The History of

International Relations

Yang Li
liyang@shisu.edu.cn
Inter- Inter-
national personal
relations relations
 What is IR?
 Everything happened before seemed to be unrelated.
And from a cerntain moment onwards, the whole
world became one. What happened in Italy and Lybia
were interwined with events in Asia and Greece.
 Blood ties, which used to be the fondation of ancient
human society, was replaced by a new and innovative
rule for social agglomeration. This was completely a
result of appoachment in time and space. ——
W.H.Macneil
 International relations, IR, is a new study after the
WWII.
 What is IR?
• A branch of political science which focuses on the
study of interactions, ranging from history to
environmental studies;
• A study of conflict and cooperation by international
actors, as furthered by the development and tesing of
hypotheses about international outcomes;
• A study of relationships between countries, including
the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations,
international non-governmental organizations, non-
governmental organizations and multinational
corporations;
 What is IR?
• On a daily basis: watching news, voting, buying or
boycotting, recycling etc.
• On our lives: communication and transport technology,
contacting with people / places / products / opputunities
and ideas from other countries.
• Broad and complex variables: primary participants,
nongovernmental participants, domestic events, economics,
geography, culture, etc.
• Vast and multicolored phenomena: international
conferences, comings and goings of diplomats, signing of
treaties, deployment of military forces, flow of international
trade etc.
 Some reflections on IR?
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations
BOOK 6 verse 36 Asia, Europe are corners of the universe: all the sea a drop in the universe;
Athos a little clod of the universe: all the present time is a point in eternity.

BOOK 9 verse 9 ： All things which participate in anything which is common to them all
move towards that which is of the same kind with themselves. Everything which is
earthy turns towards the earth, everything which is liquid flows together, and
everything which is of an aerial kind does the same, so that they require something to
keep them asunder, and the application of force. …… Accordingly then everything also
which participates in the common intelligent nature moves in like manner towards that
which is of the same kind with itself, or moves even more. For so much as it is superior
in comparison with all other things, in the same degree also is it more ready to mingle
with and to be fused with that which is akin to it. Accordingly among animals devoid
of reason we find swarms of bees, and herds of cattle, and the nurture of young birds,
and in a manner, loves; for even in animals there are souls, and that power which
brings them together is seen to exert itself in the superior degree, and in such a way as
never has been observed in plants nor in stones nor in trees. But in rational animals
there are political communities and friendships, and families and meetings of people;
and in wars, treaties and armistices.
 Some reflections on IR?
Cicero, De Officiis, BOOK 3
53Then, too, there are a great many degrees of closeness or
remoteness in human society. To proceed beyond the universal
bond of our common humanity, there is the closer one of
belonging to the same people, tribe, and tongue, by which men are
very closely bound together; it is a still closer realation to be
citizens of the same city-state; for fellow-citizens hava much in
common – forum, temples, colonnades, streets, statutes, laws,
courts, rights of suffrage, to say nothing of social and friendly
circles and diverse business relations with many……57But when
with a rational spirit you have surveyed the whole field, there is
no social relation among them all more close, none more dear than
that which links each one of us with our country.
 Some reflections on IR?
Every country’s
existence and
perishement have
something to do with
Every country in its neighboring
this land must countries.
have relations
with others.
 Some reflections on IR?
 When the nation states were developing, each one of them
tried every possible means of military and diplomacy, in
the hope of expanding its territories and political
influences.
 raison d’Etat

Niccolò
Machiavelli
Hugo Grotius
Jean Bodin
 History & IR

IR
History IR
History
 What is the history of IR?
The history of international relations is actually the history of the
development, mature and perfection of human society.

BACKGROUND

UNIT

IR
 How to study the history of IR?

 “acurate sense of reality and deep thought of history”

to develop a intimate relationship with historical materials and

explore the happiness reading them ；

to develop different tools helping with the study ；

to pay attention to the world news and comments ；

to get familiar with as many as possible media station and know

their stand well ；
 Course requirements

 Geographical knowledge and map reading

 Research, read and analyzing

 Result ＝ performance on class （ 50 ％）＋ final

examination （ 50 ％）
 Class performance ： news report each week

 Final examination ： word definition, map blank filling,

and questions and answering
Readings

 C. Buffet & B. Heuser, Haunted by History. Myths in

International Relations, Oxford, 1998.
 Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal, The Oxford
Handbook of International Relations, Oxford, 2008.
 K. Waltz, Theory of International Politics, New York,
1979
Interactions in early times
Interactions in early times
 THREE breakthroughs

Material exchange between two groups, 40000 BC

International relation 1.0 (birth of states), 5500 BC

International relation 2.0 (Westphalia Treaty), 1648 AD

 International relations
v 1.0
• originated from setteled area
(city state and empire)
where the pre-international
relation was more developed
and population was more
crowed
• originated from nomadic
area (steppe and desert) with
less population and less
developed
 Technology development:
wheels, roads, seaways,
animal raising (helping
with riding and loading)
 Social development:
languages, writing,
religion, money, loan
system, commerce,
diplomacy, population
growing
 International relations
v 1.0

• The city-states
• Sumer
• Greek
• The Chinese Warring States
• The Roman empire
 International relations
v 1.0

• The city-states
• Sumer
• Greek
• The Chinese Warring States
• The Roman empire
 International relations
v 1.0

• The city-states
• Sumer
• Greek
• The Chinese Warring States
• The Roman empire
From city state to empire

agriculture

population transportation

EMPIR
E
 International relations
v 1.0

• The city-states
• Sumer
• Greek
• The Roman empire
• The Chinese Warring States
 International relations
v 1.5

• Silkroad
 International relations
v 1.5

• Silkroad

The ancient transportation between the east and west started with the silk
trade. It was silk that brought China to the western people’s mind. In the
west, silk product was named serge, so they called China serica, and
Chinese seres. SER, was a imported pronunciation of silk in Chinese. GE,
was a suffix adding to it. – Jieqin Zhu, Collection of Essays on the History of
Chinese Foreign Relations

Serica, a people living long lives, usually more than 200 years, were settled
along the east coast.
The whole world becoming one

Technology Social
change change

Animal & Language

wheels & letters

Horse
Religion
riding

Road
Diplomacy
building
International relations
v 1.8
East-Asia Tributary
System

Muslim World

European States
 五服体系
five degrees of service to the king

500Li
 International relations
v 1.8
• East-Asia Tributary System
 International relations
v 1.8
• Muslim World
 International relations
v 1.8
• European States
 International relations
v 1.9
Decline of
Portugal

Uprising
of
England,
France & imperialism
Holland capitalis
m
International relations
v 2.0
is coming…
• Renaissance
• Reformation
• Great Discovery
• Nation State
 The Great Discovery
 Theoretically, just as proved by the Chinese and Europeans in the
15th century, ship opened the era for the inter-continental
economic and military contact and thus created a global
international system. – Barry Buzan, Richard Little, International
System in the World History
 The discovery of America and the route to East Indie from Good
Hope Cape were the biggest and most important two things in
human history. – Adam Smith
 The Land ties the people to numerous depending relations, while
the sea encourages people to jump over the bounds of narrow
mind and actions. – Henry Kessinger, On China