IR Theory and United Nations Peacekeeping Contributions

Introduction to International Relations

The field of international relations (IR) normally focuses on the study of how various state systems can be made to work more efficiently to improve the power of law, maintain order, manage interstate affairs peacefully, and lessen prospects of war. The word "relations" in this field is used to denote the inclusion of more than political affairs—encompassing aspects such as conflict and peace. The international relations field is closely linked administratively to political science departments (O'Connor, 2010).

The field of international relations traces its origins from various subfields including international law, diplomatic history, and international economics. While it is still early to consider international relations a fully sovereign field of study, it has broken from the analytical procedures of economics and law, and is in the ongoing process of breaking from political science. Consequently, this field has become an important facet of scholarship because of its conceptualizations of governments, nations, states, and regimes. International relations theory has developed to become a critical aspect of the United Nations' contribution to peace.

Core Content and Scope of the IR Field

As a discipline developing toward independence, the international relations field encompasses various basic content areas such as the policy and policymaking of states, nations, governments, and regimes. The field also consists of government organization, state-building techniques, levels of governance, globalization, governance and accountability, and types of power structures, economic systems, and belief systems. International relations is an eclectic area of study that borrows ideas from various disciplines including psychology, sociology, cultural studies, criminal justice, philosophy, and anthropology.

The field of international relations reflects complexities across the globe, resulting in the use of several concepts and theories by IR scholars to explain them (Goldstein, 2007). Since its inception, this field has been a policy-oriented discipline that not only seeks to evaluate foreign policy but to assist in formulating it. Consequently, researchers normally make value judgments or draw conclusions based on the general normative perspective. The few basic principles that shape the field of international relations arise from the various global complexities it reflects.

The international relations field fundamentally revolves around one major problem: how groups can serve collective interests despite the need for their members to forgo individual interests. The problem of conflicting interests among group members as compared to shared interests is known by various names in different contexts. In modern society, international relations is a very broad concept that incorporates not only relations between states but also involves non-state organizations such as multinational corporations (Wilkinson, 2007, p. 1).

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