International Relations: Additional Notes

(Lecture: First)
“International Relations in the Context of Globalization”
Part - I
Understanding International Relations:
The world has become a global village and people from faraway lands are
fortunate enough to be connected with each other. Study and job opportunities
abroad help learners to explore new lands, communicate with people, collaborate
with them in work or engage in trade, export and import. Likewise, the
governments have connections with other government either of friendship or
animosity. Countries sharing borders and those with distinct geospatial location
bond with one another. This bonding is studied under international relations, a
concept which evolved due to enhancement in communication and technology
and greater access to outer world.

DEFINITION & HISTORY

 International Relations is the study of global interconnectedness and
interdependence of history, politics, economics and law of distinct lands. It
concerns with relations across borders and studies diplomacy, foreign
policies, security, governance and leadership, terrorism, etc. It includes the
relation of states with international organizations which in turn regulates
the relations of different nations

 English colonized these new places and exploited the means and persons.
The situation went out of the hand when the nations fought in the World
War. As a result, the international organization was constituted to look
after peace and harmony among the powers to avoid casualties
FACTORS AFFECTING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
 Geographical Factors:
Location of a nation is strategically important to determine its relations with
others. It is because of distinct geospatial location and the geographical borders
that international relations exist, join or break. If a country has raw material,
healthy climatic conditions, and stability; it will have a strong stance in bonding
with neighbouring countries and accordingly, the nation will frame its foreign
policies.
E.g.: A country’s position is tactical (US/India/Australia): Surrounded by oceans,
and has rivers, mountains, desert, plains, plateau and terrains which helps in
transportation, agriculture and protection from incursions and serves as a barrier
from any attack, as a result of which they have prospered.
 Economic Factors:
If a nation is economically well-to-do, it will be in an advantageous position with
regards to relations with other nations. The economic factor depends upon per
capita income of people, availability of food, shelter, job opportunities,
investment and projects for the benefit of people. Today, no country can live in
isolation because of which the nations develop trade relations to help each other.
For instance: United States of America after the disintegration of the Soviet Union
became a hegemon — exercised great influence on every country. There was no
one to challenge its authority, neither through the military nor through
technological advancement nor through trade.
 Demographic Factors:
This includes the size of the population and ethnicity. The size of the population
and equally, the huge and efficient industrial production determines the existence
to which a nation can claim to have an independent foreign policy of its own. The
USA and Russia have a large territory, population and technological advancement
which makes them a developed nation who can influence any foreign state. India
with its diverse ethnic culture has maintained its integrity even after some mutual
conflicts and has exceptionally stable relations with the outer world.
 Strategic and Military Factors:
A country’s military force is considered its saviour from the intrusion of other
countries. This factor is directly linked to national security and sovereignty. A
powerful state has a good command over military equipment and weapons and
has a robust armed force to defend itself. International relations of such a country
are stable or volatile as no state will try to attack it.
e.g: There was and is no one to counter USA’s military power (economic power:
China is on the ascendency) - but at the same time, nations which were a part of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had endured relations with the USA.
 Historical Factor:
There exist some nations in the world that previously shared territories, and were
one but subsequently divided. It is all about the esteem of the homeland and
respect for the motherland which empowers a nation and establishes a constant
relation with a nation-state which was earlier a part of it.
E.g: Pakistan and India share one past before independence and partition.
Pakistan and Bangladesh were once one nation under the governance of the
former. Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka make up a part of the Indian subcontinent
with similar ethnicity. These nations have stable to severe relations with each
other, which are affected by their historical connectivity.
 Administrative Factors:
The countries with the same form of government and way of administration are
more likely to have compatible relations with each other. Instances from the past
are evidence that the like-polity has long-lasting ties. Like China and Russia who
have a communist form of government are good friends, countries with a
democratic government and a constitution to govern them have firm relations.
Part - II
 IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- In the 21st century, in the era of advancement of technology and
communication, no one can live in isolation. Even if a nation wants to
prosper, it has to open its economy and make ties with the outer world.
It enhances trade, promotes travel and tourism business with which
people can even go abroad to pursue their career and find job
opportunities.

