Emergence of International Relations as an Academic Discipline
An Essay which should be 1,000 (+ or – 100 words) words addressing one of the questions in class 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. Students will be expected to engage with and reference the readings, and also to integrate empirical examples, hence some further research and reading beyond the class is necessary. You should have an argument in response to the question. You should include references (either in text or footnotes) and a bibliography, but this is part of your total word count.
Pick one of the questions below as the topic:
1. Why should we theorize world politics?
2. How, when and why did international relations emerge as an academic discipline?
3.To what extent does classical realism help us understand contemporary politics?
4. What is a feminist response to realism?
5. What explains states’ behaviour according to neo-realists?
6.And to what extent is the West to blame for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
7. What are the effects of economic interdependence?
8. What power do international organizations have to shape international affairs?
9. Does anarchy or hierarchy influence states' behaviour?
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Emergence of International Relations as an Academic Discipline
Introduction
The complex world of international politics, diplomacy, and global interactions has long fascinated humanity. International Relations (IR) carry numerous concepts to study, including human rights, global governance, international political economy, and conflict resolution under the umbrella of neorealism and classical realism with a special focus (Dunne, et al.13). International Relations (IR) was designated a field of study once global politics got too complex or it can be said that IR was developed to systemize and align the human rights, development institutions and international working mechanism. By providing fresh and helpful perspectives on the international system, realism, liberalism, constructivism, and critical theory have made IR more intriguing (Dunne et al.18). This essay will describe how International Relations (IR) began, how it has evolved, and why it is still relevant in a world confronting many global issues like conflict, climate change, globalization, and transnational dangers with special focus on neorealism and classical realism theories.
Discussion
International Relations studies how nation-states, non-state organizations, and global problems change and interact. It was not until the early 1900s that International Relations (IR) became a separate field of literature (Burchill et al. 213). "The Twenty Years' Crisis," by E.H. Carr, came out in 1939 and is seen by many as a critical work of the time. International Relations (IR) made a lot of progress and development when specialized academic departments and institutions were created along with related IR concepts, including classical realism and neorealism (Snyder 58-59). Classical realism examines how human nature and the desire for power affect the actions of states when there is no central authority.