118-482: The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University , in Medford, Massachusetts . Fletcher is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations. As of 2017, the student body numbered around 230, of whom 36 percent were international students from 70 countries, and around a quarter were U.S. minorities. The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
236-459: A Ph.D. program. Regardless of the degree program in which they are enrolled, students have the opportunity to select from among more than 170 courses across three divisions: International Law and Organization (ILO); Diplomacy, History and Politics (DHP); and Economics and International Business (EIB). The school has eleven degree programs: its flagship two-year Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD);
354-405: A capstone project during their final year for students in 2-year programs or their final semester for students in 1-year programs. The capstone project is expected to demonstrate scholarly and/or professional analysis, and it acts as an opportunity for students to draw on their methodological, analytical, and substantive learning in a comprehensive written study. In consultation with faculty advisors,
472-580: A discrete field until 1919, when it was first offered as an undergraduate major by Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom . The Second World War and its aftermath provoked greater interest and scholarship in international relations, particularly in North America and Western Europe , where it was shaped considerably by the geostrategic concerns of the Cold War . The collapse of
590-798: A distinct field of study began in Britain . IR emerged as a formal academic discipline in 1919 with the founding of the first IR professorship: the Woodrow Wilson Chair at Aberystwyth , University of Wales (now Aberystwyth University ), held by Alfred Eckhard Zimmern and endowed by David Davies . International politics courses were established at the University of Wisconsin in 1899 by Paul Samuel Reinsch and at Columbia University in 1910. By 1920, there were four universities that taught courses on international organization . Georgetown University 's Walsh School of Foreign Service
708-508: A few years. While conventional wisdom holds that casualties have increased in recent times due to technological improvements in warfare, this is not generally true. For instance, the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) had about the same number of casualties per capita as World War I , although it was higher during World War II (WWII). That said, overall the number of casualties from war has not significantly increased in recent times. Quite to
826-670: A focus on the history of IR in the early modern , colonial , and Cold War periods. The first university entirely dedicated to the study of IR was the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies , which was founded in 1927 to form diplomats associated to the League of Nations . In 1922, Georgetown University graduated its first class of the Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) degree, making it
944-508: A general feature of animal social behavior. Some proponents of the idea argue that war, while innate, has been intensified greatly by developments of technology and social organization such as weaponry and states. Psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker argued that war-related behaviors may have been naturally selected in the ancestral environment due to the benefits of victory. He also argued that in order to have credible deterrence against other groups (as well as on an individual level), it
1062-427: A given issue-area". Not all approaches to regime theory, however, are liberal or neoliberal; some realist scholars like Joseph Grieco have developed hybrid theories which take a realist based approach to this fundamentally liberal theory. (Realists do not say cooperation never happens, just that it is not the norm; it is a difference of degree). The constructivist framework rests on the fundamental assumption that
1180-635: A global perspective. Fletcher has a number of research centers and institutes, including: The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy employs more than 30 full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty as well as a variety of adjunct and visiting professors, and benefits from faculty at partner schools within Tufts, including the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy . The full-time Fletcher faculty includes economists, international law theorists, diplomats, historians, and political scientists who hold
1298-450: A library. Tufts College assumed exclusive responsibility for the administration of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1935. Between 1963 and 1965, Mugar Hall was constructed and later renovated in 2016 to serve the expanding needs of Fletcher. On its campus in Medford, Massachusetts , The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy offers multi-disciplinary instruction in international affairs through several master's degree programs and
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#17327717864591416-591: A monarch or noble class. A state wherein the nation is sovereign would thence be termed a nation-state, as opposed to a monarchy or a religious state; the term republic increasingly became its synonym. An alternative model of the nation-state was developed in reaction to the French republican concept by the Germans and others, who instead of giving the citizenry sovereignty, kept the princes and nobility, but defined nation-statehood in ethnic-linguistic terms, establishing
1534-469: A noble cause is a contributing factor towards war, few wars have originated from a desire for war among the general populace. Far more often the general population has been reluctantly drawn into war by its rulers. One psychological theory that looks at the leaders is advanced by Maurice Walsh. He argues the general populace is more neutral towards war and wars occur when leaders with a psychologically abnormal disregard for human life are placed into power. War
1652-652: A one-year Master of Arts for mid-career professionals; a one-year, mid-career Master of Arts (via the Global Master of Arts Program) that combines online and residential learning; a Ph.D. program; a Master of International Business (MIB); a Master of Global Business Administration, an online program combining the study of business with international affairs; and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Law. Additionally, there are several joint and dual degree and certificate programs. Fletcher students complete
1770-513: A professor at the University of Illinois , says approximately 90–95% of known societies throughout history engaged in at least occasional warfare, and many fought constantly. Keeley describes several styles of primitive combat such as small raids , large raids, and massacres . All of these forms of warfare were used by primitive societies, a finding supported by other researchers. Keeley explains that early war raids were not well organized, as
