This document provides an overview of the key concepts in international relations. It discusses the main actors that conduct international relations, including states, intergovernmental organizations, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations, and terrorist groups. It also covers concepts like sovereignty, limits to sovereignty, failed states, and different models of polarity in the international system.

1. Lecture 01:
Basic concepts in International
Relations

2. Who conducts International
Relations?
• Almost 200 states
• Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), such as
the UN, NATO, the European Union and the
Arab League
• Multinational corporations (MNCs) – also known
as transnational companies
• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
• Although not regarded as legitimate actors in the
system, terrorist groups can also play a role

3. States
• States are important
because they have a
monopoly on military power
• They also make all the
relevant decisions about
how relations with other
states are conducted

4. Intergovernmental
organisations (IGOs)
• Intergovernmental
organisations (IGOs) are
formal associations of states
created by treaty or charter
• IGOs exist for various
purposes, including
cooperation and security,
regulation, and economic,
educational and cultural aims
• The most important IGO is the
United Nations

5. Multinational corporations
(MNCs)
• Multinational corporations
are companies that have
operations in more than
one country
• MNCs are important
because of their size and
their ability to influence
government policies, even
in more powerful states

6. Non-governmental
organisations (NGOs)
• NGOs are legal entities
that are independent of
governments and are not
businesses
• Most NGOs are operational
(they deliver services such
as welfare or relief) or
campaigning
• NGOs can influence
government policies,
particularly in areas such
as the environment and
human rights

7. Terrorist groups
• Terrorist groups are
not regarded as
legitimate actors in
IR, as they operate
outside the law
• However, groups
such as Al Qaeda
have proved able to
influence government
policies

8. States and non-state actors
• Realism, one of the main approaches in
International Relations, is concerned
entirely with relations between states
• Pluralism, an alternative approach, claims
that all types of actors – not just states –
have a potential impact

9. Three concepts of the state
• There is some confusion between three
concepts of the state:
• The state as a legal person, with sovereignty
over a territory
• The state as a country
• The state as a government
• We are concerned only with the first of these
concepts

10. The diversity of states
• It is a convenient fiction to treat states as
similar entities
• In reality, there are vast differences
between states
• The 193 states that are members of the
United Nations include the United States
of America, the People’s Republic of China
and Russia, but also 40 states with fewer
than 1,000,000 inhabitants

11. Microstates
• Nauru, the least
populous member of
the UN, has fewer
than 10,000 people
• It has no armed
forces and is
dependent on
economic assistance
from other states

12. States with limited recognition
• Several self-declared
states have failed to
achieve international
recognition
• These are mostly
breakaway states or
territories involved in
ethnic disputes, such
as the Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus

13. States with limited recognition (2)
• Palestine has been
recognised by 131
members of the UN,
but has no real power
• Palestine is not
recognised by Israel,
which exercises real
power in the territory
claimed by Palestine

14. States and sovereignty
• Simplest definition: the capacity of the state
to control and determine events within its
own territory
• This means that no other entity has
authority over a sovereign state
• Sovereignty is a legal concept – a state still
enjoys legal sovereignty even if it cannot
exercise actual authority

15. Westphalian sovereignty
• Sovereignty as a
modern concept has its
roots in the Treaty of
Westphalia (1648)
• This confirmed that
states had no right to
interfere in the internal
affairs of other states

16. Sovereignty and IR
• In all IR debates, Westphalian sovereignty is
regarded as the basis of the international
system of states
• The principle of Westphalian sovereignty is still
upheld: Article 2 of the United Nations Charter
recognises the “sovereign equality of all
member states”
• This article makes it illegal for one state to
interfere in the internal affairs of another

17. Limits to sovereignty
• Despite the ongoing emphasis on
sovereignty, there are several factors
that limit a state’s sovereignty
• These can be voluntary limits from
above or below
• In many IR debates, there are claims
that globalisation is eroding state
sovereignty

18. Limits from above
• Membership of supranational bodies (IGOs
such as the United Nations, the European
Union or NATO)
• Obligations under the terms of international
treaties and agreements (nuclear weapons,
human rights, trade, etc.)

19. Limits from below
• In many countries, some
regions enjoy a large
measure of autonomy, with
many decisions made at the
local rather than national
level
• In the UK, many decisions
are made by regional
assemblies in Scotland,
Northern Ireland and Wales,
rather than the government in
London

20. Failed states
• There is no single definition, but a failed state will
show at least some of the following characteristics:
• A loss of control of its territory, or of the monopoly
on the legitimate use of physical force therein
• The erosion of legitimate authority to make
collective decisions
• An inability to provide public services
• An inability to interact with other states as a full
member of the international community
• Source: the Fund for Peace

21. Failed states and sovereignty
• Failed states have not lost legal
sovereignty, but do not have the actual
ability to exercise it
• Somalia, where the country has
fragmented, is the most dramatic
example of a failed state
• Many other states exert limited actual
authority over parts of their territory

22. The Failed States Index, 2011
(the countries in red have ‘alert’ status)

23. Polarity
• A key concept in International Relations,
polarity is the various ways in which
power is distributed throughout the
world or regions
• There are several variants of polarity:
• Unipolarity
• Bipolarity
• Multipolarity
• Nonpolarity

24. Unipolarity
• A system in which one state possesses
the most political influence
• Best example: the United States after
the end of the Cold War – the end of the
Soviet Union left the USA as the world’s
only superpower

25. Bipolarity
• A system in which two states possess
the most political influence
• Best example: the USA and the USSR
during the Cold War

26. Multipolarity
• A system in which several states possess a
considerable degree of political influence
• Best recent example: the world before World
War I

27. Nonpolarity
• A system in which no state possesses
the most political influence
• Some thinkers believe the world is
heading towards this