:I- IR as a FIELD of STUDY

 What is IR?
 Difference between IR & Foreign Policy
 IR & Daily Life
 Subfields of IR
 IR & other Social Sciences
 From page 1
?WHAT IS IR
 IR is the field of Political Science that studies
the Interactions that take place among
International Actors: Wars, alliances, trade,
negotiations, integration…...*

1- It is a Scientific study of the International

Interactions: Defines, indicate variables,
explains & predicts the phenomenon
(International Interactions).*

Reach laws that hold across time & place, or

Explain a phenomenon within the context of a
theory.
2- Interactions means Actions & Reactions that
take place between International Actors.
3- Interactions might be cooperation, conflict, or
neutral actions.
Foreign Policy
IR is not Foreign Policy:
Foreign Policy is the declared program of action
of an International Actor to deal with the
external environment in order to achieve
certain objectives.
Foreign Policy is thus the actions of an Actor: A
or a group of Actors towards another Actor: B
or Actors or a certain Issue. How?
Foreign Policy

objectives
Actor A Actor B
actions
 International Relations is all kinds of
interactions between 2 or more Actors: Actions
from A towards B & the reactions of B towards
A.
International Relations

Object & actions

Actor A Actor B

Object & actions

 However, Foreign Policy & IR are interrelated
HOW?
IR is the sum of Interactions of the Foreign
Policies of 2 or more Actors. Ex: Arms race,
Integration are results of actions & reactions
of Actors.
:IR & Daily Life
 IR is not confined to official policy
makers( Presidents, Ministers of Foreign
Affairs & defense…) *
Ordinary people can influence IR, and they are
affected by IR in their daily life:
1- Ordinary people can influence IR HOW?
through voting in elections, Interest groups,
demonstrations, boycotting certain products….
2- Our daily life is affected by IR HOW?
-Global economy & economic competition
affects job opportunities.
- Free trade affects industries in
underdeveloped countries.
- European Integration affects people in
North Africa How ? In tourism and trade
:Subfields of IR
 IR is a field of Political Science.
 It covers a wide range of interactions: Wars,
alliances, trade, integration….
 There are 2 subfields of IR:
1- International Security Studies.
2- International Political Economy.
:International Security Studies (ISS) -1

.Traditionally IR focused on questions of war,

peace, alliances, arms race, treaties…(security
studies) factors results balance of power
 The focus is different from International Law:
studying the political aspects & implications of
such issues not the legal aspects ,ex. Wars,
treaties. In the 1980’s peace studies program
emerged depending on an interdisciplinary
approach.
 Security studies remain to occupy an
important position in the study of IR in spite of
the end of the Cold War. WHY? *
:International Political Economy (IPE) -2

 Emerged in the 1970’s & 1980’s.

 It studies trade & financial relations among
nations,
 & international economic &financial
institutions,
 & relations between north & south including
topics such as dependency, debt, foreign aid,
technology transfer, environmental
management,
 & global telecommunications.
:Relationship between ISS & IPE

1- The principles & theories used to study

international security can be used to
understand IPE.

2- Political issues are affected by economics

( US policy in the Middle East is affected by its
economic interests in the region).‫ا لعالقاتا لسياسية‬
‫)ت تاثر ب اقتصاد ا لمنطقة‬

3- Economic issues are affected by political

considerations ( Foreign aid ).‫ا القتصاد ي تاثر‬
)‫ب ا لسياسه(مساعداتا لخارجية‬
:IR & other fields of Social Sciences

 The study of IR is an interdisciplinary study.

Analysis in IR needs knowledge of other social
science disciplines:
History, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology,
Comparative Politics….Why
:II Levels of Analysis in IR
 There are many factors affecting International
Interactions.
 Scholars classify those factors into groups of
similar factors called levels of analysis.
Levels of analysis is a perspective on IR based on
a set of similar factors that suggests possible
explanations to WHY questions.
The most widely used scheme utilizes 3 levels:
1- System - Level.
2- State (Domestic)– Level.
3- Individual – Level.
 :System – Level Analysis -1

 It is a world view that takes a “top-down”

approach to analyze IR.
 This level theorizes that International System
strongly influences the politics of International
Actors.
 It concentrates on the effect of the International
System ( Structure & Pattern of interaction ) on
IR.
 The main focus is characteristics of the
International System: distribution of power,,
balance of power, alliances…
 regardless of the internal make up of states or
their leaderships.

 Ex: the effect of the cold war or the bipolar

system on the relations between small States
& the Super Powers.
:State (Domestic)– Level Analysis -2
 This level theorizes that States are the key
International Actors.

 The concern is with the characteristics of an

individual State & its impact on its behavior in
IR.

 This level studies the effect of political systems

( types of government: democracies &
dictatorships ), economic characteristics,
foreign policy bureaucracy, interest groups,
ethnic politics, public opinion…. on IR
:Individual – Level Analysis-3
 This level depends on the argument that
leaders make policy.
 It argues that different persons act differently
in the same situation.
 It stresses on the effect of psychological
factors on decisions ( leaders personality,
background, perceptions….)
:The Global – Level of Analysis-4
 This level explains IR in terms of global trends
& forces that transcends (go beyond)
interactions of states.
EX.:
- Information revolution, evolution of certain
worldwide beliefs, the emergence of global
culture.
- Transnational integration through worldwide
scientific, technical & business communities.
 Levels of analysis offer different sorts of
explanations to events:
They suggest multiple explanations, &
complement each other.
Ex.:
 The Gulf War in 1991

 US invasion of Iraq March 2003

 1999 Kosovo war between Serbia & NATO