1888-623: A purely anarchical system. Rather, liberal theory assumes that states are institutionally constrained by the power of international organisations, and mutually dependent on one another through economic and diplomatic ties. Institutions such as the United Nations , the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the International Court of Justice are taken to, over time, have developed power and influence to shape
2006-583: A school dedicated to teaching international affairs, was founded in Geneva , Switzerland. This was rapidly followed by establishment of IR at universities in the US. The creation of the posts of Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at LSE and at Oxford gave further impetus to the academic study of international relations. Furthermore, the International History department at LSE developed
2124-621: A single political body. Constructivism is also present in the analysis of international law , where norms of conduct such as the prohibition of chemical weapons , torture , and the protection of civilians in war , are socialised into international organisations, and stipulated into rules. Prominent constructivist IR scholars include Michael Barnett , Martha Finnemore , Ted Hopf , Peter Katzenstein , Kathryn Sikkink , and Alexander Wendt . Post-structuralism theories of international relations (also called critical theories due to being inherently critical of traditional IR frameworks) developed in
2242-609: A source of violent conflict. Pope Urban II in 1095, on the eve of the First Crusade , advocating Crusade as a solution to European overpopulation, said: For this land which you now inhabit, shut in on all sides by the sea and the mountain peaks, is too narrow for your large population; it scarcely furnishes food enough for its cultivators. Hence it is that you murder and devour one another, that you wage wars, and that many among you perish in civil strife. Let hatred, therefore, depart from among you; let your quarrels end. Enter upon
2360-488: A state, that the sovereign power(s) have absolute power over their territories, and that such a power is only limited by the sovereign's "own obligations towards other sovereigns and individuals". Such a foundation of sovereignty is indicated by a sovereign's obligation to other sovereigns, interdependence and dependence to take place. While throughout world history there have been instances of groups lacking or losing sovereignty, such as African nations prior to decolonization or
2478-555: A subdiscipline of political science, the focus of IR studies lies on political, diplomatic and security connections among states, as well as the study of modern political world history. In many academic institutions, studies of IR are thus situated in the department of politics/social sciences. This is for example the case in Scandinavia, where international relations are often simply referred to as international politics (IP). In institutions where international relations refers to
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#17327717864592596-583: A universal and ancestral aspect of human nature , others argue it is a result of specific socio-cultural, economic, or ecological circumstances. The English word war derives from the 11th-century Old English words wyrre and werre , from Old French werre (also guerre as in modern French), in turn from the Frankish * werra , ultimately deriving from the Proto-Germanic * werzō ' mixture, confusion ' . The word
2714-409: Is dependency theory and the core–periphery model , which argue that developed countries, in their pursuit of power, appropriate developing states through international banking, security and trade agreements and unions on a formal level, and do so through the interaction of political and financial advisors, missionaries, relief aid workers, and MNCs on the informal level, in order to integrate them into
2832-537: Is a prominent solidarist, while Hedley Bull and Robert H. Jackson are perhaps the best known pluralists. Some English school theoreticians have used historical cases in order to show the influence that normative frameworks have on the evolution of the international political order at various critical junctures. International relations are often viewed in terms of levels of analysis . The systemic level concepts are those broad concepts that define and shape an international milieu, characterized by anarchy . Focusing on
2950-466: Is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns all activities among states—such as war , diplomacy , trade , and foreign policy —as well as relations with and among other international actors, such as intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), international legal bodies , and multinational corporations (MNCs). International relations
3068-632: Is caused by leaders who seek war such as Napoleon and Hitler . Such leaders most often come to power in times of crisis when the populace opts for a decisive leader, who then leads the nation to war. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine
3186-493: Is commonplace encourage their children to be more aggressive. War can be seen as a growth of economic competition in a competitive international system. In this view wars begin as a pursuit of markets for natural resources and for wealth. War has also been linked to economic development by economic historians and development economists studying state-building and fiscal capacity . While this theory has been applied to many conflicts, such counter arguments become less valid as
3304-420: Is considerably different from the type of rights envisioned under natural law , Francisco de Vitoria , Hugo Grotius , and John Locke offered the first accounts of universal entitlement to certain rights on the basis of common humanity. In the 20th century, in addition to contemporary theories of liberal internationalism , Marxism has been a foundation of international relations. International relations as
3422-404: Is dealt with in more detail below. IR theory, however, has a long tradition of drawing on the work of other social sciences . The use of capitalizations of the "I" and "R" in international relations aims to distinguish the academic discipline of international relations from the phenomena of international relations. Many cite Sun Tzu 's The Art of War (6th century BC), Thucydides ' History of
3540-620: Is estimated that between 1985 and 1994, 378,000 people per year died due to war. Most wars have resulted in significant loss of life, along with destruction of infrastructure and resources (which may lead to famine , disease, and death in the civilian population ). During the Thirty Years' War in Europe, the population of the Holy Roman Empire was reduced by 15 to 40 percent. Civilians in war zones may also be subject to war atrocities such as genocide , while survivors may suffer
