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115-562: (Redirected from Interstate System ) Interstate system may refer to: A system for international relations Interstate Highway System , a network of controlled-access highways in the United States Interstate system (world-systems theory) , a specific theory of state relationships within world-systems theory . Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

230-580: 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

345-798: 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

460-588: A failure of other, later statesmen during the interbellum). The principal concern of his work was to warn of the possibility of another major war (a warning also given by economist John Maynard Keynes). Mackinder was anti- Bolshevik , and as British High Commissioner in Southern Russia in late 1919 and early 1920, he stressed the need for Britain to continue her support to the White Russian forces, which he attempted to unite. Mackinder's work paved

575-670: 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

690-590: A full professor in geography in the University of London ( London School of Economics ) in 1923. Mackinder is often credited with introducing two new terms into the English language: "manpower" and "heartland". The Heartland Theory was enthusiastically taken up by the German school of Geopolitik , in particular by its main proponent Karl Haushofer . Geopolitik was later embraced by the German Nazi regime in

805-427: 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

920-480: A land power), arrayed against Germany, Britain, Japan, and the United States as sea powers. Further, Mahan conceived of a unified, modern state composed of Turkey , Syria , and Mesopotamia , possessing an efficiently organized army and navy to stand as a counterweight to Russian expansion. Further dividing the map by geographic features, Mahan stated that the two most influential lines of division would be

1035-406: A location because of ideological reasons, interest groups, or simply the whim of its leader. It is recognized that the term "geo-strategy" is more often used, in current writing, in a global context, denoting the consideration of global land-sea distribution, distances, and accessibility among other geographical factors in strategic planning and action... Here the definition of geo-strategy is used in

1150-591: 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

1265-474: A more limited regional frame wherein the sum of geographic factors interact to influence or to give advantage to one adversary, or intervene to modify strategic planning as well as political and military venture. A science named "geo-strategy" would be unimaginable in any other period of history but ours. It is the characteristic product of turbulent twentieth-century world politics. "Geostrategy,"—a word of uncertain meaning—has ... been avoided. Geostrategy

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1380-518: A period when muscles of man and the winds of the sky were the motive power of ships. The river valleys became a unifying factor in the political development of the people. As early as Herodotus , observers saw strategy as heavily influenced by the geographic setting of the actors. In History , Herodotus describes a clash of civilizations between the Egyptians , Persians , Scythians , and Greeks —all of which he believed were heavily influenced by

1495-623: 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

1610-583: 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

1725-621: 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

1840-488: 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

1955-592: A study in the politics of reconstruction, appeared in 1919.[12] It presented his theory of the Heartland and made a case for fully taking into account geopolitical factors at the Paris Peace conference and contrasted (geographical) reality with Woodrow Wilson's idealism. The book's most famous quote was: "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules

2070-555: 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

2185-409: 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

2300-537: 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

2415-541: Is about the exercise of power over particularly critical spaces on the Earth's surface; about crafting a political presence over the international system. It is aimed at enhancing one's security and prosperity; about making the international system more prosperous; about shaping rather than being shaped. A geostrategy is about securing access to certain trade routes, strategic bottlenecks, rivers, islands and seas. It requires an extensive military presence, normally coterminous with

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2530-466: 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

2645-420: 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

2760-404: 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

2875-593: 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

2990-430: 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

3105-502: Is shaped by geography and history, or predictively, projecting a country's future foreign policy decisions and outcomes. Many geostrategists are also geographers, specializing in subfields of geography , such as human geography , political geography , economic geography , cultural geography , military geography , and strategic geography . Geostrategy is most closely related to strategic geography. Especially following World War II , some scholars divide geostrategy into two schools :

3220-467: Is that states have limited resources and are unable, even if they are willing, to conduct a tous asimuths foreign policy. Instead they must focus politically and militarily on specific areas of the world. Geostrategy describes this foreign-policy thrust of a state and does not deal with motivation or decision-making processes. The geostrategy of a state, therefore, is not necessarily motivated by geographic or geopolitical factors. A state may project power to

3335-413: Is the geographic direction of a state's foreign policy. More precisely, geostrategy describes where a state concentrates its efforts by projecting military power and directing diplomatic activity. The underlying assumption is that states have limited resources and are unable, even if they are willing, to conduct an all-out foreign policy. Instead they must focus politically and militarily on specific areas of

