differ as a consequence of structural
characteristics
...

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The Capability Variables
The capability variables specify the physical capability of an actor to
carry out given classes of actions in specified settings
...

Information Variables
This includes knowledge of long-range aspirations as well as immediate
needs
...
For instance, an actor may fail to do something he has
the capability to do if he is unaware of his capabilities
...

Information also involves perception and misperception
...

Information is thus an important determinant of action in any political or
social system
...
In general, the
knowledge of information, which an actor has, is important in predicting
what that actor is likely to do
...
National and supranational systems are subsystems of
the international system
...
The system has no absolute status and as indicated earlier
consists of variables employed for the investigation of the subject
matter
...
4

Functional Theory

The theory of functionalism was elaborated by David Mitrany in a series
of books and articles among which are: The Progress of International
Government published in 1933; the article “Functional Federalism” in
the Journal Common Cause of November 1950 and particularly the book
A Working Peace System published in 1946
...
As
Mitrany puts it, “the problem of our time is not how to keep the nations
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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

peacefully apart but how to bring them actively together”
...
According to
Mitrany, functional development of special-purpose organisations will
evolve their own distinctive structural patterns, procedures, and areas of
competence in accordance with inherent requirements of their functional
missions
...
Rather than
reconciling conflicting interests as emphasised in power theory,
functionalism promotes efforts to solve common problems
...
” International peace can be maintained by solving
economic and social problems through agencies covering the problem
areas
...
Hence, the mission of
functionalism is to make peace possible by organising the particular
layers of human social life in accordance with their particular
requirements
...
Functional organisations, by focusing
attention on areas of common interest, will promote habits of
cooperation that will equip human beings for the conduct of a system of
international relations in which the expectation of constructive
cooperation will replace conflict
...

In summary, functionalism seeks to promote peace by eliminating
objective conditions conducive to war
...
By
providing services, which populations find desirable, functional
institutions will share fundamental loyalties with the state
...

Inherent in functional theory are elements of Devil Theory
...
Their roles
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are therefore incompatible with the operational mechanism of
functionalism
...
in collaborative efforts through specialised international
agencies
...

Functional theory thus envisages the ultimate production of a world
capable of sustaining peaceful relationships
...
Functionalism eschews the rigidity of
a formula and the neatness of a blueprint; it projects the growth of
international organisation as needed and in accordance with needs
...

Students of international organisation should be careful not to be carried
away by the impressiveness of the theory and attractiveness of the
programme of functionalism
...
In any case, the
historical evidence does not confirm the existence of direct correlation
between national economic backwardness and aggressiveness
...

Moreover, the separation of the economic and social strata from the
political, and the belief that actions and results from the non-political
field can be brought to bear on the political arena flies in the face of the
evidence
...
Can states be
induced to join hands in functional endeavour before they have settled
the outstanding political and security issues that divide them? History
does not justify such an assertion
...
The reality is
that recurrent setback, the interruption and disruption by war of
functional projects
...


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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

Functionalism in Practice
Articles 23-25 of the Covenant of the League of Nations established a
rather vague mandate for League excursions into functionalism
...

The designers of the post-World War II international order assigned
major importance to the creation of functional organs in the economic
and social fields
...
These functional
organisations are described as the Specialised Agencies of the United
Nations Organisation
...

Unlike the League, the UN system was, in its original conception, a fullfledged experiment in the application of the functional theory to
international relations
...

The UN has steadily enlarged and diversified its functional programme
...
However, the fact that these agencies are competent to deal
with these problems does not mean that they are equipped to solve them
...
To a limited extent, organs of the UN have
acquired powers of a legislative and executive nature in regard to their
specialised substantive areas, including the responsibility for framing
technical regulations and the right of following up passage of
resolutions
...

Generally, however, the primary functions of UN agencies have been
more modest, restricted to fact-finding, research into the nature and
magnitude of problems, idea shaping, sponsorship of consultation
among experts and responsible government officials
...
Their work has been largely confined to
helping governments help themselves and encouraging intergovernmental cooperation
...


112

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3
...
It is a general
theory, like power theory, designed to deal with a wide range of
situations and problems in terms of repetitive patterns of behaviour,
common aspects of phenomena, and types of actions and factors
...

Policymakers try to select a successive course of action from among
alternatives
...
This involves a prediction of
consequences based on assessed possibilities
...
Most policymakers must consider
the choice of policies or actions by others at home and abroad who may
interfere substantially with desired success
...
Game theory characterises decision-making
behaviour in certain situations in order to discover, if possible, the
conditions under which the aims of the policymaker can be promoted or
protected to the greatest extent
...

Game theory is a method of analysis and a method of selecting the best
courses of action
...
e
...
These situations are
marked by conflict, competition, and often cooperation
...
Although the theory involves rational
choice of action, it also considers irrational behaviour
...
It offers the most important theoretical tool in the
area of strategy
...
For example, consider a scenario in
which two tribes or parties of hunters are hungry and close to starvation
...
If the parties are enemies, a number of
alternative strategies are available to them
...

One strategic option would be to fight before seeking the food
...
A second strategy would be to choose one of the
alternative routes
...
This strategy however involves the
risk for the smaller group that arrives first: it could be set upon by the
full party of the enemy and destroyed
...

A strategy is a complete description of the choices a player will make
under any possible set of circumstances
...
Thus, if the strategies of the players
are given to an umpire, the players can retire while the umpire plays a
completely determined game
...
As such, the initial
moves of the players determine all subsequent moves
...
It deals with
simple games such as poker and with simplified versions of more
complicated games such as war
...

Zero-Sum Game
This is a basic game
...
There are two players
only in this game, and the winning and losses cancel each other out
...
For
instance, if A wins 3, B losses 3
...
Since war
has a characteristic of a zero-sum-game
...


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N-Person Non-Zero-Sum Game
Here, there are more than two players in a game in which the winning
and losses do not cancel out
...
Games of this type are more complicated and are more common
in international relations
...
The concept of game has
associated with it the concepts “Players”, “Rules”, “Moves”,
“Strategies”, and “Payoffs”
...
Usually the concepts employed in game
theory have an intuitive meaning for various kinds of economic, political
and military conflicts
...
He is the actor in the game
situation
...
It refers to the decision-making unit in the situation
being studied
...
It could be all the states in Africa
on the one hand, and the G-8 on the other, if the situation being studied
is NEPAD
...
The
members of the alliance have a different set of alternatives open to them
...
The fact that a member might leave is a possible
payoff of the game the alliance is playing
...
The players are each of the two alliances
considered as a single unit
...
They are the limiting conditions under which the game is played
...
The rules of Nigerian politics can be changed by
constitutional amendment
...
However, the rules
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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

may be changed by physical force, as in the case of a successful coup
d’etat
...
An important factor may be able to change or vitiate the
essential rules of the game of balance of power
...

The rules of the game determine the moves a player may make
...
In the contemporary
international system only the political units, i
...
nation states legally
have a monopoly of the instruments of violence
...

Strategy
As employed in the game theory, strategy means a complete plan --- so
complete that it cannot be upset by an opponent or by nature
...

If only a single strategy happens to be optimal for each player, it is
called pure strategy
...

Information
Every game has a structure of information
...
e
...
Game theory describes this as complete
information
...
Although, all actors in an international system
are fully informed about the rules of interaction, i
...
complete
information, their knowledge of each other’s capabilities is limited and
imperfect
...

Payoffs
This refers to the value of the game to each player
...


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3
...
Three of these will be discussed here, namely the
Unitary Actor model, the Bureaucratic Politics model, and the Hero-inHistory model
...
6
...
Realists assert that the
primary objective of nation-states’ foreign policy is to protect their
sovereignty
...
Consequently, the primary task that
decision makers face is to formulate foreign policies to ensure their
state’s independence and, ultimate survival
...

Realists conceive of the nation-state as the principal actor in world
politics
...
The international environment
determines state action
...
The basic motive of states
and the corresponding decision calculus of policymakers are the same;
as such realism assumes that each state makes its choices as though it
were a unitary actor
...
As
such, neither the character nor type of leadership making the decision,
the type of government, the characteristics of the society, the internal
economic and political situation is of any importance in the foreign
policy decision-making process
...
This is the logic of
power politics or realpolitik
...
That
the overriding concern of the national interest requires the rational
calculation of opportunities, risks and benefits so that the state can
maximise its power and cope successfully with threats from the
international arena
...
In essence, the
power model assumes that all decision makers are essentially alike
...


Problem Recognition and Definition
This requires an objective assessment of the problem as it
actually exists and not merely as they assume it to be
...
Information
must of necessity, be exhaustive
...


2
...


3
...


4
...
It
should involve a rigorous means-end, cost-benefit analysis
...
Decision
makers often lay claim to having made decisions based on rational
calculations
...
There are clear deficiencies in intelligence, in
capabilities, and in the psychology of those making the decisions
...
It is
therefore impossible to discountenance the importance of domestic
political factors in the policy process
...
The reality is that the ideal requirements of
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rational decision-making are rarely, if ever met in practice
...
Still, policy makers aspire to rational decisionmaking behaviour
...


3
...
2 Bureaucratic Politics Model
Heads of governments need information and advice to make decisions;
they also need and, in fact, depend on a machinery to implement their
decisions and policies
...
They have become
indispensable to a state’s capacity to cope with changing global
circumstances in a complex world
...