- International relations lead towards co-operation among nations to

work together against issues like terrorism, pandemic, any foreign
enemy attack, climate change and other global issues, poverty, misuse
of technology, and many more. They help two nations to share each
 other’s military resource, share nuclear secrets for protection. Bonding
among nations gives rise to cultural heterogeneity and economic flow.
Part – III
International Relations: Historical development
 Post WWI: The trauma of the First World War, together with the
demand for democratic control of foreign policy, stimulated the
public urge to better understand foreign relations. The issues of war
and peace came to the forefront, attracted people’s attention to the
growing importance of international relations and encouraging
international relations as an academic discipline

 Youngest of all social sciences: Although international relations as a

traditional feature of humanity are as old as the state itself, its study
as an autonomous discipline is of comparatively recent origin can be
called the youngest of all social sciences, as a separate subject, which
focusses on nature of inter-state cooperation and conflict coercion
and persuasion. After the first world war, its study was initiated by
the North Americans and the West Europeans

 Progression: Between 1900 and 1939, the study of International

Relations received a wider recognition during the interwar period,
and each year provided additional justification for a more serious
study and concern for International Relations

 Academia: By 1914, some universities in the United States organized

lecture courses on the regional history of the Far East and Latin
America, Diplomatic History, and United States foreign policy.
Part – IV
Globalisation & International Relations
A)
 Travel: People have always travelled from place to place and exchanged
goods and cultural artefacts. What has changed, due to advances in
 technology and transportation, is the speed and intensity of this process.
Embodying this shrinkage of time and space, the term ‘globalisation’ is a
major part of how we perceive today’s world

 End of Cold War: The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union collapsed
internally between 1989 and 1991 due to endemic corruption, popular
resistance and economic decline. The ‘Second World’ was therefore no
more, having lost its anchor. Virtually all of the world’s states then
transitioned to capitalism, if they had not already done so

 Enter Globalization: At this point, the term ‘globalisation’ became widely

used by scholars and policymakers more generally to describe the process
of the First World’s image gradually becoming representative of the entire
world. For the first time in history a truly ‘global’ system had been born,
with ‘Global North’ sometimes used to represent the most historically
developed economies, and ‘Global South’ essentially replacing the term
‘Third World’

 Critiques:

- Evaluations: Have inspired an anti-globalist (or ‘alter-globalism’)

movement which is active in society and academia. The wide-ranging
debate that just one term evokes is characteristic of the discipline of
International Relations itself and the complexity it attempts to navigate.
Globalisation also comes with a darker side via the opportunities it
provides for criminals and terrorists to operate more effectively

- Envisage: Yet, beyond these issues, it is a useful way to foresee the

importance of global trade and interconnectedness in a tangible sense.
When taken alongside other modern features of how states,
organisations and individuals interact, it offers a more holistic picture of
today’s global system

- Moving: Adding trade and diplomacy, and the international

organisations that facilitate them, allows us to see the world as one that
 is not static. New elements can sometimes appear and when they do,
they can alter the nature of the system. Indeed, when recalling the
presence of nuclear weapons, another factor within our system that
disincentivises major war, it is clear to see that there are many reasons
why today’s world is more peaceful in absolute terms than it has been
historically

- Realism: This does not take away from the reality that war still occurs,
both between states (interstate war) and within states (civil war or
intrastate war). Indeed, there are hundreds of instances of these post-
1945. Yet, unlike in historical situations, these have not escalated to
become systemic events (large-scale regional or world wars). All of this
does not mean that major war is impossible. It just indicates that due to
the shape of today’s global system, such a large-scale conflict is less
likely to occur than in the different systems of the past.

- Caution: It would be misleading to end the origin story of International

Relations without re-emphasising the role of the nation-state. Despite
the other key actors that have emerged within the system, it is still only
the state that holds sovereignty. This remains the true bottom line in
terms of power, and this is also reflected in International Relations
scholarship which has traditionally been very state centric

- At Odds- The Lament: When Covid-19 was officially declared a pandemic

by the World Health Organization (denoting an epidemic occurring in
multiple places) the decentralised and individualistic behaviour of states
in response was more reminiscent of historical patterns than that of a
supposed interconnected, globalised world