3658-547: Is fueled by displacement and projection where a person transfers his or her grievances into bias and hatred against other races , religions , nations or ideologies . By this theory, the nation state preserves order in the local society while creating an outlet for aggression through warfare. The Italian psychoanalyst Franco Fornari , a follower of Melanie Klein , thought war was the paranoid or projective "elaboration" of mourning. Fornari thought war and violence develop out of our "love need": our wish to preserve and defend
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3776-456: Is generally characterized by extreme violence , destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces . Warfare refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war, or of wars in general. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets , and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant suffering and casualties . While some war studies scholars consider war
3894-593: Is generally classified as a major multidiscipline of political science , along with comparative politics , political methodology , political theory , and public administration . It often draws heavily from other fields, including anthropology , economics , geography , history , law , philosophy , and sociology . There are several schools of thought within IR, of which the most prominent are realism , liberalism , and constructivism . While international politics has been analyzed since antiquity , it did not become
4012-430: Is only a subjective judgment, divorced from the facts as they are and informed by prejudice and wishful thinking. Major theorists include E. H. Carr , Robert Gilpin , Charles P. Kindleberger , Stephen D. Krasner , Hans Morgenthau , Kenneth Waltz , Robert Jervis , Stephen Walt , and John Mearsheimer . In contrast to realism, the liberal framework emphasises that states, although they are sovereign, do not exist in
4130-621: Is related to the Old Saxon werran , Old High German werran , and the modern German verwirren , meaning ' to confuse, to perplex, to bring into confusion ' . The earliest evidence of prehistoric warfare is a Mesolithic cemetery in Jebel Sahaba , which has been determined to be about 13,400 years old. About forty-five percent of the skeletons there displayed signs of violent death, specifically traumatic bone lesions. In War Before Civilization , Lawrence H. Keeley ,
4248-551: Is the oldest continuously operating school for international affairs in the United States, founded in 1919. In 1927, the London School of Economics ' department of international relations was founded at the behest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Philip Noel-Baker : this was the first institute to offer a wide range of degrees in the field. That same year, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies ,
4366-524: Is what states make of it". By this he means that the anarchic structure that realists claim governs state interaction is in fact a phenomenon that is socially constructed and reproduced by states. Constructivism is part of critical theory, and as such seeks to criticise the assumptions underlying traditional IR theory. Constructivist theory would for example claim that the state leaders of the United States and Soviet Union were socialised into different roles and norms, which can provide theoretical insights to how
4484-892: The American Civil War , including about 6% in the North and approximately 18% in the South. The war remains the deadliest conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 military personnel. United States military casualties of war since 1775 have totaled over two million. Of the 60 million European military personnel who were mobilized in World War I , 8 million were killed, 7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured. During Napoleon 's retreat from Moscow, more French military personnel died of typhus than were killed by
4602-896: The Korean War , the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 , the Iran–Iraq War , the Gulf War , the Eritrean–Ethiopian War , and the Russo-Ukrainian War . The Human Security Report 2005 documented a significant decline in the number and severity of armed conflicts since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. However, the evidence examined in the 2008 edition of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management's "Peace and Conflict" study indicated
4720-688: The Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity , reflect a growing consensus that environmental degradation requires coordinated international responses , shaping diplomatic priorities and global governance frameworks. Within the study of international relations, there exists multiple theories seeking to explain how states and other actors operate within the international system. These can generally be divided into three main strands: realism, liberalism, and constructivism. The realist framework of international relations rests on
4838-489: The Soviet Union were around 27 million . Since a high proportion of those killed were young men who had not yet fathered any children, population growth in the postwar Soviet Union was much lower than it otherwise would have been. Once a war has ended, losing nations are sometimes required to pay war reparations to the victorious nations. In certain cases, land is ceded to the victorious nations. For example,
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4956-409: The "critical" component of theory was derived significantly from their attempt to overcome the limits of positivism. Modern-day proponents such as Andrew Linklater , Robert W. Cox , and Ken Booth focus on the need for human emancipation from the nation-state. Hence, it is "critical" of mainstream IR theories that tend to be both positivist and state-centric. Further linked in with Marxist theories
5074-417: The 1980s from postmodernist studies in political science . Post-structuralism explores the deconstruction of concepts traditionally not problematic in IR (such as "power" and "agency") and examines how the construction of these concepts shapes international relations. The examination of "narratives" plays an important part in poststructuralist analysis; for example, feminist poststructuralist work has examined
5192-443: The 1990s opened up a space for gendering International Relations. Because feminist IR is linked broadly to the critical project in IR, by and large most feminist scholarship have sought to problematize the politics of knowledge construction within the discipline—often by adopting methodologies of deconstructivism associated with postmodernism/poststructuralism. However, the growing influence of feminist and women-centric approaches within
