What are International Relations?

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. it is the branch of political science. The term is also used to refer to a branch of political science which focuses on the study of these interactions. As an academic discipline, international relations encompasses a wide range of academic fields, ranging from history to environmental studies, and there are a number of areas of specific specialty, for academics who are interested in them.

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.

As one might imagine, international relations can get incredibly complex. It is also sometimes known as “foreign relations,” and specialists in this field do things like staffing diplomatic agencies abroad, providing consultation to businesses which are considering establishing branches overseas, and assisting charitable non-governmental organizations with their missions. Many specialists pick a particular region of the world to focus on, as the language and etiquette of international relations is incredibly varied, depending on whom one deals with.

In the academic world, the study of international relations encompasses the history of this immensely varied field, along with studies of modern foreign relations. Students often examine specific relationships to learn more about them, and they may look at emerging global issues as an ongoing part of their education. Many people in the field of international relations also spend time abroad, studying foreign relations from a different angle and performing specific regional research.

Whether one works in international relations or studies it, one should expect to examine things like economics, history, sociology, anthropology, law, nationalism, development, human rights issues, psychology, geography, global studies, and even philosophy. Many institutions all over the world offer training for people who wish to specialize in this field, along with cooperative study agreements abroad which help to expand the horizons of students.

What is Political Science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government, and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior. Political scientists "see themselves engaged in revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions, and from these revelations they attempt to construct general principles about the way the world of politics works." Political science intersects with other fields; including economics, law, sociology, history, anthropology, public administration, public policy, national politics, international relations, comparative politics, psychology, political organization, and political theory. Although it was codified in the 19th century, when all the social sciences were established, political science has ancient roots; indeed, it originated almost 2,500 years ago with the works of Plato and Aristotle^.

Political science is commonly divided into three distinct sub-disciplines which together constitute the field:

• political philosophy,
• comparative politics and
• international relations.

Political philosophy is the reasoning for an absolute normative government, laws and similar questions and their distinctive characteristics. Comparative politics is the science of comparison and teaching of different types of constitutions, political actors, legislature and associated fields, all of them from an intrastate perspective. International relations deals with the interaction between nation-states as well as intergovernmental and transnational organizations.

Political science is methodologically diverse and appropriates many methods originating in social research. Approaches include positivism, interpretivism, rational choice theory, behavioralism, structuralism, post-structuralism, realism, institutionalism, and pluralism. Political science, as one of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis, case studies, experimental research and model building.
"As a discipline" political science, possibly like the social sciences as a whole, "lives on the fault line between the 'two cultures' in the academy, the sciences and the humanities." Thus, in some American colleges where there is no separate School or College of Arts and Sciences per se, political science may be a separate department housed as part of a division or school of Humanities or Liberal Arts. Whereas classical political philosophy is primarily defined by a concern for Hellenic and Enlightenment thought, political scientists are also marked by a great concern for "modernity" and the contemporary nation state, along with the study of classical thought, and as such share a greater deal of terminology with sociologists (e.g. structure and agency).

Role and Origin of SAARC

South Asia Association of regional co-operation (SAARC) in December 1985 the heads of slates and governments of seven South Asian countries viz. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Srilanka held a summit meeting at Dhaka. After due deliberations they unanimously decided to set up secretariat and issued a declarations for a creation of SAARC. The declaration stated the objective of association as promotion of welfare of people, improvement in the quality of the life of people, acceleration of economic growth, promotion of collective self reliance promotion of mutual trust and understanding, promotion of collaboration in economic social cultural, technical and scientific fields, strengthening of co-operation with other developing countries and themselves besides co-operation with regional and international organization with similar objectives. This co-operation amongst the members was to be based on respect for principles of sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, political independence non-interference in internal affairs of other states of mutual benefit. It was further asserted that co-operation among the member state shall not be a substitute for bilateral and multilateral co-operation but shall complement them and it shall not be inconsistent with bilateral and multilateral obligations, further decisions at all levels shall be taken on the basic of consensus and the bilateral and contentions issues shall be excluded from the deliberations.

The declaration stated that the state of government shall meet annually and Council of Ministers consisting of foreign ministers of the member states shall be constituted to formulate policies, to review the progress of co-operation to establish additional mechanism and to decide on matters of general interest. This Council of Ministers shall be assisted by foreign secretaries. The declaration also envisaged the setting up of technical committee composing of representatives of member states for implementing coordinating and monitoring of programmes and Action Committee for projects involving more than two member states. The declaration stated that a secretarial for the association shall be established at the appropriate time. The expenses of the organisation shall be met out of voluntary contributions of members.

The formation of saarc evoked mixed reaction. King of Bhutan described it as “a manifestation of our collective wisdom and political will be bring about meaningful regional co-operation in spite of the differences on foreign policy and Security perspectives”. On the other hand President Zia of Pakistan expressed apprehensions about the dominant position of India which could deter the fulfilment of the objectives and ideas of saarc. Similar misgivings arose due to the size and population of India. Therefore it is desirable that India should try to allay these feelings by demonstrate ratings both by words and deeds that she will always by ready to enter into constructive and mutually beneficial co-operation with such countries as may seek it.

Despite these misgivings it cannot be denied that the formation of saarc was a significant step forward because it could stimulate regional cooperation through collective approach and action. No doubt the seven countries had different political system. Ideologies and links but they were also best with political problems of growth and development which encouraged them to co-operate with each other and evolve a common approach for development.