Unit 1 of Political Science – III (International Relations) (syllabus: Module 1 — IR as a discipline, the Westphalian state system, sovereignty, national power, polarity, challenges to sovereignty and world government). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- Is International Relations a discipline, and what is meant by calling it both a condition and a discipline?
- What did the Peace of Westphalia actually establish, and how should its role in the nation-State system be stated?
- How do sovereign equality, territorial integrity and non-intervention stand as law, and against whom does each operate?
- What is national power, and how are its elements classified?
- What limits national power, and how do the balance of power and international law limit it differently?
- In what sense is globalisation a challenge to sovereignty, and how far may that challenge be stated?
- What exactly does the responsibility to protect require, and why is it a challenge to sovereignty?
- Is world government a myth or a reality?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
- Academic foundations of International Relations, s. Condition and discipline; the 1919 Chair at Aberystwyth
- The Westphalian nation-State system, s. Peace of Westphalia 1648; Treaty of Utrecht 1713
- Charter of the United Nations, s. Article 2, with A/RES/2625 (XXV)
- National power: meaning and elements, s. Tangible and intangible elements; the eleven-fold enumeration
- Limitations on national power, s. Balance of power; international law; the seven limitations
- Globalisation and State sovereignty, s. Economic, political, cultural and technological dimensions
- 2005 World Summit Outcome, s. Paragraphs 138 and 139
- World government: the federal union proposals, s. Defence and foreign affairs as the minimum federal subjects