INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: AN INTRODUCTION. By Ishaya, Solomon. Phone number: 08095266843. Email address: ishayasolomonzuru@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION/HISTORY OF IR:

The concept of IR is quite old, given that humans have been establishing governments and communicating with each other for thousands of years. However, many people agree that IR emerged around the 15th century when people started exploring the world and interacting with other governments and cultures, organizations like the Dutch East corporations for example where among first multinational corporations for example, which representatives of European governments met with foreign governments to establish trade agreements and to discuss mutual concerns.
According Mnungu, (n.d page 7) the history of international relations is often traced back to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 where the modern state system was developed. Prior to this, the European medieval organization of political authority was based on vaguely hierarchical religious order. Westaphalia encouraged the rise of independent nation-state, the institutionalization of diplomacy and armies. Westaphalia instituted the legal concept of sovereignty which essentially meant that rulers, or the legitimate sovereigns would recognize no external superiors as the ultimate authority within the territory's sovereign borders. Classical Greeks and Roman at times resembled the Westphalian notion of sovereignty.(Mnungu, n.d. Page 7)

More than the peace of Westphalia, the treaty of utrecht of 1713 is thought to reflect an emerging norm that sovereigns had no internal equals within a defined territory and no external superior as ultimate authourity within the teritory's sovereign borders. Having taken a brief history of IR, this work will further look into the definition, importance, actors, and factors determining IR.

DEFINITIONS OF IR:

There has been a great confusion in defining international phenomenoms which came to be described in different ways by different scholars as international relations, international affairs, world affairs, world politics, and international politics. This confusion was as a result of the absence of a systematic study of the subject. International relations has been defined variovsly by various scholars overtime. That is to say different scholars have come up with different perspective of the subject-matter. There has never been a single generally accepted definition of IR, this due to the fact that the scope of the field is a fluid one, changing from time to time, such flux in the field happens to be its chief future. Below are some of the definitions:
Seymon Brown(1988 as cited in Gayu, 2012) defines international relations as "the investigation and study of patterns of actions and reactions among sovereign states as represented by their elites".
Trevor Taylor (1979 as cited in Gayu, 2012. Para 4) defines international relations as "a discipline which tries to explain political activites across state boundaries".
Ola Joseph (1999 as cited in Gayu, 2012) opines that "international relations are the study of all forms of interactions that exist between members of seperate entities or nations within the international system."
For Prof. Charles Schleicher(n.d cited in Prachi, 2010, para 5) defines international relations as the relations among states. In the same vane Quicy Wright defines international relations as relations between groups of major importance in the life of the world at any period of history.
According to Dahal (2011, para. 1) international relations is a term used to reffer to a branch of political science which focuses on the study of these interactions. In line with this definition Mnungu (n.d page 6) opines that international relations is "a branch of political science; is a study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations(MNCs)". Apart from political science international relations crossess path with many other disciplines such as law, economics, history, geography, sociology, philosophy, pschology, anthropology and cultural studies (Mnungu, n.d, page 6).

From my own point of view, the term international relations can be defined from two points of view, firstly it can be defined as a form of relationship, secondly it can be defined as an academic field of study. As a form of relationship i define international relations as relationships that transcends national borders, i see it as any form of relationship be it emotional, personal, economic, political and cultural that exist between individuals, groups, institutions, and organizations be they government or non-government sponsored located within the borders of different sovereign states. This definition adopts a holistic or broader view of international relations which is not limited to only official government businesses and interactions but extends to even issues considered to be personal like marriages between citizens of different nations. A narrow view of international relations tends to focus strictly on relations between state actors or national governments which is mostly dominated by politicians/diplomats. The problem with such narrow view of international relations is that it tends to ignore the "unofficial" relationships that citizens of different sovereign nations develop with each other which has a times had tremendous impact on "official" government relations.

As an academic field of study, international relations can be defined as an academic field that studies the relationships that exists between sovereign nation state. International relations studies states behavior and the international system by the development and testing of hypotheses. It concerns itself with the study of the nature and pattern of states' behavior in the international system. The study of internationational relations as a discipline emerged only after the First World War in 1919 when the first chair of international relations was founded at the University of Wales. Thus, one can decide to pursue a carreer in international relations as a diplomat or an expert in explaining states behaviors and happenings in the international system.

The terms international relations and international politics are most times confused to be the same leading to an erroneous use of the two interchangebly by scholars and students of IR. International politics as Hans Morgenthau puts, is simply a struggle for power between nations in the international system. From David Easton's definition of politics i can say international politics has to do with relationships between states that lead to the authouritative distribution or allocation of values in the international system.