- Rather than work together, states acted individually – often at odds, or

in competition, with each other. This served as a reminder of their
unmatched power to shape events within the global system. Later in the
crisis when the race to deploy vaccines became the dominant objective,
most states continued this path by competing to secure doses for their
 own populations first rather than prioritising international schemes
(such as COVAX) to ensure everyone had equal access to vaccination

 Positivity: Yet, a note of optimism. Major historical events, especially those

that involve global crises (as noted throughout this chapter), do tend on
average to result in shifts over the longer arc of history that come to
improve how international relations operates. This typically only becomes
clear in hindsight once the instinctual behaviour of states for short-term
actions and reactions to crises gives way to opportunities for collective
measures and working together
B)
Effects of Globalization
Connecting:

 Put simply, globalization is the connection of different parts of the

world. In economics, globalization can be defined as the process in
which businesses, organizations, and countries begin operating on an
international scale

 Globalization is most often used in an economic context, but it also

affects and is affected by politics and culture. In general, globalization
has been shown to increase the standard of living in developing
countries, but some analysts warn that globalization can have a
negative effect on local or emerging economies and individual
workers
A Historical View

Its Roots:
- Globalization is not new. Since the start of civilization, people have
traded goods with their neighbors. As cultures advanced, they were able
to travel farther afield to trade their own goods for desirable products
found elsewhere. The Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes used
 between Europe, North Africa, East Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, and
the Far East, is an example of early globalization.

- For more than 1,500 years, Europeans traded glass and manufactured
goods for Chinese silk and spices, contributing to a global economy in
which both Europe and Asia became accustomed to goods from far
away. Following the European exploration of the New World,
globalization occurred on a grand scale; the widespread transfer of
plants, animals, foods, cultures, and ideas became known as the
Columbian Exchange.

- The Triangular Trade network in which ships carried manufactured

goods from Europe to Africa, enslaved Africans to the Americas, and raw
materials back to Europe is another example of globalization. The
resulting spread of slavery demonstrates that globalization can hurt
people just as easily as it can connect people

Rapidity:
- The rate of globalization has increased in recent years, a result of rapid
advancements in communication and transportation. Advances in
communication enable businesses to identify opportunities for
investment. At the same time, innovations in information technology
enable immediate communication and the rapid transfer of financial
assets across national borders. Improved fiscal policies within countries
and international trade agreements between them also facilitate
globalization

- Political and economic stability facilitate globalization as well. The

relative instability of many African nations is cited by experts as one of
the reasons why Africa has not benefited from globalization as much as
countries in Asia and Latin America

Benefits of Globalization
 Competitive Advantage: Globalization provides businesses with a
competitive advantage by allowing them to source raw materials
 where they are inexpensive. Globalization also gives organizations
the opportunity to take advantage of lower labor costs in developing
countries, while leveraging the technical expertise and experience of
more developed economies

 Regions Benefitting: With globalization, different parts of a product

may be made in different regions of the world. Globalization has long
been used by the automotive industry, for instance, where different
parts of a car may be manufactured in different countries. Businesses
in several different countries may be involved in producing even
seemingly simple products such as cotton T-shirts

 Outsourcing: Globalization affects services too

- Many businesses located in the United States have outsourced their call
centers or information technology services to companies in India

- As part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), U.S.

automobile companies relocated their operations to Mexico, where
labor costs are lower

- The result is more jobs in countries where jobs are needed, which can
have a positive effect on the national economy and result in a higher
standard of living. China is a prime example of a country that has
benefited immensely from globalization

- Another example is Vietnam, where globalization has contributed to an

increase in the prices for rice, lifting many poor rice farmers out of
poverty. As the standard of living increased, more children of poor
families left work and attended school

 Benefit to Consumers: Consumers: benefit too. In general,

globalization decreases the cost of manufacturing. This means that
companies can offer goods at a lower price to consumers. The
average cost of goods is a key aspect that contributes to increases in
 the standard of living. Consumers also have access to a wider variety
of goods. In some cases, this may contribute to improved health by
enabling a more varied and healthier diet; in others, it is blamed for
increases in unhealthy food consumption and diabetes

Weaknesses
 Uncompetitive: Not everything about globalization is beneficial. Any
change has winners and losers, and the people living in communities
that had been dependent on jobs outsourced elsewhere often suffer.
Effectively, this means that workers in the developed world must
compete with lower-cost markets for jobs; unions and workers may
be unable to defend against the threat of corporations that offer the
alternative between lower pay or losing jobs to a supplier in a less
expensive labor market.

