1. International Relations (IR)
Deepak Prakash Bhatt, PhD

2. International Relations
IR is a study of
Relations among sovereign states
Intergovernmental relations
Analysis of foreign policy
Interdisciplinary area of study inside Political Science
Besides this it started to study about all intellectual discourses and materials
Roots are from ancient times-city states to Westphalia and Utrecht
Institutionalization of diplomacy and armies

3. International Relations Theory
IR theory is the study of international relations from a theoretical perspective
It attempts to provide a conceptual framework
On that basis IR can be analyzed
Ole Holsti, describes international relations theories act as a pair of colored sunglasses, allowing the wearer to see only the salient events relevant to the theory
An adherent of realism may completely disregard an event that a constructivist might pounce upon as crucial, and vice versa
Three most popular theories are realism, liberalism and constructivism

4. Realism The primary concern of all states is survival
States build up military to survive, which may lead to a security dilemma
The international system is anarchic
There is no actor above states capable of regulating their interactions; states must arrive at relations with other states on their own, rather than it being dictated to them by some higher controlling entity
The international system exists in a state of constant antagonism
States are the most important actors
All states within the system are unitary, rational actors
States tend to pursue self-interest.
Groups strive to attain as many resources as possible

5. Branches of Realism
Classical realism- states that it is fundamentally the nature of man that pushes states and individuals to act in a way that places interests over ideologies
Drive for power and the will to dominate, that are, held to be fundamental aspects of human nature
Modern realism began as a serious field of research in the United States during and after World War II-Hans Morgenthau- Politics Among Nations 1948

6. …. Liberal realism or rationalism
The English School holds that the international system, while anarchical in structure, forms a "society of states" where common norms and interests allow for more order and stability than what might be expected in a strict realist view
Hedley Bull’s 1977 classic, The Anarchical Society, is a key statement of this position
Barry Buzan’s People, States & Fear: The National Security Problem in International Relations 1983
The Logic of Anarchy: Neorealism to Structural Realism 1993 with Charles Jones and Richard Little

7. …. Neorealism or structural realism
Neorealism derives from classical realism except that instead of human nature, its focus is predominantly on the anarchic structure of the international system
States are primary actors because there is no political monopoly on force existing above any sovereign
While states remain the principal actors, greater attention is given to the forces above and below the states through
While neorealism shares a focus on the international system with the English School, neorealism differs in the emphasis it places on the permanence of conflict
To ensure state security, states must be on constant preparation for conflict through economic and military build-up
Offensive, Defensive and Hegemonic theories

8. …. Neoclassical realism
Neoclassical Realism can be seen as the third generation of realism
It offers the classics a renaissance
It is a synthesis of the neorealist and the classical realist approaches
Domestic intervening variables between systemic incentives and a state's foreign policy decision. Thus, the basic theoretical architecture of Neoclassical Realism is:
Distribution of power in the international system
Domestic perception of the system and/or domestic incentives
Foreign Policy decision
Neoclassical realism is particularly appealing from a research standpoint because it still retains a lot of the theoretical rigor that Waltz has brought to realism, but at the same time can easily incorporate a content-rich analysis, since its main method for testing theories is the process-tracing of case studies

9. ….
Left Realism
Mark Laffey and Ronald Osborn have argued for the idea of a “Left Realism” in IR theory with particular reference to the work of Noam Chomsky
Both have suggested that Chomsky’s understanding of power in the international sphere reflects the analytical assumptions of classical realism combined with a radical moral, normative or "Left" critique of the state

10. Liberalism
Political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality
Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles
But generally they support ideas such as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade and private property

11. Liberty Value of individuals to have control over their own actions.
Different conceptions of liberty articulate the relationship of individuals to society in different ways—
these conceptions relate to life under a social contract existence in an imagined state of nature
related to the active exercise of freedom and rights
Understanding liberty involves how we imagine the individual's roles and responsibilities in society in relation to concepts of free will which involves the larger domain of metaphysics

12. Equality
All people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in certain respects
At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, equal access to social goods and services
However, it also includes concepts of economic equality, access to education health care and other social securities
It also includes equal opportunities and obligations, and so involves the whole of society

13. Liberalism
Age of Enlightenment when it became popular among philosophers and economists around the world 
Liberalism rejected the notions, common at the time, of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy and Devine Rights of Kings
John Locke- a founding liberalism as a distinct philosophical tradition argued that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property
Governments must not violate these rights
Liberals opposed traditional conservatism and replacement of absolutism in government with representative democracy and the rule of law

14. Classical liberalism
Is a conceptions of liberty typically consist of the freedom of individuals from outside compulsion or coercion
Liberation point-of-view, suggests that people should, must, and ought to behave according to their own free will and take responsibility for their actions, while
Social liberals conceptions of liberty place an emphasis upon social structure and is therefore directed toward ensuring egalitarianism
Adam Smith, John Locke, Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo

15. Idealism
Idealism is the group of philosophies-which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial
Epistemologically idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing
In a sociological sense, idealism emphasizes how human ideas—especially beliefs and values—shape society
Idealism rejects physicalist and dualist theories that fail to ascribe priority to the mind.