3450-488: 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 ,

3565-524: 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

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3680-718: The Korea ), the Isthmus of Suez , Palestine , Syria , Mesopotamia , two countries marked by their mountain ranges ( Persia and Afghanistan ), the Pamir Mountains , the Tibetan Himalayas , the Yangtze Valley , and Japan . Within this zone, Mahan asserted that there were no strong states capable of withstanding outside influence or capable even of maintaining stability within their own borders. So whereas

3795-688: 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

3910-766: The Turkish Straits and Danish Straits could be closed by a hostile power, thereby denying Russia access to the sea. Further, this disadvantageous position would reinforce Russia's proclivity toward expansionism in order to obtain wealth or warm water ports . Natural geographic targets for Russian expansionism in search of access to the sea would therefore be the Chinese seaboard, the Persian Gulf , and Asia Minor. In this contest between land power and sea power, Russia would find itself allied with France (a natural sea power, but in this case necessarily acting as

4025-444: The international society as interdependence between countries continuously increases. As a way of new space management, countries either created regional institutions related to the space or make regimes on specific issues to allow intervention on space. Such mechanisms let countries to have indirect control over space. The indirect space management reduces required capital and at the same time provides justification and legitimacy of

4140-409: 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

4255-546: The 1930s. The German interpretation of the Heartland Theory is referred to explicitly (without mentioning the connection to Mackinder) in The Nazis Strike , the second of Frank Capra 's " Why We Fight " series of American World War II propaganda films . The Heartland Theory and more generally classical geopolitics and geostrategy were extremely influential in the making of US strategic policy during

4370-417: 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

4485-443: 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

4600-576: The Cold War, Colin Gray would decisively reject the idea that airpower changed geostrategic considerations, while Saul B. Cohen examined the idea of a "shatterbelt", which would eventually inform the domino theory . After the Cold War ended, states started preferring management of space at low cost to expansion of it with military force. Use of military force in order to secure space causes not only great burden on countries, but also severe criticism from

4715-498: 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

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4830-448: 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

4945-484: 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

5060-575: The Suez and Panama Canals . As most developed nations and resources lay above the North–South divide , politics and commerce north of the two canals would be of much greater importance than those occurring south of the canals. As such, the great progress of historical development would not flow from north to south, but from east to west, in this case leading toward Asia as the locus of advance. Halford J. Mackinder 's major work, Democratic ideals and reality:

5175-644: The United Kingdom was of key strategic importance, as India was best suited for exerting balancing pressure against Russia in Central Asia. The United Kingdom's predominance in Egypt , China , Australia , and the Cape of Good Hope was also considered important. The strategy of sea powers, according to Mahan, ought to be to deny Russia the benefits of commerce that come from sea commerce. He noted that both

5290-468: The World Island commands the World." This message was composed to convince the world statesmen at the Paris Peace conference of the crucial importance of Eastern Europe as the strategic route to the Heartland was interpreted as requiring a strip of buffer state to separate Germany and Russia. These were created by the peace negotiators but proved to be ineffective bulwarks in 1939 (although this may be seen as

5405-455: 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

5520-420: 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,

5635-494: 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

5750-431: 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

5865-491: The combination of geographic and political factors determining the condition of a state or region, and emphasizing the impact of geography on politics; strategic refers to the comprehensive and planned application of measures to achieve a central goal or to vital assets of military significance; and geostrategic merges strategic consideration with geopolitical ones. For the United States , Eurasian geostrategy involves

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5980-616: 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

6095-522: 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

6210-507: 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

6325-427: 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

6440-683: 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

6555-497: 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

6670-416: 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

6785-418: The end of World War II and the mid-1970s used the word "geopolitics" or "geostrategy" in their titles, and geopoliticians did not label themselves or their works as such. German theories prompted a number of critical examinations of geopolitik by American geopoliticians such as Robert Strausz-Hupé , Derwent Whittlesey and Andrew Gyorgy. As the Cold War began, N.J. Spykman and George F. Kennan laid down

6900-545: 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

7015-647: 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

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7130-524: 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

7245-520: 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

7360-469: 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

7475-456: The foundations for the U.S. policy of containment , which would dominate Western geostrategic thought for the next forty years. Alexander de Seversky would propose that airpower had fundamentally changed geostrategic considerations and thus proposed a "geopolitics of airpower." His ideas had some influence on the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower , but the ideas of Spykman and Kennan would exercise greater weight. Later during

7590-551: 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

7705-415: The historically rooted national impulses, the strength of the country's resources, the scope of the country's goals, the political geography of the time period, and the technological factors that affect military, political, economic, and cultural engagement. Geostrategy can function prescriptively, advocating foreign policy based on geographic and historical factors, analytically, describing how foreign policy

