Development of International Relations as a Discipline

¶ … International Relations as a discipline has been expressed through a relatively consistent story regarding its history. As a result, the discipline has an extremely specific and remarkably misleading story to show its origins. The foundational aspect of the field of International Relations can be traced back to 1919 following the emergence of the concept of a distinct discipline of International Relations. Actually, the foundational and institutional aspect is very important in its effect on the modern debates regarding the nature of the discipline and its field of study. One of the most significant aspects of the field is that its gets described as one originating from the interstate war problem. The field can be demonstrated as distinct to political history, science or economics in a manner that is usually accompanied by claims that it consists of a different methodology. The development of International Relations as a discipline has been closely linked or identified with the history of Western Europe and the United States, which has contributed to a civilization bias.

History of International Relations:

The history of International Relations as a discipline is commonly traced back to 1648 during Peace of Westphalia through which the system of the modern state was developed and established. Before the commencement of this period, the European medieval arrangement of political authority was mainly based on an imprecisely hierarchical religious order (Mnungu, n.d.). The 1648 Peace of Westphalia established the legal concept of sovereignty that basically meant that rulers would acknowledge no internal equals around a defined territory and no external superiors as the decisive authority within the sovereign borders of the territory. Even though they both lacked the concept of sovereignty, the Roman and Classical Greek authority looked like system of Westphalia.

The development of International Relations as a discipline is closely linked to the Westphalia because this period contributed to the emergence of self-governing nation-state in which diplomacy and armies were institutionalized. Through the standards of civilization and colonialism, the specific European system was later exported to Asia, America and Africa. The modern international system was eventually established through decolonization during the cold war period. Even though this nation-state system is regarded as contemporary, it has not been adopted by many states that are considered as pre-modern. On the other hand, the various states that have adopted this system are regarded as post-modern.

International Relations as an Academic Discipline:

In the past few years, the International Relations discipline has seemingly become like the Tower of Babel since it's filled a disharmony of various voices. Consequently, this discipline has become an administrative holding firm instead of an intellectually coherent field of inquiry or community of scholars (Schmidt, 2002). Generally, the development of this field as an academic discipline is often chronicled through reference to external events that have occurred in the realm that has traditionally been assigned as international politics. Actually, the significant developments in international politics have essentially shaped the development of International Relations.

For a long period of time, there has been numerous concerns regarding the actual existence of a distinct discipline or field of International Relations has been an issue of continual controversy. The constant controversy has essentially been associated to the controversial issue of the geographical boundaries and origins of the discipline. The controversies have further been fueled by the fact that this field of study is closely linked with the history of the United States and Western Europe.

The close link of the development of International Relations as an academic discipline with the Western Europe and the United States history is considered as civilizational bias that could have contributed to a missing element or aspect in the growth of the discipline. Due to this strong link, the field has mainly been characterized by dominance of the United States and Western Europe International Relations (Smith, 2000). The United States dominance of the International Relations discipline originates from most of the views of political scientists and the American political science community.

As a result of this dominance, the development of the International Relations discipline seems to miss the inclusion of dominant global aspects and questions, especially those of the new millennium, in the development of this field. Moreover, the discipline of International Relations lacks openness and pluralism in its development as an academic discipline and a field of study. The relevant aspects and concerns that could assist in enhanced development of the field are mainly hindered by the lack of openness and pluralism. Since most of the development of the discipline and field is intrinsically associated with the history of Europe and the United States, its growth across the globe lacks inclusion of significant aspects from the other parts of the world. Therefore, this field is mainly developed based on the ideals and concepts of Western Europe and the United States International Relations.