16. ….
The earliest extant arguments that the world of experience is grounded in the mental derive from India and Greece
The Hindu idealists in India and the Greek Neoplatonists gave panentheistic argument for an all-pervading consciousness as the ground or true nature of reality
Yogacara school of Mahayana Buddhism in India in the 4th century CE, based its "mind-only" idealism to a greater extent on phenomenological analyses of personal experience
Idealism turn toward the subjective anticipated empiricists during 18th-century Europe by employing skeptical arguments against materialism, George Berkeley

17. Platonism
Plato’s theory of from "ideas" describes ideal forms, as universe existing independently of any particular instance
Nevertheless Plato holds that matter is real, though transitory and imperfect, and is perceived by our body and its senses and given existence by the eternal ideas that are perceived directly by our rational soul
Plato was therefore a metaphysical and epistemological dualist an, outlook that modern idealism has striven to avoid
Arne Gron calls this doctrine-the classic example of a metaphysical idealism as a transcendent idealism
Simone Klein calls Plato-the earliest representative of metaphysical objective idealism

18. Neo-Platonism
Idealism that had long been current in the West and East even at that time, for it taught ‘that the soul has made the world by stepping from eternity into time’
Similarly, ‘The only space or place of the world is the soul’ and ‘Time must not be assumed to exist outside the soul’

19. Subjective Idealism
Subjective Idealism describes a relationship between experience and the world in which objects are no more than collections or ‘bundles’ of sense data in the perceiver
It contends that individuals can only know sensations and ideas of objects directly, not abstractions such as ‘matter’, and that ideas also depend upon being perceived for their very existence – ‘to be is to be perceived’
The universe cannot exist as it appears if there is no perceiving mind

20. Objective Idealism
Objective idealism asserts that the reality of experiencing combines and transcends the realities of the object experienced and of the mind of the observer
Transcendental idealism, founded by Immanuel Kant in the eighteenth century, maintains that the mind shapes the world we perceive into the form of space-and-time.
Absolute Idealism, founded by G. W. F. Hegel- how existence is comprehensible as an all-inclusive whole
Dialectical historical philosophy

21. ….
In his very famous book-Science of Logic-argues that finite qualities are not fully "real" because they depend on other finite qualities to determine them
Qualitative infinity, on the other hand, would be more self- determining and hence more fully real
Similarly finite natural things are less "real"—because they are less self-determining—than spiritual things like morally responsible people, ethical communities and God
So any doctrine, such as materialism, that asserts that finite qualities or natural objects are fully real is mistaken

22. Additional
Beginning with Immanuel Kant, German idealists such as G. W. F. Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Arthur Schopenhauer dominated 19th-century philosophy
This tradition, which emphasized the mental or "ideal" character of all phenomena
Idealistic and Subjectivist school
British idealism
Phenomenalism
Existentialism
The historical influence of this branch of idealism remains central even that rejected its metaphysical assumptions, such as pragmatism and positivism

23. Marxism
Marxism is a socio-economic and political worldview or inquiry based on a materialist interpretation of historical development
A dialectical view of social transformation
An analysis of class-relations and conflict within society
Marxist methodology informs an economic and sociopolitical enquiry applying to the analysis and critique of the development of capitalism and the role of class struggle in systemic economic change

24. Sources Dialecticism Germen Philosophy Historical Materialism
Hegel and Feuerbach

25. …. Primitive Communism Slave Society Feudalism Capitalism Socialism

26. Concepts Intellectual tenets of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
1848 Communist Manifesto
Marxist analyses and methodologies have influenced multiple political ideologies and social movements throughout history
Marxism encompasses and economic theory, a sociological theory, a philosophical method and revolutionary view of social change

27. Fundamentals
Marxism talks about materialist understanding of societal development
Its starting point is necessary economic activities required by human society to provide for its material needs
The form of economic organization or mode of production is understood to be the basis from which the majority of other social phenomena –
Social relations
Political and legal systems
Morality and ideology
These social relations form the Superstructure
For which the economic system forms the base

28. ….
As the forces of production- technology-highly mechanized and socialized production and private ownership change scenario
Surplus product in the form of surplus value or profit
Benefits small section of society –Bourgeoisie
These inefficiencies manifest themselves as social contradictions in the form of Class Struggle

29. ….
Contradiction becomes apparent to the proletariat, social unrest between the two antagonistic classes intensifies
Culminates social relation
The eventual long-term outcome is revolution which would be the establishment-a socioeconomic system based on cooperative ownership of the means of production- Socialism

30. ….
‘Distribution based on one’s contribution and production organized directly for use’
As the productive forces and technology continued to advance, socialism would eventually give way to a Communist stage of social development
Communism would be a classless, stateless, humane society erected on common ownership
‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’

31. Changes
Countries had governments at some point in the 20th century-  Albania, Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Bulgaria, Chile, Chin a, Republic of Congo, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Ethiopia, Grenada, Hungary, Laos, Moldova, Mo ngolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, the USSR and its republics, South Yemen, Yugoslavia, Vietnam
Three state of India- Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal have had Marxist governments through electoral processes
Some of these governments such as-Venezuela, Nicaragua, Chile, Moldova, Nepal, Ecuador and Bolivia