Complexity:

 The situation is more complex in the developing world, where

economies are undergoing rapid change. Indeed, the working
conditions of people at some points in the supply chain are
deplorable. The garment industry in Bangladesh, for instance,
employs an estimated four million people, but the average worker
earns less in a month than a U.S. worker earns in a day

 In 2013, a textile factory building collapsed, killing more than 1,100

workers. Critics also suggest that employment opportunities for
children in poor countries may increase negative impacts of child
labor and lure children of poor families away from school. In general,
critics blame the pressures of globalization for encouraging an
environment that exploits workers in countries that do not offer
sufficient protections

 Disparity: Studies also suggest that globalization may contribute to

income disparity and inequality between the more educated and less
educated members of a society. This means that unskilled workers
 may be affected by declining wages, which are under constant
pressure from globalization.

Globalization - in Brief:
 Diffusion: Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the
diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the
world

 Factors-Variety: Factors that have contributed to globalization include

increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation technologies
and services, mass migration and the movement of peoples, a level of
economic activity that has outgrown national markets through industrial
combinations and commercial groupings that cross national frontiers, and
international agreements that reduce the cost of doing business in foreign
countries

 Globalization- Potential: Globalization offers huge potential profits to

companies and nations but has been complicated by widely differing
expectations, standards of living, cultures and values, and legal systems as
well as unexpected global cause-and-effect linkages
Looking Ahead:
 Regardless of the downsides, globalization is here to stay. The result
is a smaller, more connected world

 Socially, globalization has facilitated the exchange of ideas and

cultures, contributing to a world view in which people are more open
and tolerant of one another
……
 (Lecture –Second)
“Evolving International System Making: Making of Modern State System”
Part - I
Antiquity:
 Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of
the Mediterranean: Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient
Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures

 Artifacts from earlier periods such as the Mesolithic, and other

civilizations from Asia and elsewhere may also be covered by the
term

 Ancient times, especially the times preceding the Middle Ages

 The people, especially the writers and artisans, of ancient times:

inventions unknown to antiquity

 The quality of being old or ancient; considerable age: a carving of

great antiquity

 Often antiquities Something, such as an object or a relic, belonging to

or dating from ancient times

Part - II
Middle Ages:
 The phrase “Middle Ages” to describe Europe between the fall of Rome in
476 CE and the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century. Many
scholars call the era the “medieval period” instead; “Middle Ages,” they
 say, incorrectly implies that the period is an insignificant blip sandwiched
between two much more important epochs

 The period in European history from the collapse of Roman civilization in

the 5th century CE to the period of the Renaissance (variously interpreted
as beginning in the 13th, 14th, or 15th century, depending on the region of
Europe and other factors)

 The term and its conventional meaning were introduced by Italian

humanists with invidious intent. The humanists were engaged in a revival of
Classical learning and culture, and the notion of a thousand-year period of
darkness and ignorance separating them from the ancient Greek and
Roman world served to highlight the humanists’ own work and ideals

 The humanists invented the Middle Ages in order to distinguish themselves

from it. They were making a gesture of their sense of freedom, and yet, at
the same time, they were implicitly accepting the medieval conception of
history as a series of well-defined ages within a limited framework of time

Part – III
Thirty Years’ War (1618–48):
 The Thirty Years' War was a series of conflicts that took place between
1618 and 1648. While there were many factors (religious, dynastic,
territorial, and commercial rivalries) across various conflicts -root cause of
the fighting centered on religious freedom and the conflict between
Catholicism and Protestantism, especially in the Holy Roman Empire

 The Protestant Reformation had begun in the prior century, challenging the
Catholic Church's authority. The conflict began when Ferdinand II
attempted to impose Catholic absolutism throughout his domain in
Bohemia
  The Protestant nobility resisted his political decision; and Protestants
throughout the Holy Roman Empire began to worry about a similar fate.
The Thirty Years' War ended in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia

 Its destructive campaigns and battles occurred over most of Europe, and,
when it ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the map of Europe
had been irrevocably changed

Part - IV
Treaty of Westphalia:
 On October 24, 1648, the Peace of Westphalia or Treaty of Westphalia or
Peace of Exhaustion was signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years’ War in
the Holy Roman Empire

 It also ended the Eighty Years’ War (1568 – 1648) between Spain and the
Dutch Republic, with Spain formally acknowledging the independence of
the Dutch Republic. It was negotiated from the Westphalian towns of
Münster and Osnabrück.

