International Relations politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International Relations politics - Essay Example My purpose is only to highlight the importance of the existence of these schools of thoughts in the field of IR as a disciple and science. The last part of this paper, I address the purpose of IR and conclude that the IR as a discipline attempts to depict the picture of world affairs. I end this paper with a brief conclusion. The study of IR as a discipline significantly evolved after the First World War. However, many scholars and theorists use historical data for their analysis of IR.1 In the centuries before the First World War, one can perceive IR more as a combination of several disciplines such as Law, History and Philosophy rather than discipline on itself (Hollis & Smith 1990: p. 16). Some prominent historical philosophers who are often referred to in IR are Plato, Paine and Hobbes. These historical philosophers each addressed the study of IR in their own way. However, it was in the twentieth-century that the field of IR significantly evolved as many scholars diversified. The contribution of American and British scholars was significant and thus, American and British scholars dominated the field of IR for decades. ... f thoughts or whatever one prefers to name it, that one can identify in the field of IR were notable developed as scholars provided more empirical and epistemological data to the field of IR. However, this intensified the debate between these schools of thoughts and opened the door for new debates between scholars of IR. I agree with Walt that for the case of contemporary IR, the most crucial question is which school of thought sheds the most light on IR. Although IR might be perceived as a discipline or a science on itself, it is obvious that the nature of IR can be traced back to time of the Ancient Greek with the work of Thucydides and Plato and IR developed throughout the course of history. Several theories in International Relations In the nineteenth and especially in the twentieth century, the development of IR as a social science discipline has led to many theories that attempt to provide a theoretical and empirical framework to analyze the field of IR. Each of these schools of thoughts that were developed by theorists and scholars provide basic principles on which each framework is based upon. It is crucial to understand the basic principles of some of these schools of thoughts in order to understand the complexity of the study of IR. For this reason, in the following sector I will briefly discuss the basic principles of Realism, Liberalism and IO. Realism One of the most imperative schools of thought in the field of IR is Realism. Within this school of thought, one can identify several strands of realism such as classical realism, liberal realism and neo-realism.2 Among scholars and social scientist, Realism is perceived as the leading theory in the field of IR. Gilpin even argues that one should perceive realism as "a philosophical disposition"