International Relation Is Dealing With States Only International relations can be defined briefly as the study of foreign affairs

and the relationships between different nations. But in widely International Relations (IR) is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and multinational corporations (MNCs). It is both an academic and public policy field, and can be either positive or normative as it both seeks to analyze as well as formulate the foreign policy of particular states. International relations refers to the collective interactions of the international community, which includes individual nations and states, inter-governmental organizations such as the United Nations, non-governmental organizations like Doctors Without Borders, multinational corporations, and so forth. The concept of international relations on some level is probably quite old, given that humans have been establishing governments and communicating with each other for thousands of years. However, many people agree that international relations truly began to emerge around the 15th century, when people started exploring the world and interacting with other governments and cultures. Organizations like the Dutch East India Company were among the first multinational corporations, for example, while representatives of various European governments met with foreign governments to establish trade agreements and to discuss issues of mutual concern. Most of the aims and ambitions of international relations try to normalize global situations. For example, nations and their diplomats try to reduce the proliferation of arms and nuclear arsenals, engaging in reduction of armed conflicts between nations and of course, promoting relations between nations as well as co-operation among nation states and other entities. In the 21st century, international relations focused on matters such as terrorism, reducing ethnic and armed conflict around the globe and managing religious animosity while encouraging religious and cultural tolerance. The main reason why we should study IR is the fact that the entire population of the world is divided into separate territorial political communities, or independent states, which profoundly affect the way people live. Together those states form an international system that is global in extent. At the present time there are almost 200 independent states. Everybody on earth with very few exceptions not only lives in one of those countries but is also a citizen of one of them and very rarely of more than one. So virtually every man, woman, and child on earth is connected to a particular state, and via that state to the state system which affects their lives in important ways that they may not be fully aware of. States are independent of each other, at least legally: they have sovereignty. But that does not mean they are isolated or insulated from each other. On the contrary, they adjoin each other and affect each other and must therefore somehow find ways to coexist and to deal with each other. They are usually embedded in international markets which affect the policies of their governments and the wealth and welfare of their citizens. That requires that they enter into relations with each other. Complete isolation is usually not an option. When states are isolated and are cut off from the state system, either by their own government or by foreign powers, the people usually suffer as a result. That has been the situation recently with regard to Burma, Libya, North Korea, Iraq, and Iran. The state system is a system of social relations, that is, a system of relations between groups of human beings. Like most other social systems, international relations can have certain advantages and disadvantages for the participants. IR is the

study of the nature and consequences of these relations. The state system is a distinctive way of organizing political life on earth which has deep historical roots. There have been state systems or quasistate systems at different times and places in different parts of the world: for example, in ancient India, in ancient Greece, and in Renaissance Italy (Watson 1992). However, the subject of IR conventionally dates back to the early modern era (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) in Europe, when sovereign states based on adjacent territories were initially established. Ever since the eighteenth century the relations between such independent states have been labeled international relations. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the state system was expanded to encompass the entire territory of the earth. The world of states is basically a territorial world: it is a way of politically organizing the worlds populated territory, a distinctive kind of territorial political organization which is based on numerous different governments that are legally independent of each other. The only large territory that is not a state is Antarctica, and it is administered by a consortium of states. Today IR is the study of the global state system from various scholarly perspectives. The state is central to the study of international relations and likely to remain so into the foreseeable future. State policy is the most common object of analysis. States decide to go to war. They erect trade barriers. They choose whether and at what level to establish environmental standards. States enter international agreements, or not, and choose whether to abide by their provisions. Even scholars who give prominence to non-state actors are typically concerned with understanding or changing state practice (for example, Keck and Sikkink 1998). International relations as a discipline is chiefly concerned with what states do and, in turn, how their actions affect other states. Similarly, states are a common unit of analysis in theories of international relations. Many analysts focus on states and their interactions to explain observed patterns of world politics. The state is fundamental to neorealism (Waltz 1979) and neoliberal institutionalism (Keohane 1984). It is also key in many constructivist and English school theories (Bull 1977, Reus-Smit 1999, Wendt 1999). Even critical, postmodern, or feminist theories, which have arisen in opposition to existing forms of social power, often focus on problematizing states and state practice. Both as objects and units of analysis, international relations is largely about states and their interactions. State-centric theories of international relations assume that states are the primary actors in world politics. Theorists working in this tradition do not deny the existence of other political actors. As Kenneth Waltz (1979, 93-94) writes, states are not and never have been the only international actors.The importance of non-state actors and the extent of transnational activities are obvious. Rather, the claim is that states, and especially great powers, are sufficiently important actors that any positive theory of international relation must place them at its core.