By and large, many different bureaucratic organisations are involved in
the formulation and executing of foreign policy
...
In Nigeria, the Office of the President and the Vice
President, the Ministry of External Affairs, NNPC, and other agencies of
the federal government are involved in the foreign policy process
...

The American diplomatic historian, Graham Allison, has identified two
elements in the bureaucratic politics model
...
The other is governmental politics, which
refers to the competition for influence among the key participants in the
decision process
...
Arms of the bureaucracy called upon to
implement a presidential decision will follow previously devised
routines
...
In
essence, rather than expanding the number of policy alternatives in a
manner consistent with the logic of rational decision-making, what the
organisation can or cannot do defines what is possible and what is not
...
Organisational procedures and capabilities consequently shape in
a profound way, the means from which the government could choose to
realise its objectives
...
Participants in the discussions that lead to
policy choices often define issues and favour policy alternatives that
reflect organisational affiliations
...

For instance, officials of the Ministry of External Affairs would
typically favour diplomatic approaches to policy problems, whereas
Ministry of Defence officials would routinely favour military solutions
...
Because the players in the game of governmental
politics are responsible for protecting the nation’s security, they are
obliged to fight for what they are convinced is right
...

This makes the process intensely political
...
Instead
of the unitary actor of the realist paradigm, the model identifies the
games, the players, the coalitions, bargains and compromises which
influence the decision making process
...
In accordance
with the model policy choices are the result of a tug of war among
competing agencies; a political game with high stakes in which
differences are settled at the minimum common denominator instead of
by rational, cost-benefit calculations
...
6
...
It argues that the course of
world history is determined by the decisions of political elites
...

The model is a popular image of the sources of states’ foreign policies
...
To reinforce this image, names of leaders are
attached to policies as though the leaders were synonymous with the
nation itself and most successes and failures in foreign affairs are
attributed to the leader in charge at the time they occurred
...

As the rational actor and bureaucratic politics models reveal, it is
erroneous to attach too much importance to the impact of the individual
leader in the policy process
...

Most leaders operate under a variety of political, psychological, and
circumstantial constraints that limit considerably what they can
accomplish
...
Leaders no doubt lead, and they do
make a difference
...
In general, particularly in
authoritarian or totalitarian states, the leader’s impact on a nation’s
foreign policy behaviour increases when the leader’s authority and
legitimacy have popular support
...
When circumstances are stable and normal, routines
operate, and when leader’s egos are not entangled with policy outcomes,
the impact of their personal characteristics is less obtrusive
...

During crisis, decision-making tends to be centralised and handled
exclusively by the top leader
...
Leaders then
assume responsibility for outcomes
...

The moment makes the person, rather than the person the moment
...
The impact of personal factors varies with the
context, and often the context is more powerful than the leader
...
Most leaders follow the rules of the game,
which suggests that the ways in which states respond to international
circumstances is often influenced less strongly by the type of people
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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

leading states than by other factors
...
This is why the realist model of power
politics remains eternally reasonable and compelling
...

ii
...

iv
...

What are decision-making theories?
List three decision-making theories in international relations
...
0

CONCLUSION

International relations accounts for the unique, new, and non-recurring
phenomenon
...
These patterns occur with much regularity and often
transcend specific historical episodes
...
The generalisations provide a platform for the
formulation of explanatory paradigms on such issues as the causes of
war, imperialism, escalation, crises, alliance, deterrence, etc
...
It is the possibility of drawing such generalisations and concepts,
building explanatory models and paradigms that underlines the
importance of the theoretical study of international relations
...
Other theories provide a basis for decision-making
...


5
...
It has explored the assumptions of Systems
theory, Functionalism and Game theory
...


6
...


Assess the importance of the theoretical study of international
relations
...

Explain the processes of Game theory
...

3
...

5
...


Explain the assumptions of Functional theory
...


7
...
(2006)
...
Princeton: Princeton University Press
...
, Gertner, R
...
(1994)
...

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
...
V
...
(1972)
...
Paper presented to Ludwig von Bertalanffy on
his seventieth birthday
...
New York
...
(1987)
...
Economics and
Philosophy, 3: 179–214
...
(1994)
...
1):
Playing Fair
...

Binmore, K
...
Game Theory and the Social Contract (vol
...
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
...
(2007)
...
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
...
(2009)
...


Rational

Decisions
...
The Progress of International Government
...
“Functional Federalism” Common Cause
...
A Working Peace System
...
“The Prospect of Integration: Federal or
Functional
...
378-406
...
W
...
A
...
Introduction to Systems Theory
...

Ernst, B
...
Beyond the Nation-State
...
J
...
& Paul Taylor (1975)
...

James P
...
Functionalism and World Politics
...
R
...
R
...
Introduction to Systems Theory
...


124

POL 231

MODULE 4

UNIT 2

REALISM

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
Realism
3
...
2
...
3
Neorealism
3
...
0

INTRODUCTION

There is no single theory that has entirely explained the wide range of
international interactions both conflictual and cooperative
...
This approach is called realism
...


2
...


3
...
1

Realism

Realism is a school of thought that explains international relations in
terms of power
...
Like utopianism in
international relations theory, realism has its intellectual roots in the
older political philosophy of the West and in the writings of nonWestern ancient authors such as Sun Tzu in China, Kautilya in India, as
well as Thucydides in ancient Greece
...
As an approach, idealism emphasises
international law, morality, and international organisations, rather than
power alone as key influences on international relations
...
They see the international system as one
based on a community of states that have the potential to work together
to overcome mutual problems
...

However, from the realists’ paradigm, states are rational actors whose
decisions to maximise power derive from rational calculations of risks
and gains, and of the shifts in the power balance in the international
system
...
To be sure, a hand full of “great powers” and their military
alliances define the world order
...

Against this background, realists ground themselves in a long tradition
...

For instance, the Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, who lived 2,000 years ago,
advised the rulers of states on how to survive in an era when war has
become a systematic instrument of power
...
He showed rulers how to use power to
advance their interests and protect their survival
...
In his book, History of the
Peloponnesian War, he describes the causes of the war in power terms,
“What made the war inevitable was the growth in Athenian power and
the fear this caused in Sparta
...
Indeed, today’s international relations operate on
the famous dictum by Thucydides, “the strong do what they have the
power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept
...

Niccolo Machiavelli, like Thucydides, who developed an understanding
of state behaviour from his observation of relations between Athens and
Sparta, Machiavelli, analysed interstate relations in the Italian system of
the 16th century
...

In the 17th century, Thomas Hobbes discussed the free-for-all that exists
when government is absent and people seek their own selfish interests
...
Like
other modern realists, Hobbes concerned himself with the underlying
forces of politics and with the nature of power in political relationships
...
2

Morgenthau’s Theory of International Politics

Since Hans Morgenthau is the chief priest of the realist school, it
becomes pertinent to discuss in details his realist theory of international
relations
...
In his celebrated work, Politics among Nations,
(1948), the chief realist sets forth six principles of realist theory
...
2
...
It maintains that human nature has not changed since
classical times
...
The operations
of these laws being impervious to our performances, men will change
them only at the risk of failure
...
It assumes
that the character of a foreign policy can be ascertained only through the
examination of the political acts performed and of the foreseeable
consequences of these acts
...
In systematising these vast amounts of
historical data, the student of politics should empathise with the position
of a statesman who must meet a certain problem of foreign policy under
certain circumstances
...

Secondly, Morgenthau posits that statesmen think and act in terms of
interest defined as power and that historical evidence proves this
assumption
...
Moreover, the concept interest defined as
power makes it possible to evaluate actions of political leaders at
different points in history
...
Using historical data, Morgenthau compared the
real world with the interaction patterns within his model
...

Thirdly, realism assumes that its key concept of interest defined as
power is an objective category, which is universally valid, but it does
not endow the concept with a meaning that is final
...

Accordingly, all nations are compelled to protect their physical,
political, and cultural identity against encroachments by other nations
...
Taken in
isolation, the determination of its content in a concrete situation is
relatively simple, for it encompasses the integrity of the nation's
territory, of its political institutions, and of its culture
...
In this regard, interest is
the essence of politics
...
Indeed,
Morgenthau states that universal moral principles cannot be applied to
the actions of states in their abstract, universal formulation, but that they
must be filtered through the concrete circumstances of time and place
...
To confuse an individual's morality with a state's morality
is to court national disaster
...

Fifthly, political realism refuses to identify the moral aspirations of a
particular nation with the moral laws that govern the universe
...
The knowledge that interest is defined in terms of
power saves from moral excesses and political folly
...

Lastly, the difference between political realism and other schools of
thought is not only real but also profound
...
In fact, he
stresses the autonomy of the political sphere
...
The economist asks, how
does this policy affect the welfare of society, or a segment of it? The
lawyer asks, is this policy in accord with the rules of law?' The realist
asks, how does this policy affect the power of the nation?
In power struggles, nations follow policies designed to preserve the
status quo, to achieve imperialistic expansion, or to gain prestige
...


3
...
It
explains patterns of international events in terms of the system structurethe international distribution of power rather than in terms of the internal
make up of individual states
...

In this respect, drawing, upon the paradigm of international politics of
classical realism, Neorealism contains an emphasis on those features of
the structure that mould the way in which the components relate to one
another
...
In domestic politics, there is hierarchical
relationship in which units stand in formal differentiation from one
another by reference to the degree of authority or the function, which
they perform
...
Actors stand in a horizontal relationship with
each other, with each state the formal equal (sovereignty) of the other
...
According to Waltz, the
concept of structure is because units differently juxtaposed and
combined behave differently and interestingly produce different
outcomes
...