IMPORTANCE OF IR:

the study of IR is of great important to students and even non-student of IR who truly wants to understand how the international system operates, there is no any other discipline dedicated to explaining this other than IR. Other importance of IR are but not limited to:
(1) To prevent the emergence of large scale military confrontations, that is, war between countries. The 20th century witnessed two worl wars which was instrumental to the destruction of man and material, it is feared that a third worl war would wipe out the human race from the face of earth if it comes. The study of IR Helps us to analyze the goals and targets (national interests) of states in the international system and see how these goals can be attained in such a way that it will be of mutual benefit to the states and in the long run prevent violent interaction between states, the consequences of which will be very davastating.
(2) To understand the defects of nationalism: according to Dahal, (2011) interest of nationalism was one of the major causes of the Fir World War because each state thought of the entire problem in its own national interest and forgot the international imterest, but IR teaches that the nations must learn the basic factors of national trust and goodwill in order to stop any possible conflict.

(3) Foster interdependence between nation-states: it has been practically impossible from time immemorial for nations just like humans to exist in isolation, they had to mingle and interact in one way or another with other nations in other for them to survive, thus as a form of relationship IR is very essential to the existence of a nation. Today each country has become dependent more and more upon the other states in one aspect or the other. As such survival can only be attained through cooperation and interdependence, it is the study of IR that exposed us to this.

(4) international relations also exposes the dangers inherent in the proliferation of sophisticated weapons of mass destructions, IR scholars constantly warn about the threat being posed by such weapons to world peace, they also talk about precautionary measures to be taken in other to ensure survival of the human race, for example promotion of the Non-nuclear Proliferation Act to which many states are signatories.

ACTORS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:

By actors of international relations i mean the principal participants in international relations. The actors of IR are basically categorised in to two categories, they are state and non-state actors.

STATE ACTORS:

A state can be defined as a group of people living within a territory with defined borders, having a set of institutions capable of making and enforcing laws over those individuals and group as are found within its borders (internal sovereignty) and at the same time it is being recognized by other states in the international system as being the sovereign within that territory (external sovereignty). That is to say state actors in the IR are those actors that possess sovereignty within their borders and are recognized as such by other state actors. Another word for state actors is country or nations, for example the representatives of Nigeria, Ghana, United States of America, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, China, Philippines, Russia, Iceland and other countries are all state actors in the international system since they are not acting in their own capacities as individuals but on behalf of the state they represent, as such any action from such representatives in the international arena is seen as an action of the states they are representing

NON-STATE ACTORS:

these are actors in the international system that do not represent the interest of any nation but their own individual or group interest, they act in their own capacities as individuals or groups. They do not possess sovereignty of any kind. Examples of non-state actors are; international organizations. These are institutions with formal membership and procedures in which only sovereign states can become members. Although, membership can be limited or universal and its purpose may be broad or narrow, example of international organizations with limited membership and at the same time narrow purpose are Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) whose membership is limited to only crude oil producing states and having a narrow purpose of regulating the price of crude oil in the international market to their advantage. Example of international organization with limited membership and broad purpose are African Union, European Union and Commonwealth of Nations. Example of international organizations with universal membership and narrow purpose are Universal Postal Union, and FIFA. Example of International organization with universal membership and broad purpose is United Nations.

Another group of non-state are Multinational Corporations (MNCs), these are large business corporations that offer services in more than one country. They have branches in different countries and continents of the world and they have a headquater which is usually located in the home country to which all other branche report to. Multinational corporations spring up due to many reasons such as insufficient market for products in the home country, the desire for cheap labour and land, and even an expansionist desire. Example of such MNCs are Coca-cola, Pepsi, Sony, Peaugeout automobile, Nike, Shell etc. These MNCs also do participate in IR from time to time and even influence happenings in the international sytsem atimes.

Another group of non-state actors are Non-Governmental Organizations. As the name implies, these are organizations that have no affiliation whatsoever to the government, they are mostly interest groups whose members are bound by certain interest(s) or goal(s) which they seek to achieve in the international stage, for example International Red Cross, Doctors without borders, Amnesty international, and even terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, ISIL, Hamas, Hezbollah e.t.c It is important to note that membership of these Non-governmental Organizations cut across various nationalities.

Individuals are also another group of non-state actors. It is actually impossible to ignore the roles played by some individuals in the international system who are/were not acting for or on behalf of any state or organization. Examples of such individuals are Edward Snowden the wikileaks whistle-blower, he wasn't representing the interest of any state or organization but his own interest when he did what he did. When some Nigerian fishermen were killed on the disputed lake chad in the 60s it almost led to physical confrontation between the two countries, one may say "but they are just fishermen, not diplomats" but that's to tell you the extent to which private individuals can influence the behavior of states, what about the deportation of Nigerian citizens in 2015 by South African government immediately the landed in the country because they failed to meet the set medical requirement, this led to a diplomatic fiasco between the two nations with South Africa later apologising. There are many other instances that can be cited to show how individuals influence state actions. In essence, what am trying to say is that individuals just like states and other organizations are also actors in international relations.

