A Project Work In International Relations on

SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATION IN 21ST

CENTURY

Submitted to: Dr. B. K. Mahakul (Faculty Political Science)

Submitted by: Swapnil Rathore
Section B
Roll No.-160
Semester- V, B.A.L.LB. (Hons.)

Hidayatullah National Law University

Raipur, Chhattisgarh
Date of Submission- 24th August, 2015
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Certificate of Declaration
I hereby declare that the project work entitled "Signifance of International Relations in 21 st
century" submitted to HNLU, Raipur, is record of an original work done by me under the
knowledgeable guidance of Dr. B.K. Mahakul, Faculty Member, HNLU, Raipur.

-Swapnil Rathore
BA.LLB (Hons.)
Semester- V

Contents
Declaration... 2
Introduction...... 4
Overview of Literature. 6
Objectives..... 7
Methodology............................................... 7
Type of actors.............................................. 8
Globalization................8
Importance of International Relation........................ 10
Important International treaties in 21st century......11
Challenges in 21st century.....13
Conclusion..16
Reference.17

INTRODUCTION
International relations (IR) is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of
States, Inter- governmental Organization (IGOs), International Non- governmental Organization
(INGOs), Non-governmental Organization (NGOs) and Multinational Corporations (MNCs). A
strict definition of International Relations would confine itself to the relationships between the
worlds national governments, conducted by politicians at the highest level. However, this is a far
too simplistic and narrow perspective of international relations.
International Relations is not just a field of academic study, we all participate in and contribute to
International Relations on a daily basis. Every time we watch the news, vote in an election, buy
or boycott goods from the supermarket, recycle our wine bottles, we are participating in
International Relations. The decisions we make in our daily lives have an effect, however small,
on the world in which we live.
At the same time, IR has a significant impact on our lives. Our daily lives are increasingly
international in their focus, improvements in communications and transport technology mean we
are constantly coming into contact with people, places, products, opportunities and ideas from
other countries. The study of International Relations enables us to explain why international
events occur in the manner in which they do and gives us a greater understanding of world in
which we live and work.
The international system refers to the structure of relationships that exist at the international
level. These include the roles and interactions of both state and nonstate actors, along with
international organizations (IO), multinational corporations (MNC), and non-governmental
organizations (NGO).1States make foreign and national security policy against this external
environment. Opportunitiesfor both conflict and cooperation arise within this framework. The
international community has tried for years to maintain order and prevent conflict using
international institutions like the United Nations and international legal regimes like the Geneva
Conventions.
The international system frames the forces and trends in the global environment; it also frames
the workspace of national security policy and strategy makers. As they work through the
formulation process, with an understanding for the interests and objectives of any actors in a
given situation, those involved in the business of policy and strategy making must be able to
account for the associated state and nonstate actors present in the international system. In
addition, it has become particularly important that they be able to assess the competing values
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associated with the global actors, both state and nonstate, especially in relation to the Global War
on Terror. Also, given the criticality of being able to call upon other nation-states and
international or multinational organizations for support, the strategist or policymaker must know
which alliances and coalitions are stakeholders in the issue in question. Another related element
of the international system is the economic condition, as influenced by both the positive and
negative components of globalization, that helps determine the amount of power actors can wield
in the system. It is also important to be able to identify the international legal tenets and regimes
that bear on the situation. Finally, the 21stcentury policy and strategy maker must be able to
understand the threats to order in the international system represented by both conventional and
transnational entities. If the policymaker or strategist can accurately assess all these factors, he
might be able to determine friends and enemies, threats and opportunities, and capabilities and
constraints inherent in the contemporary world.

OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE
Literature Review is the documentation of a comprehensive review of the published and
unpublished work from secondary sources of data in the areas of specific interest to the
researcher. It is an extensive survey of all available past studies relevant to the field of
investigation. It gives us knowledge about what others have found out in the related field of
study and how they have done so.
After an extensive survey of available past studies relevant to the field of investigation, it has
been tried to accumulate the knowledge about what others have found out in the related field of
study and how they have done so. They have helped immensely in gaining background
knowledge of the research topic, in identifying the concepts relating to it, potential relationships
between them and identifying appropriate methodology, research design, methods of measuring
concepts and techniques of analysis, and also in identifying data sources used by other
researchers.
Thus the following literature has been reviewed:

V. N. Khanna, International Relation (2013), Vikas Publication. The author of the book,
while retaining the original overview of the 20th century international relations, has also
introduced the theoretical aspect of the study.