129

POL 231

3
...
Many believed that “perpetual peace”
among the great powers is finally at hand
...
In the words of one famous author, the end of the
Cold War signifies the “the end of history
...
”
However, John Mearsheimer argues that the claim that security
competition and war between the great powers have been purged from
the international system is wrong
...
In his theory of offensive realism, Mearsheimer
took realism to a higher level when he argues that international politics
has always been a ruthless and dangerous business, and it is likely to
remain that way
...
In his view, the overriding goal of each state is to
maximise its share of world power, which means gaining power at the
expense of other states
...
The fortunes of
all states—great powers and smaller powers alike—are determined
primarily by the decisions and actions of those with the greatest
capability
...
Thus, like all theories, there are limits to offensive
realism’s explanatory power
...
Structural
factors such as anarchy and the distribution of power are what matter
most for explaining international politics
...
It tends to treat states like black boxes
or billiard balls
...
What matters for the
theory is how much relative power Germany possessed at the time
...
In short, there is a price to pay for
simplifying reality
...
It explains how great
powers have behaved in the past and how they are likely to behave in
the future
...
States should
behave according to the dictates of offensive realism, because it outlines
the best way to survive in a dangerous world
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...

v
...

What is neorealism?
What is the best way for states to survive in a dangerous world?
What is offensive realism?

4
...
Forms of power vary, but the threat and use of
military force traditionally rank high in realists thinking
...
Realism is all about seeing things as they are, rather
than as they ought to be, and to recognise that Power is the currency of
great-power politics, and states compete for it among themselves
...
Realist
theorists assume that certain largely immutable factors such as
geography and the nature of human behaviour shape international conduct
...
From Thucydides to
Morgenthau, political statesmen are advised to demonstrate prudence
and practicability in their foreign policy objectives
...


5
...
The realist paradigm explains
international relations in power terms
...
According to Sun Tzu, moral
reasoning is not very useful to the state rulers who are surrounded with
armed and dangerous neighbours
...
Hans Morgenthau, who
is the chief priest of the school of modern realism, authored his famous
book, Politics among Nations, (1948), shortly after the World War II
...
Taking realism to a higher
level of refinement, Kenneth Waltz developed the concept of
Neorealism
...
Similarly, John
Mearsheimer has taken realism further by developing what he calls
offensive realism
...
” Indeed, realism
prevails!

6
...

2
...


Explain the six principles of realism as postulated by
Morgenthau
...

Explain in details the offensive realism theory
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Goldstein, J
...
& Pevehouse, J
...
(2011)
...
(9th
ed
...

James, E
...
(1990)
...
(3th ed
...

John, Mearsheimer (2001)
...
New
York: Norton and Company
...
J
...
Politics among Nations: The Struggle for
Power and Peace
...
New York: McGraw Hill Inc
...
The Art of War
...

Thucydides (1954)
...
Translated by
Rex Warner, London: Penguin Books
...
0
2
...
0
4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
0

INTRODUCTION

Idealism emphasises international law, morality, and international
organisations, rather than power alone as key influences on international
events
...
They see the
international system as one based on a community of states that have the
potential to work together to overcome mutual problems
...
Idealists were particularly
active between World War I and World War II, following the painful
experience of World War I, The United States president Woodrow
Wilson and other idealists placed their hopes for peace in the League of
Nations as a formal structure for the community of nations
...
0

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•

explain the origins of idealism
explain the inadequacies of idealism
explain beliefs of idealism
...
0

MAIN CONTENT

3
...
It tries to
explain how peace and cooperation are possible
...
The most renowned scholars were the idealists
...

133

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

Idealism is a metaphysical term; however, we are concerned here with
moral and political idealism
...
Generally, Idealists see international
relations in terms of moral precepts, justice, trust and obligation
...
It merely describes international events at
the time under review
...
For example, it
describes a phenomenon thus, “England breached a treaty with France
and then there was war
...
They preferred a more peaceful international system and a
just system
...
It regards the power politics as the passing phase of
history and presents the picture of a future international society based on
the notion reformed international system free from power politics,
immorality and violence
...

To effect a change in the international system, this moralistic approach
arrived at the following conclusions: “Wars are not good, so they are not
wanted
...

States should observe international law
...
States should
not use power (war) with weaker states – military, economic,
diplomatic
...

A world government was necessary - the idealist looked at
international organisation as a nucleus for a world government
...
An important
development in realist thinking was the formation of the League of
Nations at the end of World War I
...
They provided a means for registering
international agreements and, in the case of the UN, an incentive to do
134

POL 231

MODULE 4

so
...
This mixture
of legalism and idealism could never abolish private understandings, but
it did virtually eliminate secret treaties among democratic states
...

Generally, the values sought by idealism are different from those sought
by realism
...
The
idealists maintain that there is a fundamental problem of ethics, which
exists at all levels of politics, international politics inclusive
...
The idealist view of international relations cannot stand the test
of reality on the ground in 21st century international relations
...
This created a vacuum for the
emergence of political realists who see international relations in power
perspectives
...
The advance of science and technology has led to
the shrinkage of the world, and has totally changed the character of war,
thereby reminding us of the urgency of peace
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...

v
...
0

CONCLUSION

Idealism emphasises international law, morality, and international
organisations, rather than power alone, as key influences on
international events
...
They see
135

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

the international system as one based on a community of states that have
the potential to work together to overcome mutual problems
...
Idealists were
particularly active between World War I and World War II, following
the painful experience of World War I, the United States President
Woodrow Wilson and other idealists placed their hopes for peace in the
League of Nations as a formal structure for the community of nations
...
It aims at bringing about a better world with the help of
education and internal organisation
...


5
...
As a theory of international relations,
idealism has its intellectual roots in the older political philosophy of
scholars like Immanuel Kant
...
Beginning from the early 20th century,
idealism dominated the study of international relations up to 1939
...
It merely describes international events at
the time under review
...
For example, it
describes a phenomenon thus, “England breached a treaty with France
and then there was war
...
Idealists were particularly active between World War I
and World War II, following the painful experience of World War I, the
United States President Woodrow Wilson and other idealists placed their
hopes for peace in the League of Nations as a formal structure for the
community of nations
...
It aims at bringing about a better world with the help of
education and internal organisation
...
An important
development in realist thinking was the formation of the League of
Nations at the end of World War I
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...

3
...

“The failure of the League of Nations and the outbreak of WWII
dealt a devastating blow to idealism” Discuss
...


7
...
(2004)
...
Delhi: Vikas
Publishing House
...
S
...
C
...
International Relations
...
San Francisco: Longman, Pearson Education
...
Perpetual Peace
...
New
York: Bobs Merrill
...
0
2
...
0

4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
2
The Nature of Foreign Policy
3
...
4
Orientation and Roles
3
...
6
The Sources of Objectives, Decisions and Actions
3
...
8
Foreign Policy Objectives
3
...
10 Limitations on the Formulation of Foreign Policy
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
It traces the processes through which governments make
decisions on foreign policy and analyses the domestic, external and
international constraints and influences on the formulation and
implementation of foreign policy
...
0

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•
•
•

138

define foreign policy
analyse the nature of foreign policy
describe and distinguish between foreign policy inputs and
outputs
identify the sources of objectives, decisions and actions in foreign
policy analysis
explain and distinguish among core objectives, middle range
objectives and long range objectives
...
0

MAIN CONTENT

3
...
”
Foreign policy also refers to the goals that the state officials seek to
obtain abroad, the values that give rise to those objectives, and the
means or instruments through which they are pursued
...
2

The Nature of Foreign Policy

The foreign policies of governments are reflected in the external
behaviour of nation-states
...


For instance, when Obasanjo decides on a foreign trip, the processes
leading to such a foreign policy decision will be multi-dimensional
...


These are some of the explanatory layers or causal factors, which a
student of foreign policy has to consider in explaining the dynamics of
state behaviour in international politics
...
3

Foreign Policy Outputs

Foreign policy outputs are actions or ideas initiated by policymakers to
solve a problem or promote some change in the environment, usually in
139

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

the politics, attitudes, or actions of another state or states
...
Clearly,
the scope of foreign policy outputs vary tremendously from specific
actions like dispatching a diplomatic note to a friendly government to
defining a state’s long term objective throughout the world
...
Foreign policy outputs can be
divided into two broad groups
...
The second group is
more specific and concern the objectives, decisions and actions of states
...
4

Orientation and Roles

The structure of the international system is a basic condition affecting
the orientation of states
...
This means that other members of
the system occupy a subordinate and submissive relationship with the
dominant state
...
They may be
reduced to vassalage by bloc leaders or in some cases, simply destroyed
and incorporated into the territory of bloc or alliance leaders
...
They had to be faithful allies and pay tributes of
taxes and armed forces or face occupation by the bloc leaders
...
e
...
Their
foreign policies were orientated according to the designs of the Soviet
Union
...
The more cohesive a polar or hierarchical system, the less
latitude of choice or freedom of action remains for the weaker members
of the system
...
These are determined by the general distribution
of power in the system and by the needs and interests of the major
actors
...


