SYSTEMIC TOOLS OF

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Diplomacy is the practice of communication and negotiation
between representatives of states.

• all other tools of international relations can be considered the

failure of diplomacy.

• use of other tools are part of the communication and negotiation

inherent within diplomacy.
Sanctions, force, and adjusting
trade regulations, while not
typically considered part of
diplomacy, are actually valuable
tools in the interest of leverage
and placement in negotiations.
Sanctions are usually a
first resort after the failure
of diplomacy, and are one
of the main tools used to
enforce treaties.

can take the form of

diplomatic or economic
sanctions and involve the
cutting of ties and
imposition of barriers to
communication or trade.
War, the use of force, is often
thought of as the ultimate tool
of international relations.

Carl von Clausewitz, war being "the continuation of politics by

other means".

There is growing study into "new wars" involving actors other than
states.
The study of war in international relations is covered by the
disciplines of "war studies" and "strategic studies".
• mobilization of international shame can also be thought of as a
tool of international relations.

• attempting to alter states' actions through 'naming and shaming'

at the international level.

• mostly done by the large human rights NGOs such as Amnesty

International (for instance when it called Guantanamo Bay a
"Gulag"), or Human Rights Watch.

• A prominent use of was the UN Commission on Human Rights

1235 procedure, which publicly exposes state's human rights
violations. The current UN Human Rights Council has yet to use
this mechanism
The allotment of
economic and/or
diplomatic benefits
such as the European
Union's enlargement
policy; candidate
countries are only
allowed to join if they
meet the Copenhagen
criteria.
• The mutual exchange of ideas, information, art, music and
language among nations through cultural diplomacy has also
been recognized by governments as an important tool in the
development of international relations.[
Unit-level concepts in international relations

As a level of analysis the unit level is often referred to as the state

level, as it locates its explanation at the level of the state, rather
than the international system.
Regime type

It is often considered that a state's form of government can dictate

the way that a state interacts with others in international relations.
Democratic peace theory is a theory that suggests that the nature of
democracy means that democratic countries will not go to war with
each other. The justifications for this are that democracies
externalize their norms and only go to war for just causes, and that
democracy encourages mutual trust and respect.

Communism justifies a world revolution, which similarly would

lead to peaceful coexistence, based on a proletarian global society.
Revisionism/status quo

• States can be classified by whether they accept the international

status quo, or are revisionist—i.e., want change.

• Revisionist states seek to fundamentally change the rules and

practices of international relations, feeling disadvantaged by the
status quo.
• They see the international system as a largely western creation
which serves to reinforce current realities.

• Japan is an example of a state that has gone from being a

revisionist state to one that is satisfied with the status quo,
because the status quo is now beneficial to it.
Religion
• Religion can have an effect on the way a state acts within the
international system, and different theoretical perspectives treat it
in somewhat different fashion.

• One dramatic example is the Thirty Years' War (1618–48) that

ravaged much of Europe, which was at least partly motivated by
theological differences within Christianity.
• Religion is a major organizing principle particularly for Islamic
states, whereas secularism sits at the other end of the spectrum,
with the separation of state and religion being responsible for the
liberal international relations theory.
• The September 11 attacks in the United States, the role of Islam
in terrorism, and religious strife in the Middle East have made
the role of religion in international relations a major topic.

• China's reemergence as a major international power is believed

by some scholars to be shaped by Confucianism.
END
of
Lesson