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International Relations
The Study of International Relations
• International relations pertains to the
study of state and non-state actors and
their relationship to each other in the
international system. Narrowly defined:
The field of IR concerns the relationships
among states (or governments).
• International system:
– A patterned set of interactions among the
major political actors on the international
stage.
IR and Daily Life
• IR profoundly affects your life as well as that of
other citizens.
– Prospects for getting jobs
• Global economy
• International economic competition
– Jobs entail international travel, sales, or
communication.
– Rules of the world-trading system affect what you
may consume.
• War is among the most pervasive international
influences in daily life, even in peacetime.
• World is shrinking year by year.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION
• Information Revolution: Growing accumulation of
human knowledge; and the accessibility of new
knowledge through rapidly spreading technologies
• Increasing Global Productivity: efficiency of economic
output is enhanced through the introduction, spread, and
improvement of computer-based technologies, spread of
MNCs (economic enterprises with operations in two or
more countries), and the mobility of global capital
• Rapid Rise of Newly Emerging Global Economies:
China, India, Brazil; augers the potential for reduction in
global poverty
• Development of Renewable Energy Sources: new
research and technology investment in energy sources
of sun, wind, and biomass etc.
• Global Spread of Democracy: unprecedented adoption
of democratic ideas and institutions around the world
OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION
• Continued Growth of Authoritative Global and
Regional Institutions: WTO, WHO, EU, OPEC—these
coordinate national policies with regional and even
global norms and practices
• Proliferation and Networking of NGOs: Growth of
global civil society through people organizing across
borders to address global threats, humanitarian crisis
and aid, technical information, cultural, political, and
social cooperation.
• Growth of international regimes: formal and informal
coordination and collaboration in certain issue areas to
maximize global security and prosperity
• Decline of interstate Warfare
• Rapid Proliferation of International Law protecting
the individual: codification of human rights, spreading
norms or racial and gender equality
POSSIBILITIES FOR CONFLICT
• Global Environmental Degradation: these global
threats include
1. global warming, the thinning of the protective ozone
layer of the atmosphere accompanied by rising rates of
skin cancer;
2. destruction of the world’s rain forests (global lungs) and
denuding of other forested areas;
3. rapid urbanization owing to peasant flight to megacities
in countries like China and India with accompanying
pollution and urban poverty;
4. Spread of deserts into formerly fertile regions of Asia,
Africa, and Latin America;
5. The elimination of species of plants and animals and
reduction in biodiversity;
6. Accumulation of radioactive debris and nuclear waste
POSSIBILITIES FOR CONFLICT
• Overpopulation: in developing world may contribute to famine,
spread of disease (AIDS), land hunger, political unrest, and large-
scale migration to rich states with aging and shrinking population