DEVELOPMENT OF
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS AS AN
ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE
Bhagya Senaratne
Lecturer | Department of Strategic Studies
General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• To describe the evolution of IR as an Academic Discipline.
• To explain the key incidents in the development of IR.
• To have a better understanding of the discipline of
International Relations.
QUESTION!
• How would you describe the discipline of
International Relations?
IR: AN INTRODUCTION
• International Relations vs. international relations
• Conflict and Peace Studies; Area Studies; Strategic
Studies
Beginning
of World Beginning of Beginning of the 21st Century
War I World War II Cold War
TIMELINE 1914 1919 1939 1945 1947 1991 2000
End of
End of World End of the
World War I War II Cold War
PRE-WORLD WAR I ERA
Development of IR as an Academic Discipline
EUROPE PRE-WWI
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: PRE-WWI
• Many historical instances of inter-state/region interactions
and relations (diplomacy).
• 1648: notions of independence and interdependence
• IR was not a distinct academic discipline – YET.
WORLD WAR I
Development of IR as an Academic Discipline
WORLD WAR 1
DEVELOPMENT OF IR: STAGE ONE
• Up to the end of the First World War.
• 1914 – courses / lectures predominantly offered in the US
• International Relations were taught by historians > discussed more
history than politics.
• Main concern: description of past events rather than the analysis of
present ones and their projection into the future.
• No regular and systematic course of
International Relations prior to World
War I.
• 1916: An Introduction to the Study
of International Relations written by
A.J. Grant, J.D.I. Hughes, A.
Greenwood, P.H. Kerr and F.F.
Urquhart published in Britain.
• Notable academics: Alfred Zimmern,
C. K. Webster, E. H. Carr
END OF WORLD WAR I
Development of IR as an Academic Discipline
DEVELOPMENT OF IR: STAGE TWO
• Second stage = after the end of First World War
• Emphasis on the study of current affairs.
• Not concerned about the past of the future.
• The approaches in the first and second stage were one
sided.
INTER-WAR PERIOD
Development of IR as an Academic Discipline
DEVELOPMENT OF IR: STAGE THREE
• Stage three: after the First World War and continued to exist
throughout the inter war years and even after.
• Establishment of various departments, institutions at universities in
Europe and America.
• League of Nations:
• Expected to replace narrow nationalism by internationalism and to remove
the threat of war.
• Great faith in the newly established organization.
• Not to understand the nature of international relations but to develop
legal institutions and organizational devices.
• Between 1900 and 1939: the study of IR progressing + its different aspects
were explored.
• Development was further aided by the Setting up of University Chairs
• 1919: University of Wales, Aberystwyth
• 1919: a School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
• 1923: the Institute of Advanced International Studies was founded under the
Faculty of Law in Paris
• 1924: a School of International Relations at the University of Southern California
• 1930: teaching one or more courses on International Relations at American
Universities
• Significant academic publications:
• Sidney Bradshaw Fay (1928). The Origins of the World War
• Bernadotte E. Schmitt (1930) The Coming of the War, 1914
• -----, (1934). Triple Alliance and Triple Entente
• Pierre Renouvin (1928). The Immediate Origins of the War
• Winston Churchill (1923–29). The World Crisis
• Arnold J. Toynbee (1925). The World After the Peace Conference
WORLD WAR I1
Development of IR as an Academic Discipline
DURING WORLD WAR II
• Area Studies:
• To assist military personnel in
fighting.
• Understanding the various regions
(regional studies)
POST-WORLD WAR II
Development of IR as an Academic Discipline
POST-WORLD WAR II
POST-WORLD WAR II
• Developments with World War II:
• Nuclear proliferation (technology + weapons)
• The United Nations
• Political independence to Asia, Africa and the Latin America.
• Fear of total war
• Technological development
• Emergence of transnational and supranational agencies
• Economic inequality between North and South
• Concern for environmental protection
• Cold war and détente
• Concern for peace and new world order
DEVELOPMENT OF IR: STAGE FOUR
• Emerged with the end of the Second World War.
• Emphasis: enabling scientific analysis of the developments in international
politics.
• Forces and influences which shape and condition the behavior of states
became the chief concern of the discipline of IR.
COLD WAR
Development of IR as an Academic Discipline
DEVELOPMENT OF IR: STAGE FIVE
• Stage five: Mid-sixties to the seventies.
• Attention shifted from the nation-state to various transnational groups.
• State sovereignty, distribution of power and authority were the global
issues at this time.
• 1970s/80s:
• Economic inequality between the rich North and the poor South
• New International Economic Order (NIEO)
• Development of various IGOs, NGOs, MNCs.
• The need for disarmament and denuclearization has been felt by the
world community. (Arms Race)
• IR in USSR: under the history department at the Moscow State
University till the mid-1960s
• Afro-Asian countries: gradually commenced in universities after the
process of decolonization.
DEVELOPMENT OF IR: STAGE SIX
• The Sixth stage runs from late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
• Emphasis: Efficacy of the Détente and discourses on Human Security
• Emergence of the New Cold War. + Afghanistan – Strategic Defense Initiative
(SDI)
• Area Studies: An increased academic interest in the world’s regions
DEVELOPMENT OF IR: STAGE SEVEN
• Stage seven: commenced in 1985
• Mikhail Gorbechev: Perestroika and Glasnot reforms
• Encouraged new political thinking and ending of the Soviet-American
Cold War
• 1989: Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
• An analysis of the new power dynamics in the international arena in the
80s & 90s
DEVELOPMENT OF IR: STAGE EIGHT
• Stage eight: commenced in the early nineties
• Emergence of a unipolar system.
• Third World countries are facing economic hardships.
• IR focused on studying patterns in the post-Communist world.
IR IN THE 21 ST CENTURY
Development of IR as an Academic Discipline
DEVELOPMENT OF IR: 21 ST CENTURY
• Increased emphasis on Human Security.
• Insecurities posed through Non-Traditional means
• Post-9/11: narratives on terrorism, Countering Violent Extremism
(CVE)
• Arab Spring and globalisation
CONCLUSION
Development of IR as an Academic Discipline
CONCLUSION
• The discipline of International Relations is a gestalt of subject
areas.
• The study of IR is interconnected with the developments in the
world arena.
• Developments in 2020, will affect the future study of IR.
THANK YOU!
Bhagya Senaratne