 Treaty of Westphalia was an important agreement (couple of treaties) that

established religious freedoms and guaranteed the sovereignty of European
states

 This treaty significantly marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire. The
authority of the Roman emperor was reduced drastically but not totally
banished as the German protestant rulers preferred a weak Roman empire
rather than a Swedish or French rule. The Roman empire now preceded
only over the weak German states.

 France was the biggest victor according to this treaty

 The only major European powers who did not take part in the Treaty of
Westphalia were England, Poland, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire
  The treaty helped establish the more modern boundaries of the European
Nations, so the borders to some of the countries that we see today were
put in place because of this war

 Also, it helped ensure that the Catholic Church would not have as big a rule
of nations as it previously had within the continent. We also saw the
allotment of other religions besides Catholicism being accepted in the
world, especially on the European continent

 It helped countries function independently of each other and not rely on

one specific empire
Part - V
The Holy Roman Empire
 The Holy Roman Empire officially lasted from 962 to 1806. It was one of
Europe’s largest medieval and early modern states, but its power base was
unstable and continually shifting

 The Holy Roman Empire was not a unitary state

 The Holy Roman Empire was a loosely joined union of smaller kingdoms
which held power in western and central Europe between A.D. 962 and
1806.

 It was ruled by a Holy Roman Emperor who oversaw local regions

controlled by a variety of kings, dukes, and other officials

 The Holy Roman Empire was an attempt to resurrect the Western empire of
Rome

 Many people confuse the Holy Roman Empire with the Roman Empire that
existed during the New Testament period. However, these two empires
were different in both time period and location
  The Roman Empire (27 B.C. - A.D. 476) was based in Rome (and, later,
Constantinople) and controlled nations around the Mediterranean rim,
including Israel

 The Holy Roman Empire came into existence long after the Roman Empire
had collapsed. It had no official capital, but the emperors—usually
Germanic kings—ruled from their homelands

 In the fourth century, Christianity was embraced by the emperor and was
pronounced the official religion of the Roman Empire. Pope Leo III laid the
foundation for the Holy Roman Empire in A.D. 800 when he crowned
Charlemagne as emperor. This act set a precedent for the next 700 years,
as the Popes claimed the right to select and install the most powerful rulers
on the continent

 The Holy Roman Empire officially began in 962 when Pope John XII crowned
King Otto I of Germany and gave him the title of “emperor.” In the Holy
Roman Empire, civil authority and church authority clashed at times, but
the church usually won. This was the time when the Catholic Popes wielded
the most influence, and the papacy’s power reached its zenith
Part –VI
Popular Sovereignty:
 Popular sovereignty is government based on consent of the people. The
government’s source of authority is the people, and its power is not
legitimate if it disregards the will of the people. Government established by
free choice of the people is expected to serve the people, who have
sovereignty, or supreme power

 That idea evolved through the writings of Enlightenment philosophers from

England—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and John Locke (1632–1704)—and
from Switzerland—Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
  The popular sovereignty principle is one of the underlying ideas of the
United States Constitution, and it argues that the source of governmental
power (sovereignty) lies with the people (popular)

 This tenet is based on the concept of the social contract, the idea that
government should be for the benefit of its citizens. If the government is
not protecting the people, says the Declaration of Independence, it should
be dissolved

 To speak of popular sovereignty is to place ultimate authority in the people.