Peu Ghosh, International Relations (2013), PHI Learning Private Limited. The author
dwells on the multidimensional aspects of international relations, taking into account the present
undergraduate and postgraduate curricula of different universities. Divided into 20 chapters, the
book gives a panoramic view of international relations.

OBJECTIVES

To study about the importance of international relation.

To study about the challenges of international relations in 21st century.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This project has been pursued on the basis secondary sources of information. This includes
books, textbooks, and articles from newspapers and downloaded from WebPages. The project is
based on descriptive study.

TYPES OF ACTORSSTATES AND NON STATES ACTORS

The central actor: the state (a)A state is composed of a defined territory demarcated by specific
boundaries,(b) a defined population residing in that territory,(c) an integrated set of institutions
that is capable of making and enforcing laws over this population (internal sovereignty), and(d)
The recognition by other states of the sovereignty of that state (external sovereignty).
Non-state Actors Actors that (a) share some but not all of the characteristics of states (sub-state
actors), or(b) incorporate two or more states in a new entity (e.g. international
organizations)Non state Actors can be categorized on: International Organizations
Multinational Corporations Non-governmental Organizations
International Organizations Institutions with formal membership and procedures. Only states are
members. Membership can be limited or universal Purpose may be broad or narrow
GLOBALIZATION
The term globalization has acquired considerable emotive force. Some view it as a process that
is beneficial a key to future world economic development and also inevitable and irreversible.
Others regard with hostility, even fear, believing that it increases inequality within and between
nations, threatens employment and living standards thwarts social progress. This brief, offers an
overview of some aspects of globalization and aims to identify ways in which countries can tap
the gains of this process, while remaining realistic about its risks.
Globalization also refers to increasing global connectivity, integration and interdependence in the
economic, social, technological cultural, political and ecological spheres. Globalization is an
umbrella term and perhaps best understood as unitary process inclusive of many sub-processes
(such as enhanced economic interdependence, increased cultural influence, rapid advances of
information technology, and novel governance and geographical challenges) that are increasingly
binding people and biosphere more tightly into one global system.
The 20th Century saw unparalleled economic growth, with global per capita GDP increasing
almost five-fold. But this growth was not steady the strongest expansion came during the second
half of the century, a period of rapid trade expansion accompanied by trade and typically
somewhat later, financial-liberalization.
The world increasingly is confronted by problems that cannot be solved by individual nation
states acting alone. Examples include cross-boundary air and water pollution, over-fishing of
oceans and other degradation of the natural environment, regulation of outer-space, global
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warming, international terrorist networks, global trade and finance, and so on. Solutions to these
problems necessitate new forms of cooperation and the creation of new global institutions. Since
the end of the WW II, following the advent of the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions, there
has been an explosion in the reach and power of multinational corporations and the rapid growth
of global civil society.

IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

To avoid world wars- The 20 century witnessed two world wars which was very danger in
their destruction of man and material. It is feared that a third world war would wipe out the
human race on earth if it comes. The study of IRS helps us to analyze and aims of the states in
the world affairs, the methods adopted for that attainment of these objects and the factors which
ultimately lead to their success or failure. The international understanding helps us to analyze
helps the all states to live boldly and confidently in the world of diversity with peacefully.
To understand defects of nationalism- Interest of nationalism was one of the major causes of
1 world war. Because each state thinks of the entire problem in its own national interest and
forgot the wider international interest. But IR teaches that the nations must learn the basic factors
of mutual trust and good will in order to stop any possible conflicts.
Nation sovereignty Out Of Date-The 21 century IR becoming more and more complex. Today
each country has become dependent upon the other states for one or the other things. In this
interdependent world we cannot think of any states having an isolated life. The concept of
national sovereignty has now outdated in the context of international co-existence. Therefore
each nation state has to surrender at least some of its nation sovereignty. If it is not done
international co-operation is impossible.
Educative values- Today the modern weapons of warfare have become very sophisticated and
too much danger in a matter of few hours they can wipe out millions of population by their atom
bombs, germ warfare etc. It warns about the threat to the world peace and need to have
precautionary measure. To educate the people in the interest of the very survival of human race.
Better World Order- Study of the IR aims at better understanding of problems of the world.
Any states which violate international peace should be silenced by collective actions of all the
states.
It avoids international conflicts and ensures international peace It helps to understand the
true importance of collective security and disagreement. These all are making way for the new
concept of World village or World Community. By the above all reasons the importance of study
of IR is becoming very popular in the present age, because of interdependence of all the nationstates.