3
...
Where there is conflict between immediate
national interests and the duties dictated by national role conceptions,
the former often prevails
...
Although Nigeria’s foreign policy orientation and role is
towards promoting African brotherhood, it does not translate to blanket
support for Cameroon because Nigeria’s national interest is impinged
upon by the latter’s objectives in Bakassi
...
For instance, a decision to vote in support of a United
Nations Resolution on the Middle East does not reflect a nation’s
orientation for or against Israel
...
African countries were clearly divided
over the contest for FIFA Presidency between Isa Hayatou and Joseph
Blatter even though they are all playing the same role and are all
oriented towards promoting the African Union
...
Instead, they should first
be seen as resulting from deliberate choices made by government
officials
...


3
...
These may include:
•
•
•

Important events abroad
Domestic political needs
Social values or ideological imperatives
141

POL 231

•
•
•
•
•
•

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

State of public opinion
Availability of capabilities
Degree of threat or opportunities perceived in the situation
Predicted consequences
Cost of proposed courses of action
The time frame of the situation
...

1
...
Policy makers often say that they have “no choice”, or are
“compelled” to take certain action
...
In virtually all
situations in which states have to respond to situations abroad,
they choose between a number of alternatives including
acquiescence, inaction, threats, or commission of various acts of
punishment
...
These choices are influenced by the images,
attitudes, values, idiosyncrasies, beliefs, doctrines and ideologies,
as well as the historical analogies, which decision makers employ
in the process
...


142

Policy is made by one or a few key leaders such as Hitler,
Saddam Hussein, Sani Abacha, Ibrahim Babangida,
Gaddafi, etc
...

Where bureaucracies are uninvolved
...

Where compelling national needs are not involved
...
The variables include bureaucratic needs, values
and traditions, social needs, the degree of domestic stability or
instability, the type of regime governing the country, the size of
the country and its level of development, public opinion, and the
degree of interaction between public pressure and official
decisions
...


MODULE 4

The System Level Variables: Since states do not exist in a
vacuum, any explanation of foreign policy would be largely
incomplete without analysing the conditions abroad that give rise
to specific foreign policy actions
...
Rather, they respond to a variety of other countries’
objectives and actions, or to the changing conditions and trends in
the international system or its subsystem
...
NEPAD was initiated by Nigeria in response to the
attitude of the developed world to Africa’s development needs
...
The type of
response will largely be similar to the stimulus, hence the notion that
foreign policy actions are often reciprocal
...
Typically, in a world of high economic
interconnectedness, those who are most dependent will suffer the most
and yet have the least capacity to change or manage the system
...

The structure of power and influence is another system level variable
that impinges on the decision-making processes in foreign policy
...

Yet, another variable is the effect of system values
...
For example, in the contemporary international
system, the concept of governance, democracy and human rights, have
assumed universal values
...


3
...
This is
particularly so because of the nuclear stalemate and the
emergence of the Third World with its stringent demand for a
greater share of the world’s wealth
...


•

It has blurred the distinction between domestic and foreign
issues, between the socio-political and economic processes
within the country and those that transpire abroad
...
For instance, domestic interest rates, inflation, employment,
foreign exchange, to mention only a few, are no longer exclusive issues
of domestic policy
...
The same can be said of such issues as
labour, immigration, foreign investment trade flows, capital flows,
prices of commodities and a host of other economic indices
...

In spite of the effect of interdependence, however, foreign issues still
has an identifiable nature and focus
...
Foreign policy analysis conceives of all foreign policy
behaviour as having a common structure
...


3
...
The future state of
affairs may refer to, for instance:
•
•
•

Concrete conditions such as passing a UN resolution or annexing
territory
...

A combination of the two
...
Other objectives are transient and change
144

POL 231

MODULE 4

regularly
...
Such a transient objective could be protecting a small industry
from foreign competition
...
Core values must be preserved or extended
at all times
...
They are usually stated in the form of
basic principles of foreign policy and become articles of faith that
societies accept uncritically
...
They are short-range objectives because other goals
cannot be achieved unless the political unit maintains its existence
...


b)

Controlling and defending neighbouring or contiguous
territories that could serve as channels of invasion or threat
to the homeland
...
The Soviet
Union had the same attitude and policy towards Eastern Europe,
Britain towards the North Sea area, and Nigeria towards West
Africa
...
In 1980, the United States
formulated the Carter Doctrine with regard to the Persian Gulf
even though the region is not contiguous to its territory
...
Where ethnic
groups are split between sovereignties, conflict cannot be
avoided
...
The problem of Kashmir between India and Pakistan,
struggle over divided Germany, Wars between Kenya and
Somalia, Somalia and Ethiopia, the Korean War, the Vietnam
War, the crisis in Cyprus between Greece and Turkey, offer
ample examples of irredentism
...

In fact, virtually all policy thrusts in pursuit of social and economic
development fall within this category
...
These sources are in
any case limited
...

Another example is increasing a state’s prestige through diplomatic
ceremonial and displays of military capabilities
...
Although, middle-range
goals have no time limit, developing countries hope to catch up with the
economically advanced nations in a lifetime
...
States make universal demands in order to realise their
long-range goals
...
The United States and its western allies pursue a
long-range objective aimed at making the world safe for democracy
...
It is not the vision
itself which creates international tension and conflict, but the degree to
which a political unit commits resources and capabilities to its
achievement
...
A classic example of a longrange goal that had a destabilising effect on the international system was
Nazi Germany’s dream of a Thousand Year Third Reich
...

Since long-range goals seek a destruction and reconstitution of an
established order, they conflict with the middle range and core
objectives of most members of the international community
...

Generally, such messianic plans seldom succeed because they threaten
other states, which then respond by coalescing into alliances to build a
preponderance military capacity to destroy the revolutionary state in
violent war
...

146

POL 231

3
...

The Internal Sources:
1
...


3
...


The most fundamental source of foreign policy objectives is the
universally shared desire to insure the survival and territorial
integrity of the community or state
...

Another related and universal need is the preservation of the
state’s economy
...
Internal or external conditions
may require offensive action to insure the survival of the
community and or the state
...
First, the need to satisfy economic aspirations of
individuals and groups generates pressures on the state’s political
system
...
In the
light of these two considerations, the economic needs of the
community become the single most important domestic or
internal source of foreign policy objectives
...
All these have to be taken into
consideration in formulating foreign policy objectives
...
If for instance, the
political system is unstable or lacks legitimacy, decision makers
are likely to emphasise foreign policy objectives preventing
foreign intervention on the side of the dissident group
...
This is currently the case facing the
Charles Taylor government of Liberia
...
The foreign policy objective may be aimed at
projecting a particular identity or world view, fulfilling religious
or sacred ideological imperatives, pursue moral principles or
fulfil obligations such as coming to the aid of victims of
aggression
...


ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

Another important source is the capability requirement of the
state
...
For instance, diplomacy is required
to create alliances, acquire foreign air, naval and other
installations, strategic assets, strategic minerals, and sophisticated
military weapons
...


The External Sources:
In formulating their foreign policy objectives, states cannot ignore the
realities of the external environment
...
In fact, many of the
domestic sources have external counterparts
...


2
...
In any case,
the domestic sources of foreign policy particularly in the
economic realm have little meaning unless there is an external
possibility of meeting those needs
...
For instance, two
neighbouring states at war with one another; the disintegration of
a neighbouring empire; the discovery of new mineral resources;
these and other similar phenomena in the international
environment create opportunities for a state to respond with
creative foreign policies
...


3
...
Any rational foreign policy
formulation must therefore keep the objectives of the state within the
limits of its capabilities to achieve them
...
It can be expensive in terms of the wasted
148

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MODULE 4

economic and military capabilities that could have been better deployed
...

There is also the issue of unforeseen circumstances
...
Accidents may also abort well-planned
operations even where the capabilities to execute them are available
...
Unforeseen circumstances include
the fact that other states may suddenly join to form an alliance; there
may be sudden advances in military technology
...
As such, incorrect analysis, miscalculations and
misperceptions are among the important causes of war
...

ii
...

iv
...

What is the impact of interdependence on foreign policy?
Mention the limitations on the formulation of foreign policy
...
0

CONCLUSION

In an anarchic international system with finite resources, state actors
have to interact with each other in order to advance their national
interests
...
In doing this, decision-makers have to take various domestic,
external and international factors into consideration to determine the
inputs and outputs of their foreign policies
...
Finally, even when actors have measured their
means to their foreign policy ends, unforeseen circumstances,
misperceptions and miscalculations can affect the outcome of their
foreign policies, which may lead them into war with other actors
...
0

SUMMARY

Foreign policy refers to the goals that the state officials seek to obtain
abroad, the values that give rise to those objectives, and the means or
instruments through which they are pursued
...
Foreign policy inputs describe the processes that lead to
the formulation of decisions, while outputs describe the actions
formulated to attain to solve a particular problem
...
In
general, foreign policy objectives are in three categories, namely, core
objectives, middle-range objectives and long-range objectives
...


6
...
” Discuss this aphorism within
the context of International Relations
...

2
...

4
...

Discuss the sources of objectives, decisions and actions in foreign
policy
...

Describe the three categories of foreign policy objectives
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Charles, F
...
, Charles, W
...
Jr
...
N
...
(1987)
...
Boston: Unwin
Hyman
...
The Limits of Foreign Policy
...
P
...

Holsti, K
...
(1983)
...

Englewood Cliffs, N
...
: Prentice Hall Inc
...
Decision
Making as an Approach to the Study of International Politics
...
N
...
“Pre-theories and Theories of Foreign Policy
...
B
...
(Ed
...