FACTORS DETERMINING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:

States are constantly in one form of relationship or another with each other in the international system such that even when a state chooses to ignore the actions of another state or other states it is also considered to be a line of action taken by that state. Different forms of interaction exist between states, it is either friendly or unfriendly, hostile or cordial, radical or moderate, but the bottom line is that a particular form of interaction exists. Certain factor do shape or determine international relations, some of those factors are given below;
(1) Geographic factors: the geographical location of a states, its climate and size are some factors which influence its international relations. A state that is blessed with abundant and rich mineral resources, good weather, and favourable land for agriculture for example can afford to pursue and independent foreign policy, though this does not imply that it will live in isolation but the state will pursue its national interest with some level of independence on the international stage. On the contrary a state that is landlocked, often plagued by famine and natural disasters will find it difficult to pursue an independent foreign policy because it has to depend on rich neighbouring states as well as other states for its survival, thus, such a state can not afford to be hostile to its neighbour, example of such relationship exists between the Niger Republic and her rich neighbour the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

(2) Economic factor: states in the international system always try to device ways to improve their economies by promoting their economic interest in the comity of states. According to Dahal, (2011) The chief economic element which determines the position of a state in relation to other states are its self-sufficiency and its capacity to provide food, clothing and shelter to its population. He further opines that a state maybe agriculturally rich in its raw materials and food stuffs only but lack in mineral resources such as coal, iron, crude oil, etc and hence such state cannot be industrially advanced. Again, a state may be rich in mineral resources which can lead to the establishment of huge centres of production, and hence they may be industrially advanced but are not agriculturally rich. They can not claim to be self-sufficient because they have to depend on other states to import food and other agricultural products which can be in the form of raw materials without which their industries cannot function well. This kind of relationship exist between most western states and African states.

(3) Demographic factor: the population and ethnic configurations and circumstances of a state can to a large extent play an important role in its international relations. Nations are in some quarters perceived to be great when they possess a growing large population especially one that is productive. Nigeria today is to some states the "giant of Africa" largely due to its population, it has the largest concentration of dark-skinned people in the world. Apart from its economic prowess, China is a force to reckon with in international affairs because of its massive and productive population. India is also significant in world politics because of its population and large ethnic and religious configurations which makes it unique as well.

(4) Strategic factors: according to Dahal, (2011)the military strategy of a country is another important factor that determines foreign policy, this is because it is linked with national security. Thus, nations that have natural border protector such as Britain and Japan surrounded by ocean, hardly worry much about its security, since they only have to empower their

Navies to protect their borders on the sea to avoid invasion. Other natural protective barriers are mountains, rivers, snow, deserts, swamp, and forest. The nation of Israel today in the international system is greatly feared mostly because of its military/strategic capability.
Other factors determining IR according to Dahal, (2011) are organizational and administrative factors, the historical, psychological and sociological factors.

CONCLUSION:
International relations as a form of relationship as well as an academic field of study has been an important topic of discourse for centuries and it will continue to be, largely because no nation can live in isolation, nations must interact with each other whether in a friendly or in an unfriendly manner. Thus international relations will enable them to understand themselves better in their quest to ensure their survival. In other to prevent the advent of a Third World War, scholars of international relations have to intensify they research on how to prevent such and also offer viable advises to states and international organizations. Thus, in a way international relations studies can help to identify and suggest more channels of cooperations and continue exposing the collective dangers that violent conflict poses on humans.

REFERENCES:
Gayu, B. (2012). Meaning, nature, scope and approaches to international politics. Retrieved from http://bijugayu..im/2012/04/meaning-nature-scope-and-approaches-to-international-politics-17.html?m=1

Dahal, A.K. (2011). Introduction to international relations. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/akdahal/introduction-to-international-relations

Prachi. (2010). Comprehensive information on the nature and scope of international relations. Retrieved from http://www.preservearticles.com/201106208247/comprehensive-information-on-the-nature-and-scope-of-international-relations.html

Mnungu, M. (n.d). Development studies/international relations. Retrieved from http://www.aiu.edu/publications/student/english/DEVELOPMENT%20STUDIES%20%20INTERNATIONAL%20RELATIONS.html

Nice post sorzy1

Kindly shed more light on this two topics

1)Problems concerned with international relations or problems of international relations.

2) What are the professional ethics of international relations expert

Thanks