5310-707: The Great Depression, though some consider that it did not play a very large role in the recovery, though it did help in reducing unemployment. In most cases, such as the wars of Louis XIV, the Franco-Prussian War , and World War I , warfare primarily results in damage to the economy of the countries involved. For example, Russia's involvement in World War I took such a toll on the Russian economy that it almost collapsed and greatly contributed to
5428-564: The Neanderthals and ancestors of apes and primates. For the period 3000 BCE until 1991, estimates range from 151 million to 2 billion. The deadliest war in history, in terms of the cumulative number of deaths since its start, is World War II , from 1939 to 1945, with 70–85 million deaths, followed by the Mongol conquests at up to 60 million. As concerns a belligerent's losses in proportion to its prewar population,
5546-498: The Peloponnesian War (5th century BC), Chanakya 's Arthashastra (4th century BC), as the inspiration for realist theory, with Hobbes ' Leviathan and Machiavelli 's The Prince providing further elaboration. Similarly, liberalism draws upon the work of Kant and Rousseau , with the work of the former often being cited as the first elaboration of democratic peace theory . Though contemporary human rights
5664-448: The Peloponnesian War , written by Thucydides , is considered a foundational text of the realist school of political philosophy. There is debate over whether Thucydides himself was a realist; Richard Ned Lebow has argued that seeing Thucydides as a realist is a misinterpretation of a more complex political message within his work. Amongst others, philosophers like Machiavelli , Hobbes , and Rousseau are considered to have contributed to
5782-705: The Russians. Of the 450,000 soldiers who crossed the Neman on 25 June 1812, less than 40,000 returned. More military personnel were killed from 1500 to 1914 by typhus than from military action. In addition, if it were not for modern medical advances there would be thousands more dead from disease and infection. For instance, during the Seven Years' War , the Royal Navy reported it conscripted 184,899 sailors, of whom 133,708 (72%) died of disease or were 'missing'. It
5900-484: The Soviet Union and subsequent rise of globalization in the late 20th century have presaged new theories and evaluations of the rapidly changing international system . Depending on the academic institution, international relations or international affairs is either a subdiscipline of political science or a broader multidisciplinary field encompassing global politics , law, economics or world history. As
6018-438: The United States and U.S. Generals , expressed support for an economic view of war. The Marxist theory of war is quasi-economic in that it states all modern wars are caused by competition for resources and markets between great ( imperialist ) powers, claiming these wars are a natural result of capitalism . Marxist economists Karl Kautsky , Rosa Luxemburg , Rudolf Hilferding and Vladimir Lenin theorized that imperialism
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#17327717864596136-455: The ability of states to control and limit war in their international relations. Early adherents include Woodrow Wilson and Norman Angell , who argued that states mutually gained from cooperation and that war was so destructive as to be essentially futile. Liberalism was not recognized as a coherent theory as such until it was collectively and derisively termed idealism by E. H. Carr . A new version of "idealism" that focused on human rights as
6254-947: The academic ranks of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and lecturer. All faculty members hold terminal degrees in their respective fields (a Ph.D. in the case of historians, political scientists, and economists; and a J.D. in the case of lawyers). In 2013, the faculty to student ratio in Medford was 1:8.6. The Fletcher School has over 9,500 alumni living around the world in 140 countries, including hundreds of sitting ambassadors, award-winning journalists and authors, global business executives and leaders of international peacekeeping, humanitarian and security initiatives. 42°24′28″N 71°07′18″W / 42.407662°N 71.12169°W / 42.407662; -71.12169 International affairs International relations ( IR , and also referred to as international studies , international politics , or international affairs )
6372-420: The basis of the legitimacy of international law was advanced by Hans Köchler . Major theorists include Montesquieu , Immanuel Kant , Michael W. Doyle , Francis Fukuyama , and Helen Milner . Liberal institutionalism (some times referred to as neoliberalism) shows how cooperation can be achieved in international relations even if neorealist assumptions apply (states are the key actors in world politics,
6490-494: The broader multidisciplinary field of global politics, law, economics and history, the subject may be studied across multiple departments, or be situated in its own department, as is the case at for example the London School of Economics. An undergraduate degree in multidisciplinary international relations may lead to a more specialised master's degree of either international politics, economics, or international law . In
6608-431: The capitalist system, strategically appropriating undervalued natural resources and labor hours and fostering economic and political dependence. Feminist IR considers the ways that international politics affects and is affected by both men and women and also at how the core concepts that are employed within the discipline of IR (e.g. war, security, etc.) are themselves gendered. Feminist IR has not only concerned itself with
6726-988: The chances of becoming a psychiatric casualty – of being debilitated for some period of time as a consequence of the stresses of military life – were greater than the chances of being killed by enemy fire. Swank and Marchand's World War II study found that after sixty days of continuous combat, 98% of all surviving military personnel will become psychiatric casualties. Psychiatric casualties manifest themselves in fatigue cases, confusional states, conversion hysteria, anxiety, obsessional and compulsive states, and character disorders. One-tenth of mobilised American men were hospitalised for mental disturbances between 1942 and 1945, and after thirty-five days of uninterrupted combat, 98% of them manifested psychiatric disturbances in varying degrees. Additionally, it has been estimated anywhere from 18% to 54% of Vietnam war veterans suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder . Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white American males aged 13 to 43 died in
6844-672: The conflict between the nations was conducted during the Cold War. E.g., prominent US policy makers frequently spoke of the USSR as an 'evil empire', and thus socialised the US population and state apparatus into an anti-communist sentiment, which defined the norms conducted in US foreign policy. Other constructivist analyses include the discourses on European integration; senior policy-making circles were socialised into ideas of Europe as an historical and cultural community, and therefore sought to construct institutions to integrate European nations into