There are a variety of ways in which sovereignty may be expressed. It may
be immediate in the sense that the people make the law themselves, or
mediated through representatives who are subject to election and recall; it
may be ultimate in the sense that the people have a negative or veto over
legislation, or it may be something much less dramatic

 In short, popular sovereignty covers a multitude of institutional

possibilities. In each case, however, popular sovereignty assumes the
existence of some form of popular consent, and it is for this reason that
every definition of republican government implies a theory of consent

Part -VII
Enlightenment
 Enlightenment ((literally “century of the Enlightened”) - European
intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries in which ideas
concerning God, reason, nature, and humanity were synthesized into a
worldview that gained wide assent in the West and that instigated
revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics

 Central to Enlightenment thought were the use and celebration of reason,

the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their
own condition
  The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom,
and happiness

 The Renaissance rediscovered much of Classical culture and revived the

notion of humans as creative beings, and the Reformation, more directly
but in the long run no less effectively, challenged the monolithic authority
of the Roman Catholic Church

 Both the Renaissance and the Reformation were less movements for
intellectual liberty than changes of authority

 During the Renaissance and Enlightenment times there had been many
similarities and differences one similarity was that both times had
encouraged knowledge and discovery

 Some differences included what they had promoted the most, and the roles
of women. During Renaissance time knowledge and discovery had been
encouraged
Part –VIII
Industrial Revolution
 Industrial Revolution - in modern history, the process of change from an
agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and
machine manufacturing. These technological changes introduced novel
ways of working and living and fundamentally transformed society

 This process began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to
other parts of the world. Although used earlier by French writers, the term
Industrial Revolution was first popularized by the English economic
historian Arnold Toynbee (1852–83) to describe Britain’s economic
development from 1760 to 1840

 Since Toynbee’s time the term has been more broadly applied as a process
of economic transformation than as a period of time in a particular setting
  This explains why some areas, such as China and India, did not begin their
first industrial revolutions until the 20th century, while others, such as the
United States and western Europe, began undergoing “second” industrial
revolutions by the late 19th century

 The main features involved in the Industrial Revolution were technological,

socioeconomic, and cultural. The technological changes included the
following:

- The use of new basic materials, chiefly iron and steel

- The use of new energy sources, including both fuels and motive power,
such as coal, the steam engine, electricity, petroleum, and the internal-
combustion engine

- Invention of new machines, such as the spinning jenny and the power
loom that permitted increased production with a smaller expenditure of
human energy

- new organization of work known as the factory system, which entailed

increased division of labour and specialization of function

- Important developments in transportation and communication,

including the steam locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane,
telegraph, and radio

- Increasing application of science to industry

Part – IX
Imperialism
 Imperialism, as state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and
dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political
and economic control of other areas
  Because it always involves the use of power, whether military or economic
or some subtler form, imperialism has often been considered morally
reprehensible, and the term is frequently employed in international
propaganda to denounce and discredit an opponent’s foreign policy

 Imperialism in ancient times is clear in the history of China and in the

history of western Asia and the Mediterranean—an unending succession of
empires

 Three periods in the modern era witnessed the creation of vast empires,
primarily colonial (Between the 15th century and the middle of the 18th,
England, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain built empires in the
Americas, India, and the East Indies

 For almost a century thereafter, relative calm in empire building reigned as

the result of a strong reaction against imperialism. Then the decades
between the middle of the 19th century and World War I (1914–18) were
again characterized by intense imperialistic policies

Part –X
The Great War (1914-1918)
 World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 after the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder
catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918

 During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman

Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia,
Italy, Romania, Canada, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers)

 Thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare,

World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the
time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16
million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead
  Tensions had been brewing throughout Europe—especially in the troubled
Balkan region of southeast Europe—for years before World War I actually
broke out

Part –XI
 The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919 at the Palace of Versailles in Paris at
the end of World War I, codified peace terms between Germany and the
victorious Allies

 The Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for starting the war and
imposed harsh penalties on the Germans, including loss of territory,
massive reparations payments and demilitarization

 Far from the “peace without victory” that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
had outlined in his famous Fourteen Points in early 1918, the Treaty of
Versailles humiliated Germany while failing to resolve the underlying issues
that had led to war in the first place

 Economic distress and seething resentment of the treaty within Germany

helped fuel the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, as well as World War I
Part - XII
The Fourteen Points
 In a speech to Congress in January 1918, Wilson laid out his idealistic vision
for the world after World War I, which was at the time sometimes referred
to as “the war to end all wars”

 In addition to specific territorial settlements based on an Allied victory,

Wilson’s so-called Fourteen Points emphasized the need for national self-
determination for Europe’s different ethnic populations