7820-530: 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

7935-796: 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

8050-492: 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

8165-425: 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

8280-545: 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

8395-398: The management, that the countries involved do not have to face criticism from the international society. The below geostrategists were instrumental in founding and developing the major geostrategic doctrines in the discipline's history. While there have been many other geostrategists, these have been the most influential in shaping and developing the field as a whole. Alfred Thayer Mahan

8510-477: The mountains of Afghanistan and Western China on the other side. To prevent Russian expansionism and achievement of predominance on the Asian continent, Mahan believed pressure on Asia's flanks could be the only viable strategy pursued by sea powers. South of the 30th parallel lay areas dominated by the sea powers – the United Kingdom , the United States , Germany , and Japan. To Mahan, the possession of India by

8625-461: The natural division between land powers and sea powers , agreeing with Mahan that sea power was self-sustaining, as the profit from trade would support the development of a merchant marine . However, his key contribution were the development of the concepts of raum and the organic theory of the state . He theorized that states were organic and growing, and that borders were only temporary, representing pauses in their natural movement. Raum

8740-442: 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

8855-466: 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

8970-410: The opening of overseas military stations and the building of warships capable of deep oceanic power projection. It also requires a network of alliances with other great powers who share one's aims or with smaller "lynchpin states" that are located in the regions one deems important. [T]he words geopolitical, strategic, and geostrategic are used to convey the following meanings: geopolitical reflects

9085-455: The period of the Cold War. Evidence of Mackinder's Heartland Theory can be found in the works of geopolitician Dimitri Kitsikis , particularly in his geopolitical model " Intermediate Region ". Influenced by the works of Alfred Thayer Mahan, as well as the German geographers Carl Ritter and Alexander von Humboldt , Friedrich Ratzel would lay the foundations for geopolitik , Germany 's unique strain of geopolitics . Ratzel wrote on

9200-571: The physical geographic setting. Dietrich Heinrich von Bülow proposed a geometrical science of strategy in the 1799 The Spirit of the Modern System of War. His system predicted that the larger states would swallow the smaller ones, resulting in eleven large states. Mackubin Thomas Owens notes the similarity between von Bülow's predictions and the map of Europe after the unification of Germany and of Italy . Between 1890 and 1919

9315-539: The political situations to the north and south were relatively stable and determined, the middle remained "debatable and debated ground." North of the 40th parallel, the vast expanse of Asia was dominated by the Russian Empire . Russia possessed a central position on the continent, and a wedge-shaped projection into Central Asia , bounded by the Caucasus Mountains and Caspian Sea on one side and

9430-411: The purposeful management of geostrategically dynamic states and the careful handling of geopolitically catalytic states, in keeping with the twin interests of America in the short-term preservation of its unique global power and in the long-run transformation of it into increasingly institutionalized global cooperation. To put it in a terminology that hearkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires,

9545-409: 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

9660-477: 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

9775-473: 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

9890-407: 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

10005-403: 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

10120-443: 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

10235-419: 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

10350-402: The service of a leader, Haushofer's Munich school specifically studied geography as it related to war and designs for empire. The behavioral rules of previous geopoliticians were thus turned into dynamic normative doctrines for action on lebensraum and world power. Haushofer defined geopolitik in 1935 as "the duty to safeguard the right to the soil, to the land in the widest sense, not only

10465-515: The state which laid the foundation for Germany's unique school of geostrategy. The most prominent German geopolitician was General Karl Haushofer . After World War II , during the Allied occupation of Germany , the United States investigated many officials and public figures to determine if they should face charges of war crimes at the Nuremberg trials . Haushofer , an academic primarily,

10580-420: 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

10695-478: The struggles of state against state. Two strains of geopolitical thought gained prominence: an Anglo-American school, and a German school. Alfred Thayer Mahan and Halford J. Mackinder outlined the American and British conceptions of geostrategy, respectively, in their works The Problem of Asia and " The Geographical Pivot of History ". Friedrich Ratzel and Rudolf Kjellén developed an organic theory of

10810-513: 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

10925-530: 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

11040-422: The term "geopolitics." His writings would play a decisive role in influencing General Karl Haushofer 's geopolitik , and indirectly the future Nazi foreign policy. His writings focused on five central concepts that would underlie German geopolitik : Karl Haushofer 's geopolitik expanded upon that of Ratzel and Kjellén. While the latter two conceived of geopolitik as the state-as-an-organism-in-space put to