150

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UNIT 5

MODULE 4

FOREIGN POLICY IN ACTION: TWO CASE
STUDIES

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
American Foreign Policy
3
...
3
The United States Decision to Intervene in Kuwait
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
It explores the decision processes that led to the
intervention of the most powerful state in the world, United States of
America, in the Korean War in 1950 and in the Gulf War in 1991
...
0

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•
•

explain the historical cornerstones and trends of American
foreign policy
explain the reasons for American intervention in Korea
explain Iraq’s reasons and objectives for invading Kuwait
explain why the United States decided to intervene to liberate
Kuwait from Iraqi occupation
...
0

MAIN CONTENT

3
...
Its foreign policy during the period had three
cornerstones:

151

POL 231

1
...


3
...
These have little consequences for Americans
...
It in effect declared Latin
America as the United States sphere of influence
...


These principles asserted for the United States a major role as a world
economic actor but a minor role in world political and military affairs
...
The United States enjoying the advantage
of its geographical location stayed out of the war for three years while
all the major European powers were involved
...
America’s linguistic, cultural and commercial ties with Britain
made absolute neutrality impossible
...

The break with historic isolation signified for the United States the
beginning of an active role in the defence of Western democracy
...
” The Versailles settlement
was based on the Wilsonian design aimed at seeking systemic
guarantees against potential future threats to stability
...
It modelled future international relations on the principle of
an alliance of major powers permanently committed to oppose
aggression
...

Domestic political opposition and a resurgence of isolationism
prevented the United States from actively supporting the League
...
The consequence was
World War II
...
The
purpose of the attack was to immobilise American defences against
Japanese seizure of American, British, and Dutch possessions in the Far
East
...
The German and Japanese
political systems were redesigned by occupation authorities along
modern democratic lines; the United Nations was founded to re-establish
the machinery of collective security
...
This was clear
evidence that there had been a dramatic shift in American policy – a
strategic reorientation from isolationism to a permanent commitment to
world responsibilities
...
Its foreign policy and its military capabilities
reflected this strategic engagement
...

The post war settlement of 1945 planted the seed for the Cold War
...
On March 5th 1946, Winston Churchill declared at Fulton,
Missouri: “Across Europe…an Iron Curtain has descended across the
continent
...
Communist insurgents
were active not only in Eastern Europe but in China, Malaya, the Korean
peninsula, Iran, Indochina, France, Italy, Turkey and Greece
...

The retreating Germans had destroyed railways, ports, bridges,
communication facilities, and civil administration
...
The Soviet Union, it was believed, was providing arms and
logistic support to the communists in violation of the understanding that
Greece was within the Western sphere of influence
...
This school was based on the analysis of the
United States’ diplomat and scholar, George Kennan who provided a
philosophical formulation for the policy of containment elaborated in the
Truman Doctrine on March 12th, 1947
...
The Truman Doctrine offered to
153

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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

“support peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed
minorities
...


3
...
”
As far as the Truman government was concerned, North Korea with its
leader Kim Il Sung was a puppet of the Soviet Union
...

President Truman believed that appeasement would only lead to further
aggression and ultimately to war
...
In the light of the
Truman Doctrine, American intervention was a clear possibility
...

The United States government responded to the invasion within the
context of the Cold War
...
Not expecting any aggression, they had been far more
concerned with South Korea’s inflation and its President’s (Syngman
Rhee) decreasing popularity
...
Kim Il Sung desperately
wanted to unite all Koreans under his regime
...

Early in June, North Korea had called for reunification and nation-wide
elections
...
No one expected military
aggression, and if it happened, military and intelligence estimates were
that the South would repel it
...
He was planning to launch the military offensive
sometime in 1951
...
Northern
forces seizes Seoul, routed the southern army
...

President Truman first approved the shipment of desperately needed
supplies to Rhee’s army on June 25th
...
On the 27th, the US pushed a second resolution through the UN
154

POL 231

MODULE 4

Security Council calling for the restoration of peace and security and
authorising assistance to South Korea in repelling the invasion
...
He also approved the first
deployment of US ground forces to hold airfields and port facilities
...

From the onset of the war, it was clear that the Truman administration
would do what was necessary to thwart a North Korean victory
...
Although the president did not want a general
war with the Soviet Union, he and his advisers believed that if South
Korea was lost, the Soviet Union “will keep right on going and swallow
up one piece of Asia after another…If we let Asia go, the Near East
would collapse and no telling what would happen in Europe
...

With the benefit of hindsight, scholars are now certain that the Soviet
Union was not in fact behind the Korean invasion
...
Kim was the initiator
...
The administration had in fact intervened in a civil war- a
clear case of misperception in the conduct of international politics
...

Instead, the policymakers in Washington believed that Stalin was testing
their resolve
...
” This refers to
the fact that the US had a large military base in Japan
...
In his view, the Soviets were
calculating that after the loss of China, they could win another easy
victory in South Korea and undermine the US position in Japan
...
Since the Soviets did not want global war, if the US
demonstrated toughness, Moscow would back off
...

From bases in Japan, US airpower inflicted a heavy toll on the enemy
...
Ostensibly, the war
would be fought in behalf of the UN resolution to restore peace and
security in Korea, however, there was never any question that US
civilian and military officials would control the diplomacy and strategy
in the war
...
China which was been frustrated by the US Seventh
Fleet from taking over Taiwan, warned that it would enter the war if US
operations above the 38th parallel threatened its security
...
When MacArthur, against specific instructions that US forces
should not operate near the Chinese border, deployed US forces into
northern parts of North Korea reserved for South Korean troops,
Communist Chinese troops crossed the border at the end of October
linking up with over 100,000 North Korean troops
...
By 1953, the war had ended in a stalemate, with
the peninsula still divided at the 38th parallel
...


3
...
m
...
Within 12 hours,
all of Kuwait was under Iraqi control
...
The invasion raised some fundamental
questions in international law such as whether a sovereign country, a
member of the United Nations could simply, be erased from the face of
the earth with so much impunity
...
How was the United States going to respond?
What would be the response of the international community, the United
Nations, and the Arab world? In addition, why would Iraq take such a
step in flagrant disregard to the norms of international politics?
Iraq’s Reasons and Demands
Iraqi resentment against Kuwait and other Gulf States had been building
up since the end of the Iran-Iraq war and had stood up to Iranian bid for
hegemony in the Persian Gulf
...


156

POL 231

MODULE 4

Iraq’s resentment therefore, centred on its dire financial plight and the
failure of the Gulf States to offer it assistance
...
Its postwar economy was suffering from severe unemployment, chronic
shortages of basic goods and services, and the whole country was in
immediate need of reconstruction
...
Both
countries, Iraq claimed, had been cheating on OPEC quotas
...

Hence, from February 1990, the government of Saddam Hussein began
to pressure its Gulf neighbours to cut production in order to raise prices
...
4 billion for the oil it allegedly pumped
from Iraqi territory along their disputed 100-mile frontier
...

Pay Iraq a direct subsidy of $12 billion in compensation for
reduced oil prices triggered by Kuwait’s overproduction
...

Lease or cede to Iraq the island of Bubiyan, which controls the
approach to Iraq’s port at Umm Qasr
...
How and why did the United States of America respond?
United States’ Reasons for Intervention
In foreign policy analysis, it is axiomatic that a state would resort to
force to protect its core values
...

In 1980, the then American President, Jimmy Carter made a policy
statement on the strategic importance of the Persian Gulf to the United
States
...
And such an assault will be
repelled by any means necessary, including military force
...
Not
surprisingly, the President equated Saddam’s action with Hitler’s
invasion of Poland, Japan’s attack on Manchuria, and Mussolini’s
157

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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

invasion of Ethiopia, events which preceded the Second World War
...
No nation should be able to wipe a member state of the
United Nations and the Arab League off the face of the earth
...
The situation was for American officials “the first test of our
ability to maintain global or regional stability in the post-Cold War era
...
As
outlined by President Bush:
•
•
•
•

The immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of all
Iraqi forces from Kuwait
...

Commitment to the security and stability of the Persian Gulf
...


What was at stake, to paraphrase President Bush, was the dependability
of America’s commitments to its friends and allies, the shape of the
post-Cold War world, opposition to aggression, and the potential
domination of the energy resources that are critical to the entire world
...

The Road to War: Desert Shield and Desert Storm
On the military front Operation, Desert Shield was launched to build up
a defence force of more than 250,000 troops to defend Saudi Arabia
against any attack by Iraq
...
The
following day (6th August), Iraq responded by taking the first
Westerners in Kuwait City, including 29 Americans, into custody, and
transported them by bus to Baghdad
...
Any move by
one required a corresponding response from the other
...
The UN voted sanctions; Saddam took
hostages
...

Meanwhile, President Bush intensified his diplomacy to build an
international coalition
...

Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, banned importation of Iraqi oil
158

POL 231

MODULE 4

(12 per cent of its oil imports) and halted all commercial transactions
...

Yet, the more pressure brought on Iraq, the more determined Saddam
became to hold on
...
Saddam believed that
Bush was bluffing
...
Saddam believed that the shaky coalition
Bush put together would fall apart; and he believed that in the event of
any confrontation, the United States would back down
...

Large cash payment to Iraq ostensibly by Kuwait and other Gulf
States
...