6962-778: The conflict, and increased revenues by weapons manufacturers . Three of the ten most costly wars, in terms of loss of life, have been waged in the last century. These are the two World Wars, followed by the Second Sino-Japanese War (which is sometimes considered part of World War II , or as overlapping). Most of the others involved China or neighboring peoples. The death toll of World War II, being over 60 million, surpasses all other war-death-tolls. Military personnel subject to combat in war often suffer mental and physical injuries, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder , disease, injury, and death. In every war in which American soldiers have fought in,
7080-524: The conflicts between states in the early European state-system; the causes of the First and Second World Wars , as well as the behavior of the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War . In settings such as these the realist framework carries great interpretative insights in explaining how the military and economic power struggles of states lead to larger armed conflicts. History of
7198-507: The connections existing between sovereign nation-states . This makes the establishment of the modern state system the natural starting point of international relations history. The establishment of modern sovereign states as fundamental political units traces back to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 in Europe . During the preceding Middle Ages , European organization of political authority
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#17327717864597316-427: The consolidation of newly independent nation-states within the non-West , such as Brazil and India. In recent decades, IR has increasingly addressed environmental concerns such as climate change , deforestation , and biodiversity loss , recognizing their implications for global security and diplomacy. Once peripheral, these issues have gained prominence due to their global impact . Multilateral agreements, like
7434-414: The contrary, on a global scale the time since WWII has been unusually peaceful. Estimates for total deaths due to war vary widely. In one estimate, primitive warfare from 50,000 to 3000 BCE has been thought to have claimed 400 million±133,000 victims based on the assumption that it accounted for the 15.1% of all deaths. Other scholars find the prehistoric percentage much lower, around 2%, similar to
7552-446: The course of conflict and may eventually morph into "peace conditions" – the minimal conditions under which a state may cease to wage a particular war. Throughout the course of human history, the average number of people dying from war has fluctuated relatively little, being about 1 to 10 people dying per 100,000. However, major wars over shorter periods have resulted in much higher casualty rates, with 100–200 casualties per 100,000 over
7670-683: The creation of foreign policy. The liberal framework is associated with analysis of the globalised world as it emerged in the aftermath of World War II . Increased political cooperation through organisations such as the UN , as well as economic cooperation through institutions such as the WTO, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund , was thought to have made the realist analysis of power and conflict inadequate in explaining
7788-497: The discipline is inherently masculine in nature. For example, in her article "Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals" Signs (1988), Carol Cohn claimed that a highly masculinized culture within the defense establishment contributed to the divorcing of war from human emotion. Feminist IR emerged largely from the late 1980s onward. The end of the Cold War and the re-evaluation of traditional IR theory during
7906-416: The economic and material aspects. It makes the assumption that the economy trumps other concerns, making economic class the fundamental level of analysis. Marxists view the international system as an integrated capitalist system in pursuit of capital accumulation . Thus, colonialism brought in sources for raw materials and captive markets for exports, while decolonialization brought new opportunities in
8024-545: The first graduate-only school of international affairs in the United States. In 1965, Glendon College and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs were the first institutions in Canada to offer an undergraduate and a graduate program in international studies and affairs, respectively. The lines between IR and other political science subfields is sometimes blurred, in particular when it comes to
8142-647: The first fully-fledged international system. Analyses of the foreign policies of sovereign city states have been done in ancient times, as in Thycydides ' analysis of the causes of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta , as well as by Niccolò Machiavelli in The Prince , published in 1532, where he analyzed the foreign policy of the renaissance city state of Florence . The contemporary field of international relations, however, analyzes
8260-466: The first international relations graduate program in the United States. This was soon followed by the establishment of the Committee on International Relations (CIR) at the University of Chicago , where the first research graduate degree was conferred in 1928. The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy , a collaboration between Tufts University and Harvard University , opened its doors in 1933 as
8378-520: The foreign policies of individual states. Furthermore, the existence of the globalised world economy makes continuous military power struggle irrational, as states are dependent on participation in the global trade system to ensure their own survival. As such, the liberal framework stresses cooperation between states as a fundamental part of the international system. States are not seen as unitary actors, but pluralistic arenas where interest groups, non-governmental organisations, and economic actors also shape
8496-469: The form of dependence. A prominent derivative of Marxian thought is critical international relations theory which is the application of " critical theory " to international relations. Early critical theorists were associated with the Frankfurt School , which followed Marx's concern with the conditions that allow for social change and the establishment of rational institutions. Their emphasis on
8614-551: The fundamental assumption that the international state system is an anarchy , with no overarching power restricting the behaviour of sovereign states. As a consequence, states are engaged in a continuous power struggle, where they seek to augment their own military capabilities, economic power, and diplomacy relative to other states; this in order to ensure the protection of their political system, citizens, and vital interests. The realist framework further assumes that states act as unitary, rational actors, where central decision makers in