Part –XIII
Fascist and Nazi:
Fascist and Nazi: These two words loom large in the history books and in heated
conversations about politics—conversations that have far outlasted the regimes
that originally embraced them. For many of us, the words fascist and Nazi bring to
mind the worst dictators and crimes against humanity

Fascism:
 Fascism is a system of government led by a dictator who typically rules by
forcefully and often violently suppressing opposition and criticism,
controlling all industry and commerce, and promoting nationalism and
often racism

 The word is sometimes capitalized, especially when it specifically refers to

the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini in Italy from 1922 to 1943, or
authoritarian systems similar to his, including those of Adolf Hitler in
Germany and Francisco Franco in Spain

 As an ideology, fascism typically centers around extreme nationalism and

an opposition to democracy and liberalism. In practice, fascism revolves
around a ruler who uses absolute power to suppress the individual freedom
of citizens, making everyone completely subject to the power of the state

 To achieve this, fascism often uses violent methods for political ends. In the
context of a fascist government, this often involves the use of the military
against citizens

 Fascism is often considered a form of totalitarianism, in which the

government controls almost every aspect of ordinary life. (Some left-wing
forms of government, such as forms of communism, are also considered to
be totalitarian)

 The term fascist can be a noun referring generally to someone who has
such views, or, more specifically, to a member of such a government or
 movement. Fascist can also be used as an adjective describing something
involving or promoting fascism
Nazi
 Nazis don’t need much of an introduction: they were the German
government and military that slaughtered over six million Jews and
others during World War II

 Nazi is a shortened form of Nationalsozialist (the National Socialist

German Worker Party). The actions of these groups during WWII
caused their names to become synonymous with “ruthless
authoritarianism and unjust brutality.” Adolf Hitler led this party to
power in Germany in 1933, and his rule lasted until 1945

 Nazism is described as one type of fascism. Both fascism and Nazism

reject democracy and liberalism as ideologies, and instead embrace
the concept of a nationalist state

 Fascism as an ideology focuses on the state itself. However, fascist

leaders typically gain support by appealing to people’s nationalism
and racism, especially by promoting suspicion or hatred of people
that they label as foreigners or otherwise cast as illegitimate citizens
—as Hitler did with the Jews in Germany

 Such leaders often reinforce these themes among their followers

with rallies and mass parades (developing what’s sometimes called a
cult of personality)
Part –XIV
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
 European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) - Administrative agency
established by a treaty ratified in 1952, designed to integrate the coal and
steel industries in western Europe and to create economic cooperation
between France and Germany, two bitter rivals, which is now a success
story
  The original members of the ECSC were France, West Germany, Italy,
Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The organization subsequently
expanded to include all members of the European Economic Community
(later renamed the European Community) and the European Union

 When the treaty expired in 2002, the ECSC was dissolved

The European Union (EU)

 The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of
27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a
total area of 4,233,255.3 km and an estimated total population of about
447 million.

 The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity (without
precedent or comparison) combining the characteristics of both a
federation and a confederation

 Containing 5.8 per cent of the world population in 2020,the EU generated a

nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$17.1 trillion in 2021,
[4] constituting approximately 18 per cent of global nominal GDP

 Additionally, all EU states have a very high Human Development Index

according to the United Nations Development Programme

 Its cornerstone, the Customs Union, paved the way to establishing an

internal single market based on standardised legal framework and
legislation that applies in all member states in those matters, and only
those matters, where the states have agreed to act as one - EU policies aim
to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within
the internal market
Part –XV
 - The Bretton Woods Agreement was negotiated in July 1944 by delegates
from 44 countries at the United Nations Monetary and Financial
Conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Thus, the name
“Bretton Woods Agreement

- Approximately 730 delegates representing 44 countries met in Bretton

Woods in July 1944 with the principal goals of creating an efficient
foreign exchange system, preventing competitive devaluations of
currencies, and promoting international economic growth

- The Bretton Woods Agreement and System were central to these goals.
The Bretton Woods Agreement also created two important
organizations—the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank - both the IMF and World Bank have remained strong pillars for
the exchange of international currencies