Cession of Bubiyan and Warba islands to Iraq
...
However, it was
rejected by President Bush and later by President Hosni Mubarak of
Egypt
...
On 7th August, President Turgut Ozal of Turkey announced his
country’s compliance with UN sanctions and halted the flow of Iraq oil
...
This and the pipeline through Saudi Arabia
had a daily capacity of 2
...
Saudi Arabia also complied with UN Resolution by closing
down the pipeline
...
On August 25th, the UN Security Council voted
in support of forceful interdiction of Iraqi shipping
...

Meanwhile, the battle of rhetoric continued
...
He threatened that the
“thousands of Americans whom you have pushed into this dark tunnel
will go home shrouded in sad coffins
...
He
announced that citizens of the UN coalition, residing in Iraq and Kuwait
be detained “until the threat of war against our country ends
...

The hostage issue evaporated whatever international support Saddam
may have had
...
Iraq had indeed crossed the Rubicon
...
Iraq now responded by offering to release the hostages in
return for lifting of sanctions and the withdrawal of American forces
from Saudi Arabia, i
...
, an end to Desert Shield
...

Understandably, Bush dismissed Iraq’s call for negotiations
...

He intensified the build-up of coalition forces in the Gulf
...
Germany contributed
$11billion, Japan $14 billion to offset the cost of the war
...

On August 27th, to break the deadlock, the UN Secretary General, Perez
de Cuella, announced his intention to meet with Iraqi Foreign Minister,
Tariq Aziz in Amman to seek full implementation of UN resolutions
calling for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait
...
This was however, accompanied with a show of
defiance: a presidential decree officially incorporating Kuwait into Iraq
with the name Kadhima province
...
In a classic instance of realpolitik, US
Secretary of State James Baker, visited Damascus to discuss with
Saddam’s long-time antagonist, Hafez Assad whose country, Syria, was
on the State Department’s list of terrorist states
...
Resolution 678 authorised member
states “to use all necessary means to liberate Kuwait if Iraq did not
withdraw by January 15th 1991
...
Instead, Saddam told Iraqi television “if war breaks out, we
will fight in a way that will make all Arabs and Muslims proud
...


160

POL 231

4
...
0

SUMMARY

MODULE 4

At 3
...
m
...
00 p
...
January 16th in
Washington), the first missiles hit their targets
...
At 9
...
m
...
It is the liberation of
Kuwait
...
The United States
deployed 540,000 troops, its allies another 200,000
...
More than half a million Iraqis were either
killed or wounded
...
Three
thousand, seven hundred Iraqi tanks, 2400 armoured vehicles, and 2600
artillery pieces were destroyed
...

Fifty-seven Allied planes and helicopters were lost; not a single tank
was lost
...

i
...

iii
...

Why did the US resort to force to protect Kuwait?
What was the main source of conflict in the Gulf war?

In this unit, we have analysed the cornerstones of American foreign
policy
...
The second
was the Monroe Doctrine, which insisted on European non-intervention
in the western hemisphere
...
The third was commercial expansion,
which entailed full participation in free international trade and access to
world markets while avoiding foreign conflicts
...

iv
...
Like every
modern state, the United States has acted to advance its national interest
161

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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

and this had informed its decision to intervene in both the Korean War
and in the first Gulf War in 1950 and 1991 respectively
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...

3
...

5
...

Explain the reasons for American intervention in Korea
...

Explain why the United States decided to intervene to liberate
Kuwait from Iraqi occupation
...


7
...
Diplomacy
...

Jean Edward Smith (1992)
...
New York: Henry Holt
...
Gordon & Bernard E
...
The General’s War
...


162

POL 231

MODULE 5

MODULE 5

BASIC CONCEPTS IN INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS

Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5

Sovereignty, Independence and Territoriality
Balance of Power
National Interest
Non-Alignment
Responsibility to Protect

UNIT 1

SOVEREIGNTY, INDEPENDENCE AND
TERRITORIALITY

CONTENTS
1
...
0
3
...
0
5
...
0
7
...
1
Sovereignty, Independence and Territoriality
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
...
Indeed,
certain features of the state system are inseparable from it and
sovereignty is one of such
...
Sovereignty is the legal theory that
gives the state unrestrained and unlimited authority in domestic matters
and in its relations with other states
...

Therefore, some understanding of this concept is essential to the
purposeful study of international relations
...
0

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•

explain sovereignty and trace its historical development as a
fundamental concept in international relations
explain the meaning of independence
explain the relevance of territoriality to the study of IR
...
0

MAIN CONTENT

3
...
His De la Republique,
published in Paris in 1576, contained the first systematic presentation of
his theory
...
Writing less than half a century later,
Hugo Grotius, who believed that states should be subject to the law of
the international community gave a similar definition of the term in his
famous work De Jure Belli ac Pacis
...

Today, the three main elements of the modern nation-state system,
which also formed the basis of the state, are sovereignty, territoriality
and legal equality of states
...
The Treaty of Westphalia, which provides that only sovereign
states could enter into treaty relations with each other first, established
this principle
...
It could not conclude treaties with
other states, become member of international organisations, or claim any
other rights available to the sovereign states under international law
...
Palmer and Perkins have rightly observed that
sovereignty gives the state unique and virtually unlimited authority in all
domestic matters and in relation to other states
...

However, in the international context, sovereignty would imply only
right of self-government and promotion of nation’s interests through
independent foreign policy
...
The concept of state sovereignty in international relations
implies the equality of all nations, big, small, great powers, or small
powers
...
Despite
all the limitations on sovereignty, it cannot be denied
...
Indeed,
sovereignty is the supreme authority, and particularly the ultimate coer164

POL 231

MODULE 5

cive power, which the state possesses, and which other institutions
within the state lack
...
A sovereign state does not like
outside interference in its affairs and must therefore abstain from
interference in the internal affairs of other states
...

Thirdly, all the nation states irrespective of their size, population,
military capabilities, economic resources, etc
...
This principle of “equal rights of all states;
large, small, weak, strong has been accepted by the United Nations’
Charter
...
Indeed, classical writers of the
18th century such as Cohen endorsed the principle of equality of states
...
” In the 19th century, positivists challenged the principle
of equality
...
The peace treaty was negotiated by the Great powers while
Germany and the small powers were merely asked to sign it
...
This formal assertion of equality of the
sovereign states by the UN Charter did not deter the Great powers from
asserting their greatness and special status
...
This explains why
they occupy the permanent seats in the Security Council and acquire the
right to veto important decisions of the Security Council
...

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i
...

iii
...

165

POL 231

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

iv
...
0

CONCLUSION

The concept of sovereignty is very germane to the study of international
relations
...
It is one of the corollaries of the modern state
...
It could not conclude treaties with other states, become member
of international organisations, or claim any other rights available to the
sovereign states under international law
...

The source of sovereignty in a state is often difficult, if not impossible,
to locate in any meaningful way
...
However, it became an increasingly
baffling one with the evolution of non-monarchical forms of
government, especially those of a federal type
...


5
...
The understanding of the concepts will help our
understanding of the nitty-gritty of international relations
...
Sovereignty implies that the governments are the supreme law
making authorities in their respective territories
...

The concept of state sovereignty in international relations implies the
equality of all nations, big, small, great powers, or small powers
...
A sovereign state does not like outside
interference in its affairs and must therefore abstain from interference in
the internal affairs of other states
...


166

POL 231

MODULE 5

6
...

2
...

“In a democratic setting, sovereignty belongs to the people”
Discuss
...


3
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Bull, H
...
The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World
Politics
...
New York: Palgrave Books
...
E
...
Recent Theories of Sovereignty
...

Olson, W
...
& Fred, A
...
(1966)
...
(2nd ed
...
N
...
:
Prentice-Hall
...
D
...
C
...
International Relations: The
World Community in Transition
...
Krishan Nagar, Delhi:
A
...
T
...
S
...
0
2
...
0
4
...
0
6
...
0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
0

INTRODUCTION

The balance of power (BOP) is very crucial to the maintenance of peace
and stability in international relations
...
Kissinger’s discussion of the origin of the balance of power
concept has traced it to the city-states of ancient Greece, renaissance
Italy and European state system, which arose out of the peace treaty of
Westphalia in 1648
...

Yet, in spite of the old nature of the concept of balance, the concept does
not enjoy universally acceptable definition, as there are as many
definitions as there are many scholars in the field
...
In the words
of Quincy Wright, “It is a system designed to maintain a continuous
conviction in any state that if it attempts aggression, it would encounter
an invincible combination of others”
...


2
...


POL 231

3
...
1

Balance of Power

MODULE 5

Essentially, the balance of power is the maintenance of such a just
equilibrium between the members of the family of nations as shall
prevent anyone of them becoming sufficiently strong to impose its will
upon the rest
...
As a theory in international
relations, balance of power tries to promote equality of power among
members of the international community by discouraging a single power
from dominating the system
...
Chandra
defines balance of power from a technical way to refer to a balance of
power system in which any shift away from equilibrium in the state
system leads to counter-shifts through mobilisation of counter-railing
power
...

Ernst B
...
According to him, balance of power could mean:
i
...

iii
...

v
...

vii
...


Any distribution of power
Equilibrium or balancing process
Hegemony or the search for hegemony
Stability and peace in a concert of power
Power politics in general
Instability and war
A system and guide to policy-maker and
A universal law of history
...
According to them, balance of power should be seen as
situation or condition, as a universal tendency or law of state behaviour,
as a guide for diplomacy, and as a mode of system-maintenance,
characteristic of certain types of international systems
...
They believe that as a situation or condition, balance of power
implies an objective arrangement in which there is relatively widespread
169

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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

satisfaction with the distribution of power
...
As a policy guide, the concept prescribes to statesmen when
to net against the disruptor of equilibrium
...
Moreover, the concept of balance of power is
used in holistic stage; it covers military economic and political suspects
of interstates relations
...