8732-418: The globe. The invention of gunpowder , and its eventual use in warfare, together with the acceleration of technological advances have fomented major changes to war itself. In Western Europe, since the late 18th century, more than 150 conflicts and about 600 battles have taken place. During the 20th century, war resulted in a dramatic intensification of the pace of social changes, and was a crucial catalyst for
8850-426: The growth of left-wing politics . Mao Zedong urged the socialist camp not to fear nuclear war with the United States since, even if "half of mankind died, the other half would remain while imperialism would be razed to the ground and the whole world would become socialist." A distinctive feature of war since 1945 is that combat has largely been a matter of civil wars and insurgencies. The major exceptions were
8968-530: The inaugural issue of World Politics , Frederick S. Dunn wrote that IR was about "relations that take place across national boundaries" and "between autonomous political groups in a world system". Dunn wrote that unique elements characterized IR and separated it from other subfields: international politics is concerned with the special kind of power relationships that exist in a community lacking an overriding authority; international economics deals with trade relations across national boundaries that are complicated by
9086-459: The increasing mobility of capital and information level the distributions of wealth worldwide, or when considering that it is relative, not absolute, wealth differences that may fuel wars. There are those on the extreme right of the political spectrum who provide support, fascists in particular, by asserting a natural right of a strong nation to whatever the weak cannot hold by force. Some centrist, capitalist, world leaders, including Presidents of
9204-851: The international policy communities (for example at the World Bank and the United Nations) is more reflective of the liberal feminist emphasis on equality of opportunity for women. Prominent scholars include Carol Cohn , Cynthia Enloe , Sara Ruddick , and J. Ann Tickner . International society theory, also called the English school, focuses on the shared norms and values of states and how they regulate international relations. Examples of such norms include diplomacy, order, and international law . Theorists have focused particularly on humanitarian intervention, and are subdivided between solidarists, who tend to advocate it more, and pluralists, who place greater value in order and sovereignty. Nicholas Wheeler
9322-492: The international system could remain stable in the absence of a hegemon, thus rebutting hegemonic stability theory. Regime theory is derived from the liberal tradition that argues that international institutions or regimes affect the behaviour of states (or other international actors). It assumes that cooperation is possible in the anarchic system of states, indeed, regimes are by definition, instances of international cooperation. While realism predicts that conflict should be
9440-425: The international system is anarchic, and states pursue their self interest). Liberal institutionalists highlight the role of international institutions and regimes in facilitating cooperation between states. Prominent neoliberal institutionalists are John Ikenberry , Robert Keohane , and Joseph Nye . Robert Keohane's 1984 book After Hegemony used insights from the new institutional economics to argue that
9558-545: The international system is built on social constructs; such as ideas , norms , and identities . Various political actors, such as state leaders , policy makers , and the leaders of international organisations, are socialised into different roles and systems of norms, which define how the international system operates. The constructivist scholar Alexander Wendt , in a 1992 article in International Organization , noted in response to realism that "anarchy
9676-505: The most destructive war in modern history may have been the Paraguayan War (see Paraguayan War casualties ). In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths, down from 72,000 deaths in 1990. War usually results in significant deterioration of infrastructure and the ecosystem, a decrease in social spending, famine , large-scale emigration from the war zone, and often the mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilians. For instance, of
9794-542: The motivations for war, but no consensus about which are most common. Military theorist Carl von Clausewitz said, "Every age has its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions, and its own peculiar preconceptions." Dutch psychoanalyst Joost Meerloo held that, "War is often...a mass discharge of accumulated internal rage (where)...the inner fears of mankind are discharged in mass destruction." Other psychoanalysts such as E.F.M. Durban and John Bowlby have argued human beings are inherently violent. This aggressiveness
9912-599: The nature and presence of warfare. Thus, he argues, warfare is not a universal human occurrence and appears to have been a historical invention, associated with certain types of human societies. Montagu's argument is supported by ethnographic research conducted in societies where the concept of aggression seems to be entirely absent, e.g. the Chewong and Semai of the Malay peninsula. Bobbi S. Low has observed correlation between warfare and education, noting societies where warfare
10030-474: The nine million people who were on the territory of the Byelorussian SSR in 1941, some 1.6 million were killed by the Germans in actions away from battlefields, including about 700,000 prisoners of war, 500,000 Jews, and 320,000 people counted as partisans (the vast majority of whom were unarmed civilians). Another byproduct of some wars is the prevalence of propaganda by some or all parties in
10148-442: The norm in international relations, regime theorists say that there is cooperation despite anarchy. Often they cite cooperation in trade, human rights and collective security among other issues. These instances of cooperation are regimes. The most commonly cited definition of regimes comes from Stephen Krasner , who defines regimes as "principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actor expectations converge in
10266-466: The occupation of Iraq during the Iraq War , there is still a need for sovereignty in terms of assessing international relations. The concept of power in international relations can be described as the degree of resources, capabilities, and influence in international affairs. It is often divided up into the concepts of hard power and soft power , hard power relating primarily to coercive power, such as