11155-422: 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

11270-427: The theory become the base for the countries' foreign and international policies. Geostrategic conceptions have also historically been acquired or even inherited from one country to another due to common history, relations between the countries, culture and even propaganda. The geostrategy of location include river valleys, inland sea, world ocean, world island, and so on. For instance, the start of Western civilization

11385-472: The three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals , to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together. Geostrategy is the geographic direction of a state's foreign policy. More precisely, geostrategy describes where a state concentrates its efforts by projecting military power and directing diplomatic activity. The underlying assumption

11500-614: The title Interstate system . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Interstate_system&oldid=1040395698 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages International relations International relations ( IR , and also referred to as international studies , international politics , or international affairs )

11615-486: 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

11730-461: 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

11845-550: The uniquely German organic state theory ; and, the broader Anglo-American geostrategies. Most definitions of geostrategy below emphasize the merger of strategic considerations with geopolitical factors. While geopolitics is ostensibly neutral — examining the geographic and political features of different regions, especially the impact of geography on politics — geostrategy involves comprehensive planning, assigning means for achieving national goals or securing assets of military or political significance. The term "geo-strategy"

11960-411: 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. Geostrategy Geostrategists, as distinct from geopoliticians, approach geopolitics from a nationalist point of view. Geostrategies are relevant principally to the context in which they were devised: the strategist's nation,

12075-487: The way for the establishment of geography as a distinct discipline in the United Kingdom. His role in fostering the teaching of geography is probably greater than that of any other single British geographer. Whilst Oxford did not appoint a professor of Geography until 1934, both the University of Liverpool and University of Wales, Aberystwyth established professorial chairs in Geography in 1917. Mackinder himself became

12190-493: 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

12305-414: The world became a geostrategist's paradise, leading to the formulation of the classical geopolitical theories. The international system featured rising and falling great powers , many with global reach. There were no new frontiers for the great powers to explore or colonize —the entire world was divided between the empires and colonial powers. From this point forward, international politics would feature

12420-720: The world. Geostrategy describes the foreign-policy thrust of a state and does not deal with motivations or decision-making processes. The geostrategy of a state, therefore, is not necessarily motivated by geographic or geopolitical factors. A state may project power to a location because of ideological reasons, interest groups, or simply the whim of its leader. As a science or science-based political practice geostrategy uses factual and empirical analysis , theoretical formulations in geostrategy usually heavily rely on empirical base although facts - values relations or conclusions are differently observed by different and/or competitive geostrategic approaches. Geostrategic conceptions that stem from

12535-602: Was a U.S. Navy officer and president of the Naval War College . He is best known for his Influence of Sea Power upon History series of books, which argued that naval supremacy was the deciding factor in great power warfare. In 1900, Mahan's book The Problem of Asia was published. In this volume he laid out the first geostrategy of the modern era. The Problem of Asia divides the continent of Asia into 3 zones: The Debated and Debatable zone, Mahan observed, contained two peninsulas on either end ( Anatolia and

12650-584: 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

12765-599: 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

12880-453: Was first used by Frederick L. Schuman in his 1942 article "Let Us Learn Our Geopolitics." It was a translation of the German term " Wehrgeopolitik " as used by German geostrategist Karl Haushofer . Previous translations had been attempted, such as " defense-geopolitics ". Robert Strausz-Hupé had coined and popularized " war geopolitics " as another alternate translation. [G]eostrategy

12995-607: Was interrogated by Father Edmund A. Walsh , a professor of geopolitics from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service , at the request of the U.S. authorities. Despite his involvement in crafting one of the justifications for Nazi aggression, Fr. Walsh determined that Haushofer ought not stand trial. After the Second World War , the term "geopolitics" fell into disrepute, because of its association with Nazi geopolitik . Virtually no books published between

13110-622: Was located in the river valleys of the Nile in Egypt and the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia. The Nile and Tigris and Euphrates not only provided the fertile soil for crop production, but also allowed for the floods that taxed the ingenuity of the inhabitants. The climate of the area was conducive to an existence based primarily upon agriculture. The rivers also provided the avenues of trade in

13225-473: Was the land, spiritually connected to a nation (in this case, the German peoples), from which the people could draw sustenance, find adjacent inferior nations which would support them, and which would be fertilized by their kultur (culture). Ratzel's ideas would influence the works of his student Rudolf Kjellén, as well as those of General Karl Haushofer. Rudolf Kjellén was a Swedish political scientist and student of Friedrich Ratzel. He first coined

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