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

 The purpose of the IMF is to monitor exchange rates and identify
nations that needed global monetary support. the IMF has 190
member countries and still continues to support global monetary
cooperation
World Bank
 The World Bank, initially called the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, was established to manage funds
available for providing assistance to countries that had been
physically and financially devastated by World War II

 The World Bank helps to promote these efforts through its loans and
grants to governments
Part –XVI
The Cold War (1945 -1991)
  During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought
together as allies against the Axis powers. However, the relationship
between the two nations was a tense one

 Cold War, the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II
between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies

 Throughout the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union avoided
direct military confrontation in Europe and engaged in actual combat
operations only to keep allies from defecting to the other side or to
overthrow them after they had done so

 The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts
and had only limited recourse to weapons

 Soviet influence in Eastern Europe waned. In 1989, every other communist

state in the region replaced its government with a noncommunist one

 In November of that year, the Berlin Wall–the most visible symbol of the
decades-long Cold War–was finally destroyed, just over two years after
Reagan had challenged the Soviet premier in a speech at Brandenburg Gate
in Berlin: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”
 By 1991, the Soviet Union itself had fallen apart. The Cold War was over

Part – XVII
 New World Order is a term used to define the period of the dramatic
change in the world of politics.

 Although the term has been interpreted differently, it is basically related to

the idea of global governance, particularly in the aspect of a collective
effort to identify, diagnose, and tackle worldwide challenges that an
individual nation or state cannot handle on its own
  People are becoming politically active, politically aware, and politically
interactive. Global activism against oppression and the need for cultural
respect and economic freedom is gaining momentum worldwide

 Nations are realizing the need to fight a common enemy together rather
than individually
…….

(Lecture: Third)
“Realist Theories”

Part – I
Realism:
 The practise of assessing facts and the probabilities of the consequences of actions in an
objective manner; avoidance of unrealistic or impractical beliefs or efforts
 Contrasted to idealism, self-deception, over optimism, over imaginativeness, or
visionaries

 Realism is considered as one of the oldest thought for interpreting the relations
between the states and the balance of power at international level

 Realism is based on three basic components which are: Statism (political system in
which the state has substantial centralized control over social and economic affairs:)
Survival and Self-Help

 Statism talks about the existence of state and its identity, survival deals with the power
struggle between the states and security of states; and self-help deals with the self
sufficiency of a state rather dependence on alliance making

 These three components are the basic ideals of interpretation of theory of Realism in
International politics
  The different events which take place at international sphere are interpreted with the
help of Realism as a theoretical interpretation

Types of Realism
Realists are divided into three classes based on their view of the essential causes of interstate
conflict

 Classical Realism: It believes and follows from human nature that this is the human
nature of fear and insecurity which gives rise to the contention among the nations and
which led to the World War I and II.

 Neorealism: This attribute it to the dynamics of the anarchic state system

 Neoclassic Realism: It believes the international orders results from both, in

combination with domestic politics.
Part - II
Neorealism:

 Neorealism or structural realism is a theory of international relations that emphasizes

the role of power politics in international relations, sees competition and conflict as
enduring features and sees limited potential for cooperation

 Associated in particular with the American political scientist Kenneth Waltz, neorealism
was an attempt to translate some of the key insights of classical realism into the
language and methods of modern social science

 In the Theory of International Politics (1979), Waltz argued that most of the important
features of international relations, especially the actions of great powers, could be
explained solely in terms of the anarchical structure of the international system

 Although Waltz’s position was not original, in systematizing it and attempting to

establish it on empirical grounds he simultaneously reinvigorated realism and further
detached it from its classical roots
Critique (in General)

 Events such as World War I, II were interpreted by realism but the Cold War end and the
New World Order dominated by a multiplex system of nations and organizations with
state as well as non-state actors is difficult to explain with the help of Realism theory
  So, this makes the political theorists to make changes in the theory according to give a
satisfactory interpretation to the world affairs

Critique of Neorealism:
 Neorealism has been faulted, for example, for neglecting the insights of history,
sociology, and philosophy; for falsely claiming scientific validity; for failing to account for
systemic transformations in international relations (including the end of the Cold War
and the advent of globalization)

 For an allegedly self-defeating analytical reductionism

 Nevertheless, it has remained a powerful research program in the study of international

relations.