10384-500: The overall decline in conflicts had stalled. Entities contemplating going to war and entities considering whether to end a war may formulate war aims as an evaluation/propaganda tool. War aims may stand as a proxy for national-military resolve. Fried defines war aims as "the desired territorial, economic, military or other benefits expected following successful conclusion of a war". Tangible/intangible aims: Explicit/implicit aims: Positive/negative aims: War aims can change in
10502-416: The participants did not have any formal training. Scarcity of resources meant defensive works were not a cost-effective way to protect the society against enemy raids. William Rubinstein wrote "Pre-literate societies, even those organized in a relatively advanced way, were renowned for their studied cruelty.'" Since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago, military activity has continued over much of
10620-399: The policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. ... the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works
10738-408: The principles of international law upon which diplomacy is founded...[and] also a knowledge of many things of a geographic and economic nature which affect relations between nations." The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy thereafter opened in 1933 under the joint administration of Harvard University and Tufts College. One of the first buildings acquired was Goddard Hall , which was converted into
10856-525: The psychological aftereffects of witnessing the destruction of war. War also results in lower quality of life and worse health outcomes. A medium-sized conflict with about 2,500 battle deaths reduces civilian life expectancy by one year and increases infant mortality by 10% and malnutrition by 3.3%. Additionally, about 1.8% of the population loses access to drinking water . Most estimates of World War II casualties indicate around 60 million people died, 40 million of whom were civilians. Deaths in
10974-409: The rarely if ever fulfilled ideal that all people speaking one language should belong to one state only. The same claim to sovereignty was made for both forms of nation-state. In Europe today, few states conform to either definition of nation-state: many continue to have royal sovereigns, and hardly any are ethnically homogeneous. The particular European system supposing the sovereign equality of states
11092-477: The real-world problems that international relations studies is supposed to contribute to solving. Constructivist theory (see above) is the most prominent strand of post-structuralism. Other prominent post-structuralist theories are Marxism, dependency theory, feminism, and the theories of the English school. See also Critical international relations theory . Marxist theories of IR reject the realist/liberal view of state conflict or cooperation; instead focusing on
11210-473: The realist philosophy. However, while their work may support realist doctrine, it is not likely that they would have classified themselves as realists in this sense. Political realism believes that politics, like society, is governed by objective laws with roots in human nature . To improve society, it is first necessary to understand the laws by which society lives. The operation of these laws being impervious to our preferences, persons will challenge them only at
11328-407: The relations of these different types of states is disputed. "Levels of analysis" is a way of looking at the international system, which includes the individual level, the domestic state as a unit, the international level of transnational and intergovernmental affairs, and the global level. What is explicitly recognized as international relations theory was not developed until after World War I , and
11446-403: The relationship between the institutionalization of IR as an academic discipline and the demands of national governments. Robert Vitalis [ ar ] 's book White World Order, Black Power Politics details the historical imbrication of IR in the projects of colonial administration and imperialism, while other scholars have traced the emergence of international relations in relation to
11564-443: The risk of failure. Realism, believing as it does in the objectivity of the laws of politics, must also believe in the possibility of developing a rational theory that reflects, however imperfectly and one-sidedly, these objective laws. It believes also, then, in the possibility of distinguishing in politics between truth and opinion—between what is true objectively and rationally, supported by evidence and illuminated by reason, and what
11682-419: The role that "women" play in global society and how they are constructed in war as "innocent" and "civilians". Rosenberg's article "Why is there no International Historical Sociology" was a key text in the evolution of this strand of international relations theory. Post-structuralism has garnered both significant praise and criticism, with its critics arguing that post-structuralist research often fails to address
11800-407: The sacred object to which we are attached, namely our early mother and our fusion with her. For the adult, nations are the sacred objects that generate warfare. Fornari focused upon sacrifice as the essence of war: the astonishing willingness of human beings to die for their country, to give over their bodies to their nation. Despite Fornari's theory that man's altruistic desire for self-sacrifice for
11918-674: The same way in any country. Several theories concern the evolutionary origins of warfare. There are two main schools: One sees organized warfare as emerging in or after the Mesolithic as a result of complex social organization and greater population density and competition over resources; the other sees human warfare as a more ancient practice derived from common animal tendencies, such as territoriality and sexual competition. The latter school argues that since warlike behavior patterns are found in many primate species such as chimpanzees , as well as in many ant species, group conflict may be
12036-445: The specific form of the final project can differ widely. The school's Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP) is unique amongst international relations degrees. The year-long program combines three 2-week residencies (two at The Fletcher School and one at a different international location each year) with instruction covering topics such as negotiation, international business and economic law, international trade, economics and politics from
12154-469: The start of the Russian Revolution of 1917 . World War II was the most financially costly conflict in history; its belligerents cumulatively spent about a trillion U.S. dollars on the war effort (as adjusted to 1940 prices). The Great Depression of the 1930s ended as nations increased their production of war materials. By the end of the war, 70% of European industrial infrastructure
12272-420: The state apparatus ultimately stand for most of the state's foreign policy decisions. International organizations are in consequence merely seen as tools for individual states used to further their own interests, and are thought to have little power in shaping states' foreign policies on their own. The realist framework is traditionally associated with the analysis of power-politics, and has been used to analyze