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IMPORTANT INTERNATIONAL TREATIES IN 21st CENTURY

May 24, 2002
The United States and Russia sign the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), limiting
their nuclear arsenal to between 1700 and 2200 warheads each.
June 7, 2006
Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development adopted, committing signatories to
recognize and act upon the responsibilities of states and civil society in preventing and reducing
armed violence, and placing armed violence within a development context. The Geneva
Declaration currently has 112 signatories.
June 15, 2007
A United Nations resolution established October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, as the
International Day of Non-Violence.
October 2009
Kampala Convention adopted by member states of the African Union, addressing issues of and
states responsibilities to persons internally displaced by conflict or other causes.
April 30, 2010
Member states of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in
Central Africa signed the Kinshasa Convention, which aims to control the sale and use of small
arms in Central Africa.
Global Trends
It is interesting to note that since the beginning of the 21st century, a series of global trend
reports, comprehensive and elaborate in nature, have been published. There is also a report on
Global Trend 2025 that indicates both the strategic and non-strategic dimensions of human
security in a multi-dimensional format. These trend reports are windows to the challenges that IR
will face in the 21st century. The key trends in the post
Cold war eras are:
Globalization of capitalism.
The US from decline to hegemony.
Russia reform or decline.
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China a regional threat.

European integration, expansion and paralysis.
9/11 and after.
Migration

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CHALLENGES IN 21st CENTURY

The major challenges that IR faces in the 21st century are:

Emerging New global order

Terrorism.
Nuclear proliferation
Post-Cold War Humanitarian intervention.
Inequality
Poverty
Income Distribution

Emerging New Global Order?

Two questions need to be addressed. First, has a specific pattern of global order emerged in the
post-Cold war period? If so, what are its principal constituents? Second, is this order to be
defined in terms of globalization?
There is obviously a pattern in the new international politics in the post-Cold war stage as
compared to the one that existed prior to the end of the Cold war. The second question enables us
to understand whether this contemporary order can be ensconced within globalization. There is a
major debate raging on this in order to understand the exact meaning, and on the process of
globalization. However, what is beyond doubt is that some kind of transformation is already
under way. It, hence, needs to be fathomed as to how it is to be discerned and what this will
mean in practice.
Serious study to determine the overall character of the post-Cold war order is still in its infancy.
We do not know how it will culminate. It is still not an enclosed period with a determinate
ending, like in the case of the period between the two World Wars. This makes it difficult to
assign particular characteristics while there have been individual aspects of the present order
(ethnicity, identity, peace-keeping, humanitarian
intervention, globalization, integration,
financial instability, terrorism and the war against it, weapons of mass destruction, regime
change, etc), there is still a lack of any general evaluation of its essential nature. In the earlier
period, the interest in the international order was largely negative and lay in ensuring that no
threats emerged from it. Today, there is a high level of integration and interdependence and,
hence, the interest is positive which makes the international order act as a great provider of
large numbers of social good. The international order today can deliver information, access to
global social movements, economic resources, human rights, interventions, action through nongovernmental organizations at both national and international levels, and sharing of cultural
artifacts.

