International

relations and
institutions

szilagyi.judit@uni-
bge.hu
 Basic definitions in
international relations

World order
World economy
World politics
 World economy
Elements of the world economy:
National economies
International division of labor
World market: companies

persons
transactions
rules, standards
infrastructure
international organizations
 World politics
World politics: the aggregate of
international power relations,
power structures.
Power relation: visible through the
decisions.

The basis for a dominant position:

Aggression

Economic dominance,

Prestige (influence)
 World politics

Centrum: the power center(s)

Domestic and international power
relations: no transformation, not
analogue structures
No global governance world politics
depends on the power relations
 Conflicts

history is the continous story of

wars and conflicts

Measures to contain conflicts :

International law
International organizations,
institutions (approx. 6000)
Global public opinion
 Interaction between the
elements of world order

Interaction between world politics

and world economics

World order = world economics +

world politics + ecological
system

+ social structures
+ ideologies, cultures (Huntington)
 Interaction between the
elements of world order

World economics is

Subject to the changes is world

politics
Initiating changes in world
politics
 Types of world order

After the industrial revolution:

unipolar
Approx. 1920-1940:
multipolar
1945-1991: bipolar
Nowadays??
 Actors in international
relations
1. Nation-states
2. Organizations
International organizations

IGO (Intergovernmental
Organization)
NGO (Non-governmental
Organization)
TNC - MNC

Companies (Import-export)

Civil organizations

3. Individuals
 Definitions

International relations
Foreign politics:
International relations as a
science:
Major schools of thought in
the theory of international
relations
realism: states
Idealism + structuralism:
institutions
(spider web theory)
reformists: institutions but
reformed
 Characteristics of the
world order

Order and disorder, confrontation and

cooperation
International power relations
Depends on:
1. the relative potential of the actors
2. their goals (security, wealth,
prestige, etc.)
State, nation-state
 Definition

Sovereign state: the set of

legislative, executive (governing)
and judicial institutions that
have sovereignty over a definite
territory and population. (G. R.
Berridge)
 According to their power
1. Great powers:
(permanent members of UN SC)

Explicit military power or implicit

potential
Nuclear weapons
Special rights and responsibilities
 According to their power
2. Superpowers (Cold War):
potential for dominance

Nuclear weapons
Macroeconomic indicators

3. Middle-sized powers: regional

influence
 According to their power
4. Small states: no clear definition
geographical or based on population

2 types of behaviour:
Military bloc
Don`t belong to any --- then

Neutral states: recognized

Non-aligned states
 According to their power
many times bridges between major
power (in terms of economy or politics)

conditions:
Historical and geographical
background
permeability: infrastructure

5. Micro states: below 1 million