12390-513: The study of conflict , institutions , political economy and political behavior . The division between comparative politics and international relations is artificial, as processes within nations shape international processes, and international processes shape processes within states. Some scholars have called for an integration of the fields. Comparative politics does not have similar " isms " as international relations scholarship. Critical scholarship in international relations has explored
12508-530: The systemic level of international relations is often, but not always, the preferred method for neo-realists and other structuralist IR analysts. Preceding the concepts of interdependence and dependence, international relations relies on the idea of sovereignty. Described in Jean Bodin 's Six Books of the Commonwealth in 1576, the three pivotal points derived from the book describe sovereignty as being
12626-514: The territory of Alsace-Lorraine has been traded between France and Germany on three different occasions. Typically, war becomes intertwined with the economy and many wars are partially or entirely based on economic reasons. The common view among economic historians is that the Great Depression ended with the advent of World War II . Many economists believe that government spending on the war caused or at least accelerated recovery from
12744-422: The territory's sovereign borders. These principles underpin the modern international legal and political order. The period between roughly 1500 to 1789 saw the rise of independent sovereign states , multilateralism , and the institutionalization of diplomacy and the military. The French Revolution contributed the idea that it was the citizenry of a state, defined as the nation, that were sovereign, rather than
12862-486: The traditional focus of IR on states, wars, diplomacy and security, but feminist IR scholars have also emphasized the importance of looking at how gender shapes the current global political economy. In this sense, there is no clear cut division between feminists working in IR and those working in the area of International Political Economy (IPE). From its inception, feminist IR has also theorized extensively about men and, in particular, masculinities. Many IR feminists argue that
12980-461: The uncontrolled actions of sovereign states; and international law is law that is based on voluntary acceptance by independent nations. The terms "International studies" and " global studies " have been used by some to refer to a broader multidisciplinary IR field. Studies of international relations started thousands of years ago; Barry Buzan and Richard Little considered the interaction of ancient Sumerian city-states, starting in 3,500 BC , as
13098-453: The use of force, and soft power commonly covering economics , diplomacy , and cultural influence. However, there is no clear dividing line between the two forms of power. War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states , or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organized groups. It
13216-493: The workings of the international system. The intellectual basis of liberal theory is often cited as Immanuel Kant 's essay Perpetual Peace from 1795. In it, he postulates that states, over time, through increased political and economic cooperation, will come to resemble an international federation—a world government ; which will be characterised by continual peace and cooperation. In modern times, liberal international relations theory arose after World War I in response to
13334-517: Was based on a vaguely hierarchical religious order. Contrary to popular belief, Westphalia still embodied layered systems of sovereignty, especially within the Holy Roman Empire . More than the Peace of Westphalia, the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 is thought to reflect an emerging norm that sovereigns had no internal equals within a defined territory and no external superiors as the ultimate authority within
13452-527: Was destroyed. Property damage in the Soviet Union inflicted by the Axis invasion was estimated at a value of 679 billion rubles. The combined damage consisted of complete or partial destruction of 1,710 cities and towns, 70,000 villages/hamlets, 2,508 church buildings, 31,850 industrial establishments, 40,000 mi (64,374 km) of railroad, 4100 railroad stations, 40,000 hospitals, 84,000 schools, and 43,000 public libraries. There are many theories about
13570-599: Was exported to the Americas, Africa, and Asia via colonialism and the "standards of civilization". The contemporary international system was finally established through decolonization during the Cold War . However, this is somewhat over-simplified. While the nation-state system is considered "modern", many states have not incorporated the system and are termed "pre-modern". A handful of states have moved beyond insistence on full sovereignty, and can be considered "post-modern". The ability of contemporary IR discourse to explain
13688-572: Was founded in 1933 with the bequest of Austin Barclay Fletcher, who left over $ 3 million to Tufts University upon his death in 1923. A third of these funds were dedicated “for the establishment and maintenance of a School of Law and Diplomacy, to be known as The Fletcher School of Law or "The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy." Fletcher envisioned "a school to prepare people for diplomatic service and to teach such matters as they come...[and] within it...a fundamental and thorough knowledge of
13806-667: Was important to have a reputation for retaliation, causing humans to develop instincts for revenge as well as for protecting a group's (or an individual's) reputation (" honor "). Crofoot and Wrangham have argued that warfare, if defined as group interactions in which "coalitions attempt to aggressively dominate or kill members of other groups", is a characteristic of most human societies. Those in which it has been lacking "tend to be societies that were politically dominated by their neighbors". Ashley Montagu strongly denied universalistic instinctual arguments, arguing that social factors and childhood socialization are important in determining
13924-533: Was the result of capitalist countries needing new markets . Expansion of the means of production is only possible if there is a corresponding growth in consumer demand . Since the workers in a capitalist economy would be unable to fill the demand, producers must expand into non-capitalist markets to find consumers for their goods, hence driving imperialism. Demographic theories can be grouped into two classes, Malthusian and youth bulge theories: Malthusian theories see expanding population and scarce resources as
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