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It will be important to state that the new order which is unfolding is being pulled in a number of
different directions at one end of the spectrum, it continues to be largely state-centric, concerned
with the structure of the balance of power, the polarity of the international system and the current
form of collective security. At the other end is a widening agenda of order, which encompasses
the relationship between the economic and political dimensions, new thinking about human
security, examining the consequences of globalisation, human rights and environmental security.
Hence, it is difficult as of now to determine the characteristics of the contemporary world order
because we live in the midst of it, thus, making it hard to get a historical perspective.
Terrorism
Terrorism has emerged as a major challenge to the emerging new world order. Terrorism is
characterized, first and foremost, by the use of violence.
Such violence occurs in the form of hostage taking, bombing, hijacking and other indiscriminate
attacks on civilian targets. One can observe four different types of terrorist organisations: left
wing terrorists, right wing terrorists, ethno-nationalists/separatist terrorists and religious
terrorists.
During the era of trans-national terrorism, the technologies associated with globalisation by the
use of communication technologies, capabilities to use physical technologies to move great
distances, communicate and coordinate individual or multiple attacks in different countries
simultaneously, ability to retain coordination in the face of tactical setbacks, capacity to obtain
advanced weapons to conduct attacks have given a lethal capacity to terrorists across regions and
theatres of operation. however, it is not yet clear as to why terrorists have not acquired and used
radiological, biological or chemical weapons so far.
Experts believe that the terrorists understand that more lethal attacks would lead to the likelihood
that a state or the international community would focus its efforts on hunting them down, and
eradicate them. Terrorism, however, seen as the darker side of globalisation, will continue to
pose a major challenge to IR in the 21st century.
Nuclear Proliferation
Considerable attention has been paid to the theoretical aspects of nuclear proliferation. The
question that has been asked is whether nuclear proliferation refers to a single decision to acquire
a nuclear weapon or is it part of a process that may stretch over a period of several years or even
decades, consequently leading to the fact that no one identifiable decision can be located.
Post-Cold War Humanitarian Intervention
Humanitarian intervention poses the toughest challenge and test for an international society built
on the principles of sovereignty, non-intervention and non-use of force. The society of states has
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committed itself in the post holocaust world to a human rights culture, which outlaws genocide
and mass killing. However, these humanitarian principles can and do conflict with those of
sovereignty and non-intervention. Sovereign states are expected to act as guardians of their
citizens security, but what happens when states behave as gangsters towards their own people,
treating sovereignty as a license to kill their own people?
Should tyrannical states be recognized as legitimate members of the international society and
be accorded the protection afforded by the non-intervention principle? Or should such states
forfeit their sovereign rights and be exposed to legitimate intervention by international society?
Related to this is the question of what responsibilities do other states have to enforce global
human rights norms against governments that massively violate them?
Armed humanitarian intervention was not a legitimate practice during the Cold War period.
There was significant shift of attitude on this issue during the 1990s, especially within liberal
democratic states, which led to the pressing of new humanitarian claims within international
society. In the General assembly in September 1999, the United Nations declared that there was a
developing international norm to forcibly protect civilians who were at risk of genocide and
large-scale killing. The character of this new liberal interventionism, its moral limitations and its
likely evolution in a post 9/11 world are central questions that will emerge as main challenges to
IR in the 21st century.
Inequality
Inequality is growing. It encompasses a number of problems ranging from poverty to unequal
income distribution and unemployment.
Poverty
Today 1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar per day, and 2.8 billion on less than two
dollars a day. People live on less than two dollars per day account for 75.6% of the total
population in Sub-Saharan Africa and 84% in South Asia. The average for developing and
transition economies is 56% (World Bank, 2000b).
The collapse the economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia by itself plunged some 93
million people below the poverty line of two dollars per day in the last 10 years.
Income distribution
Equally disturbing and discouraging, inequality is not only growing but also accelerating.
According to unpublished study by the University of Sussex, the relation between the richest and
the poorer fifth of the worlds population increased from 30 to 1 in 1960; to 60 to 1 in 1990; and
to 74 to 1 in 1997. The income gap increased one point a year between 1960 and 1990 and two
points a year since then.
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CONCLUSION
In the end, there is no single answer for why any actor in the 21st century international system
behaves the way that it does. There is also no single description for all the actors in the system,
as well as no predictable method that any of them will use to interact. In effect, even considering
the complexities of the 20th century, the 21st century international system is highly likely to be
more complex than ever. Clearly the nation-state will continue to be the primary actor, but it will
have increasing competition from the non-state actors that have emerged in the later part of the
last century. Advances in communication and transportation, along with the information
revolutions contribution to globalization, have provided both emerging states and nonstate
actors a degree of international influence never previously imagined. From the perspective of a
21st century strategic leader, these emerging state and nonstate actors and emerging transnational
threats will create numerous challenges and opportunities. These challenges and opportunities
will force leaders to address issues like determining the exact threat, assessing the intensity of
national interests at stake, deciding whether to employ hard or soft power, and opting to work
with alliances or coalitions or to go it alone. Ultimately, understanding these issues and many
others dependent on the situation will be critical for the success of any actor in the 21st century
international system.

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References

V. N. Khanna, International Relation (2013), Vikas Publication.

Peu Ghosh, International Relations (2013), PHI Learning Private Limited

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