We should also stress that under the balance of power arrangement,
there is normally a power balancer called the hegemonic, which holds
that balance on behalf of the other powers
...

Another important thing to note about balance of power is the way
nations have tried to ensure they achieve power equilibrium
...

Hedley Bull, (1995) classified balance of power into what he called
simple balance of power, complex balance of power, general balance of
power, level balance of power, objective balance of power, subjective
balance of power, fortuitous balance of power and contrived balance of
power
...
While by complex balance, he meant
balance between these or more power, such as the balance between
France, Austria, Russia, and England
...
In the inter-war years, the Soviet-German pact of 1939 was a
classical example of territorial compensation in maintaining the balance
...
The
practical application has been demonstrated in Europe, since the Treaty
of Westphalia in 1648 to the conclusion of the second war with its
significance success
...
According to Morgenthau (1948), balance of power is “an
actual state of affairs in which power is distributed among several
nations with approximate equality”
...
Nevertheless, the theory has developed its own
techniques and devices of maintaining the balance used in the past
...

Territorial compensation theorists of balance of power have argued that
states within a region or system can redistribute territories and re-adjust
boundaries to ensure that a measure of equilibrium is achieved within
the system
...
This redistribution of territories and reorganisation of boundaries at the end of
the Napoleonic wars in the post French revolution of 1789 was a
prominent example of attaining balance of power through territorial
compensation
...

At the end of World War II in 1945, balance of power quickly returned
as a way of checking aggression among states
...
S
...
S
...
R, coupled with their allies
ensured that balance of power became prominent from the late 1940s
and 1989
...
The
development of Thermo nuclear weapons and the intercontinental
Ballistic missile in the late 1940s and during the 1950s with capacity to
annihilate humanity, ensure that balance of power occupy the centre
stage of global politics from the end of the Cold War to the 21st century
...

ii
...

iv
...

Under what conditions does balance of power appear as balance
of terror?
Why is balance of power relevant to the international system?
171

POL 231

4
...
It enjoys a wide-ranging
definition from scholars in the field
...
Its operation requires great skill and finesse and possibly a
ruthless disregard of moral concepts and human welfare
...
For instance, territorial compensation theorists of balance power
have argued that states within a region or system can redistribute
territories and re-adjust boundaries to ensure that a measure of
equilibrium is achieved within the system
...
This re-distribution of territories and
reorganisation of boundaries at the end of the Napoleonic wars in the
post French revolution of 1789 was a prominent example of attaining
balance of power through territorial compensation
...
0

SUMMARY

The concept of BOP in human relations is as old as humanity itself
...
Indeed,
balance of power is a policy sought by states because of fear that if one
nation gains predominant power, such a nation may impose its will upon
other states, either by the threat or actual use of violence
...
The practical application has
also been demonstrated in Europe, since the Treaty of Westphalia in
1648 to the conclusion of the second war with its significance success
...
The
development of Thermo nuclear weapons and the intercontinental
Ballistic missile in the late 1940s and during the 1950s with capacity to
annihilate humanity, ensure that balance of power occupy the centre
stage of global politics from the end of the Cold War to the 21st century
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...

“During the Cold War, balance of power became balance of
terror
...

“BOP has become obsolete in the 21st century international
relations
...


2
...


172

POL 231

7
...
(1995)
...
(3rd ed
...

Chandra, P
...
Theories of International Relations
...

Ernst, B
...
“The Balance of Power: Prescription, Concept or
Propaganda?” World Politics, 5:4, July, pp
...

Gordon, Craig & Alexander, George (1995)
...
New York: Oxford
University Press
...
Diplomacy
...

James E
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(1990)
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(3rd ed
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Morgenthau, H
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(1948)
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Palmer N
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& Perkins H
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(2004)
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Krishan Nagar, Delhi:
A
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T
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S
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2
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0

4
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0
6
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Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
2
Types of National Interest
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
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Many contradictory perspectives surround the concept of
national interest in international relations
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by
Morgenthau in his writings further adds to the confusion
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OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•
•

state the meaning of national interest
explain the differences between the concept of national interest
and other related concepts
explain the approaches to national interest
list and explain the kinds of national interest
...
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MAIN CONTENT

3
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As a result, it is not possible
to give any universally acceptable interpretation of this concept
...
The use of terms like common interest and conflicting
interest, primary and secondary interest, inchoate interest, community of
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interests, identical and complementary interests, vital interests, material
interests, etc
...
The problem of defining the concept is also complicated by
the fact that researchers have tended to give the definitions of national
interest according to the particular approach adopted by them
...

In the first category, he includes all those approaches that view national
interest as a concept that can be defined or examined with the help of
some definable criteria
...

However, the most important reason that has added to the confusion
regarding the meaning of the concept of national interest is the
disagreement between those who view it in broad sense and those who
conceive it in terms of a number of concrete single interests
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At this level, the
process of reasoning is inductive while at other levels it becomes more
deductive
...
Because of all these difficulties,
various meanings have been assigned to it
...
However,
some of the definitions given below will help in clarifying the concept
of national interest
...
” Charles Lerche
and Abul Said defined it as “the general long-term and continuing
purpose which the state, the nation, and the government all see
themselves as serving
...
Analysing the above
definitions will highlight the differences of approach
...
Obviously, the first two definitions seem to be more logical
...
In the
ancient and the medieval times, the states pursued certain substantial
interests based on their relations
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However, with the emergence of the secular state, the Church began to
be looked upon as the enemy of national interest and the national
interests were equated with the interests of the prince of the ruling
dynasty
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Nevertheless, in the course of time, the popular bodies challenged the
authority of the monarchs and asserted themselves
...
Thus, the concept passed from the feudal and
monarchical system to the republic and democratic system and soon
gained a common usage in the political and diplomatic literature
...


3
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According to Thomas W
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,
primary interest, secondary interest, permanent interest, variable interest,
general interest, and specific interest
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The Primary interests of a nation include the preservation of physical,
political, and cultural identity of the state against possible
encroachments from outside powers
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No compromise of these interests
is possible
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These include the protection of
the citizens abroad and ensuring of diplomatic immunities for the
diplomatic staff
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The change in the permanent interests, if any,
is rather slow
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Fourthly, the Variable interests refer to those interests of a nation,
which a nation considers vital for national good in a given set of
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circumstances
...

Fifthly, the General interests of a nation refer to those positive
conditions, which apply to a large number of nations in several specified
fields such as economics, trade, diplomatic intercourse etc
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Finally, Specific interests through the logical outgrowth of the general
interests are defined in terms of time or space
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In addition to the above six types of national interests, Prof
...
” These include the identical interests, complementary interests
and conflicting interests
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For example, both the U
...
A
...
The complementary interests of the nations refer to
those interests, which though not identical, can form the basis of
agreement on some specific issues
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Similarly, Portugal was interested in the British maritime hegemony
because this was a safe means of defence against Spain
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Conflicting interests are therefore not
fixed; and can undergo a change due to the force of events and
diplomacy
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Likewise, the complementary and identical
interests can also be transformed into conflicting interests
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ii
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iv
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What is national interest?
List the types of national interest you know
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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

CONCLUSION

This unit discussed the concept of National interest
...
As a result, it is not possible to give any
universally acceptable interpretation of this concept
...


5
...
This explains
why different scholars have variously approached it
...
The use of terms like common interest and conflicting
interest, primary and secondary interest, inchoate interest, community of
interests, identical and complementary interests, vital interests, material
interests, etc
...
The concept of national interest is comparatively a new
concept
...
In the early middle ages, the
laws of Christianity formed the basis of these relations and the states
were expected to ensure that their laws conformed to these principles
...
At that time, the national interest meant the interest of a
particular monarch in holding fast to the territories he already possessed,
in extending his domains and in aggrandisement of his house
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For instance, Britain was interested in the independence of
Portugal against Spain because she wanted to control the reign of the
Atlantic Ocean
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TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
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3
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Critically evaluate the nature and scope of national interest
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7
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S
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C
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International Relations
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San Francisco: Longman, Pearson Education
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J
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Politics among Nations: The Struggle for
Power and Peace
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Palmer, N
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& Perkins, H
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(2004)
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(3rd ed
...
I
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B
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Raymond, Aron (1966)
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Garden City, N
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UNIT 4

ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

NON-ALIGNMENT

CONTENTS
1
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0
3
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0
5
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0
7
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1
Non-alignement
Conclusion
Summary
Tutor-Marked Assignment
References/Further Reading

1
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The term is very close to neutralism, since
the basic objective of the two is non-involvement in the Cold War in
particular and war in general
...
However, non-alignment has broader meanings
...
A non-aligned state can participate actively in world
affairs under certain circumstances
...
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OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
•
•
•

explain the origins of the non-alignment
...

discuss what is meant by “the end of the Cold War signifies the
end of non-alignment
...
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MAIN CONTENT

3
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This conference, which had in attendance 29
African and Asian countries, was to devise a means for combating
colonialism
...


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Indeed, the policy of non-alignment remains Indian’s contribution to
international relations
...
As a policy, non-alignment is a
direct response to the Cold War that commenced as soon as the World
War II ended in 1945
...

