International Relations Theory and Practice

International Relations in Practice

It's crucial to consider international relations in practice by using history as a guide to understand theories. This involves testing theories, creating new questions, and considering new paradigms to understand present-day developments and patterns. Examples are used to examine how rival beliefs and ideas conflict and challenge each other, refining our understanding of theory in practice and how states engage.

Theoretical Influences Shaping Perception

Different elites utilize these theories, which shape their perception. Think about the influences that shape ideas of leadership, threats, and how to engage with international organizations. Consider concepts like multipolarity, bipolarity, and the balance of power.

Thucydides and the Causes of War

Thucydides, a historian of the Peloponnesian Wars, is seminal in international relations (IR) theory for researching the causes of war. He studied the distribution of power from Athens to Sparta, seeking lessons from history.

Examples in IR Theory

Examples are used to illustrate how theories are interpreted, focusing on specific cases. The course emphasizes the modern nation-state, as it is the most familiar, though its existence is relatively recent in human history. We will explore its creation, challenges, and impact on IR theory and practice.

Challenging Viewpoints

James Scott's work, Seeing Like a State, challenges conventional viewpoints.

Further Exploration

Consider exploring additional political science courses focusing on comparative politics in different regions or eras.

The Roman Empire and Citizenship

Considering the Roman Empire helps understand the concept of citizenship, including its privileges and duties, and how the empire was envisioned.

Empires in the Middle Ages

Various empires existed during the Middle Ages, including the Arabic and Islamic Empires, the Byzantine Empire, and empires in China and South Asia. These empires offer lessons in international relations regarding their creation, maintenance, and challenges.

Empires in Africa

Empires such as the Kingdom of Ghana (5th-13th century) illustrate complex interactions and conceptions of citizenship, with power and authority varying from centralized kingdoms to decentralized structures of governance. These empires demonstrate multiple and overlapping identities, institutions, and hierarchies.

Overlapping Sovereignties

Many empires did not adhere to the Weberian state model with permanent and precisely delineated boundaries. Instead, they featured overlapping authority, community ownership, and allegiance to multiple centers of power.

Age of Colonization and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

The age of colonization and the Transatlantic slave trade must be considered in any revisiting of international relations history. This period involved the horrific sale of over 17 million Africans between the 8th and 20th centuries, impacting Sub-Saharan Africa's population share, which fell from 17% to 7% of the world's population.

Latin America

Latin America's civilizations, empires, and colonial experiences are crucial to consider.

Medieval Japan

Medieval Japan, with its intricate political structures, including the rise of the samurai and the values of service and loyalty, offers important insights.

The Rise of States

Charles Tilly argues that war drove the creation of nation-states. Monarchs sought money for arms to expand power, using taxes to build armies and consolidate power internally and externally. Tilly succinctly states, "War made the state, and the state made war."

State Making and War Making

War making spurred the development of state apparatus to extract taxes from society and finance war efforts. This led to a decrease in the number of independent states between the 1500s and 1800s.

The Reformation

The Reformation, precipitated by events like the Black Death, challenged the established international order by questioning the centrality of the Catholic Church.

The Thirty Years' War and the Peace of Westphalia

The Thirty Years' War holds central significance in international relations theory, particularly the Peace of Westphalia (1648). This peace is considered the start of the modern nation-state concept and international relations as we know it.

Shaping Modern Relations

The Peace of Westphalia shaped modern relations by:

1. Granting each prince control over their own religion.

2. Establishing territorial rulers' control over their realms.

3. Promoting secular national authority superior to religious edicts.

4. Secularizing international politics.

5. Promoting sovereignty as a legal doctrine.

6. Establishing permanent national militaries.

7. Creating an international society based on the legal equality of states.

Each state possesses the same rights and duties, including managing matters within their own boundaries and acting without interference from other states. Recognition by other states is essential for statehood. State making is intimately tied to war making.

Global Deaths in Conflict

Exploring data series such as Our World in Data can illustrate global deaths in conflict, providing insights into different eras and the effects of international relations on people's lives.
For example the share of world population of sub-Saharan African has fallen from 17\% to 7\% between eighth and the twentieth century. Also Tilly succinctly writes that in \text{War made the state and the state made war}.