During the World War II, 1939-1945, the allies-United States, Britain,
France, the Soviet Union and others won a decisive war against
Germany, Italy and Japan
...
It was a strange war, a war fought without weapons and armed
forces, a war of nerves, diplomatically fought between two hostile
camps
...

Against this background, the policy of non-alignment emerged to keep
states away from bloc politics, maintain friendship with both, but
military alliance with none and evolve an independent foreign policy
...
India was largely responsible
for launching the Non-Align Movement (NAM) in 1961
...

Besides, three Latin American countries participated with observer
status
...
Tito presided over the
Conference
...

The five criteria for joining NAM were:
•
•
•
•
•

A country following independent foreign policy based on nonalignment and peaceful co-existence
A country opposed to imperialism and colonialism
A country that has no Cold War military pact with any bloc
A country that has no bilateral treaty with any of the power bloc
A country that has no foreign military base on its territory

The Conference adopted a 27-point Declaration
...
It demanded freedom for
all colonial people and condemned the policy of racialism in any part of
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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

the world
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, and called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Africa
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The Conference also appealed for complete disarmament
...

Ever since its establishment, NAM has grown both quantitatively and
qualitatively
...

Indeed, the non- alignment has consistently grown in popularity
...
In fact, the non-aligned countries have
played an active role at the United Nations and have refused to deviate
from their chosen path despite all pressures
...


2
...


4
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The enormous growth in the number of the non-aligned countries
greatly contributed to the easing of Cold War and encouraged the
newly independent countries to keep away from power blocs
...

It greatly transformed the nature of the United Nations and acted
as a check on the arbitrary powers of the permanent members of
the Security Council because by virtue of their overwhelming
strength in the General Assembly, the non- aligned countries
were able to impose some moral check on the big powers
...

Non-aligned nations paid great attention to the problem of
economic development and played a vital role in the formation of
the UNCTAD
...

Finally, non-aligned movement contributed to the end of game of
power politics by keeping aloof from power blocks
...


Indeed, many countries joined the NAM during the Cold War,
international system to afford them a position of standing apart from the
US-Soviet rivalry
...
Indeed, non-alignment remains a valid
instrument for economic development and social change even in the 21st
century
...

ii
...


What is non-alignment?
Why was the non-aligned movement formed?
How many states in the international system are NAM members?

4
...

The non-aligned movement that emerged from the Belgrade Conference
of 1961 afforded its members the opportunity of pursuing independent
foreign policy in a world divided into East/West blocs
...
Soon after taking office in 1947 as interim Prime Minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru announced a policy that eventually metamorphosed
into non-alignment
...


5
...
We discovered that nonalignment is different from neutrality
...
Indeed, the
policy of non-alignment emerged to keep states away from bloc politics,
maintain friendship with both, but military alliance with none and
evolve an independent foreign policy
...

Despite minor differences among members of NAM, it has played
important role in favour of world peace, disarmament, development and
decolonisation
...
At the end of the Cold War, this Movement
led by India and Yugoslavia agreed to still remain as a group in 1992
though most of its members now prefer to cooperate on security matters
through regionally based institutions
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
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3
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Trace the origins of the non-aligned movement
...
”

7
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S
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C
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International Relations
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San Francisco: Longman, Pearson Education
...
S
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International Relations
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Patparganj,
Delhi: Longman, Pearson Education:
Palmer, N
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& Perkins, H
...
(2004)
...
(3rd ed
...
I
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B
...

Ramamurthy, M
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& Govind Narain Srivastava (1985)
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New Delhi: Indian Institute for Non-Aligned Studies
...
0
2
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0
4
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0
6
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0

Introduction
Objectives
Main Content
3
...
0

INTRODUCTION

The responsibility to protect (R2P) is a new phenomenon in the
vocabulary of international relations
...

Over the years, these basic principles have ensured that states do not
interfere in the internal affairs of other states
...
”

2
...


3
...
1

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

In the Westphalian tradition, sovereignty signifies the legal identity of a
state in international law
...
This explains why the
principle of sovereign sovereignty signifies the capacity to make
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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

authoritative decisions with regard to the people and resources within
the territory of the state
...
It is constrained and regulated internally by constitutional
power sharing arrangements
...
In fact, the norm
and principle of non-intervention is enshrined in Article 2
...
A sovereign state is empowered in international law to exercise
exclusive and total jurisdiction within its territorial borders
...
If that duty is violated, the victim state has the further
right to defend its territorial integrity and political independence
...

The responsibility to protect concept, places a renewed emphasis on de
facto rather than de jure grounds for authority
...
International law has long treated effective control over
territory as an important criterion of statehood
...
Yet, the creation of
the UN in 1945 saw the emergence of an international regime in which
the principles of self-determination, sovereign equality and the
prohibition against acquisition of territory using force were also treated
as central to determining the lawfulness of particular claimants to
authority
...
The roots of R2P lay in statements by Secretary-General Kofi
Annan to the 54th General Assembly of the UN in September 1999
...

Historically, starting from April 1994 and lasting for 90 days, Tutsis and
moderate Hutus became the victims of a systematic genocidal campaign
that resulted in 800,000 deaths in Rwanda
...
In March
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1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) started a bombing
campaign against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to protect
the Albanian population in Kosovo from being ethnically cleansed
...
That indifference and
inaction by the international community remains one of the most
shameful episodes since the Holocaust
...

This was not a matter of lack of knowledge and awareness, or even lack
of capacity
...
Indeed,
cases of genocide and mass violence have raised endless debates about
the theory and practice of humanitarian intervention to save innocent
lives
...
The doctrine of R2P recognises that responsibility rests
primarily with the state concerned
...
The ICISS commissioned by the
Canadian government in response to a request from the then UN
Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and led by former Australian foreign
affairs minister, Gareth Evans, submitted a report, which argues that a
state has the responsibility to uphold its citizens’ human rights
...

In such instances, the responsibility to protect these citizens transfers to
the international community
...

This implies that, when the state is unable or unwilling to fulfil this
responsibility, or is itself the perpetrator, it becomes the responsibility of
others to act in its place
...
Thus, R2P is more of a linking concept that
bridges the divide between the international community and the
sovereign state, whereas the language of the right or duty to intervene is
inherently more confrontational between the two levels of analysis and
policy
...

The provision of humanitarian aid, diplomatic efforts to support
implementation of the North–South peace agreement and Sweden’s
contribution to reconstruction have been characterised as part of
Sweden’s ‘responsibility to protect civilians’ in Darfur
...
The 2001 report put forward three
components of the broader responsibility to protect umbrella, namely the
responsibility to prevent, the responsibility to react and the
responsibility to rebuild
...
It marked the first time R2P
was endorsed in a universal forum, with all UN member states
unanimously accepting their responsibility to protect their own
populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes
against humanity
...

On 28 April 2006, resolution 1674 on the protection of civilians in
armed conflict “reaffirms the provisions of paragraphs 138 and 139 of
the World Summit Outcome Document regarding the responsibility to
protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and
crimes against humanity
...
For the normative development
of R2P, the significance is that this is legally binding, unlike all its
previous incarnations
...
On 31 August 2006, the
Security Council passed resolution 1706 that demanded a rapid
deployment of UN peacekeepers in Sudan
...
Resolution 1894 passed in November 2009 was the
last one, to date, to reaffirm the provisions on R2P included in the 2005
Outcome Document
...

2
...

4
...


Why was the concept formulated?
What led to the endorsement of R2P?
Mention some places where it has been applied
...
0

CONCLUSION

MODULE 5

The right to protect is a new concept in the field of international
relations
...
It
is a concept that provides order, stability and predictability in
international relations since sovereign states are equal, regardless of
comparative size or wealth
...

However, the changes in the international system in the wake of the
Post-Cold War world, necessitated the need for the civilised states to
device a means of taming genocidal attempts and other crimes against
humanity perpetrated by groups or national governments within the
international system
...


5
...
Before the
introduction of R2P, the guiding principles regulating the conduct of
international relations were those derived from the Westphalia Treaty of
1648
...
It is a concept that provides
order, stability and predictability in international relations since
sovereign states are equal, regardless of comparative size or wealth
...
In fact, the norm
of non-intervention is enshrined in Article 2
...
A
sovereign state is empowered in international law to exercise exclusive
and total jurisdiction within its territorial borders
...
If that duty is violated, the victim state has the further right to
defend its territorial integrity and political independence
...
It places the responsibility to
protect on the shoulders of state governments
...
In

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ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY

many cases, the state seeks to acquit its responsibility in full and active
partnership with representatives of the international community
...
It marked the first time R2P was endorsed in a
universal forum, with all UN member states unanimously accepting their
responsibility to protect their own populations from genocide, war
crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity
...
0

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1
...


Explain fully the origins of R2P
...

“The responsibility to protect violates states sovereignty”
Discuss
...
” Discuss
...

4
...
0

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Anne Orford (2011)
...

Badescu, C
...
& Bergholm, L
...
“The Responsibility to Protect
and the Conflict in Darfur: The Big Let-down,” Security
Dialogue, Vol
...

Badescu, C
...
(2010)
...

Bruce, Jones (2001)
...
Boulder: Lynne Reiner
...
The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass
Atrocity Crimes once and for All
...
Humanitarian Intervention and the
Responsibility to Protect: Who Should Intervene? London:
Oxford

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