Global States (An Introduction to International Relations)

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About the Book Theory and practice of International Relations in the new millennium could well be seen as a confluence of different streams of thought and action that have evolved in this context since the creation of modern state system in the 17th century. Beginning with the Westphalia system established in 1648, and continuing in the twentieth century with the onset of Cold War, emergence of the Third World, spread of Globalization, and the rise of Civil Society, the multi-level structure of International Relations to-day is too complex to be understood by shutting ourselves up in any one or the other school of thought. Polarization in thought between the 'economic' and "political", between the 'domestic" and the "international", or even between "Realism" and "Liberalism", seems artificial. and divorced from reality.

This book explores International Relations with a broader concept of globalised states as they have developed over the last four centuries, more specifically during the last half-century. The traditional pattern, which automatically took the sovereign state and state-systems as the starting point on investigation,. is no longer sufficient for a realistic understanding of International Relations. The old models of sovereignty and democracy are not capable of providing good governance in a globalizing world. The campaigns of global society and the bottom-up pressure of citizen activism have become essential to both theory the practice of International Relations. The state of present day International Relations is very different therefore from the state of the discipline in the mid-to-late twentieth century. In practice, of course, the field will continue to exhibit competition between Realists, Liberals and new, critical theorists. However, it will also be important to develop International Relations as a forum for widest possible global social science. Global State theory can offer what the new International Relations has so far failed to achieve, not simply to criticize Realism but to challenge it on its own ground. Here is a theoretical agenda, as well as a new context in which to link theory to practice.

About the Author Dr. Sunil Sondhi is Reader in Political Science in the University of Delhi. After completing his doctoral research from the University of Delhi, Dr. Sondhi did post-doctoral research at the George Washington University, USA, and University of Toronto, Canada. During his distinguished academic career spanning more than two decades Dr. Sondhi has bagged many international research awards. These include: S. Truman Institute Research Award (1987); John F. Harry Kennedy Foundation Research Award (1989): Olive 1. Reddick Award (1990): J. William Fulbright Fellowship (1992): Gerald R. Ford Foundation research Award (1993): Rockefeller University Research Award (1994); and Salzburg Program Fellowship (1995). He was awarded the Shastri Indo-Canadian Fellowship twice. in 1995 and 1999. In the year 2000, Dr. Sunil Sondhi was awarded the prestigious Canada Asia-Pacific Award by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Government of Canada, for research on Governance and Development in South Asia. He is the first Indian scholar to be honoured with this award. In the same year, he was also awarded the Leadership Excellence Award by the American Biographical Institute. Dr. Sunil Sondhi has published extensively in scholarly journals on international relations and organization, and has more than one hundred research papers and articles to his credit. He has presented several research papers at international conferences held in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, Sweden, and New Zealand. His five earlier books are: Science Technology and India's Foreign Policy (1994); United Nations in a Changing World (1998): Global Terror (2001): Corruption: The Asian Experience (2002); and Canada: Today and Tomorrow (Co-Editor) (2002). Dr. Sondhi has been a Trustee of Indian Association of American Studies, and is now the Secretary-General of Fulbright Alumni Association. A keen mountaineer, Dr. Sondhi was the President of Delhi Mountaineering Association for six years, 1995-2001, and leader of the successful expedition to Stok Kangri peak in the Ladakh region in 1998. His poem Earth and Sky reflects his inner self.

Preface Theory and practice of international relations in the new mil lennium could be seen as a confluence of different streams of thought and action that have emerged in this context since the creation of modern state system in the 17th century. Beginning with the Westphalia system established in 1648, and continuing in the twentieth century with the onset of Cold War, emergence of the Third World, spread of Globalization, and the rise of Civil Society. The multi-level structure of international relations to-day is too complex to be understood by shutting ourselves up in any one or the other school of thought.

Polarisation in thought between the "economic" and "political", between the "domestic" and the "international", or even between "Realism" and "Liberalism", seems artificial, and divorced from reality. The traditional pattern, which automatically took the sovereign state and state-systems as the starting point of investigation, is no longer meaningful. The old models of sovereignty and democracy are not capable of providing good governance in a globalizing world. The campaigns of global society and the bottom-up pressure of citizen activism have become increasingly significant in international relations.

Scholars of international relations today are therefore exploring world politics with a broader concept of globalised states.

Introduction The basic problem facing anyone trying to understand contemporary world politics is that there is so much material to look at that it is difficult to know which things matter and which do not. Whenever individuals are faced with such a problem they have to resort to theories, whether they are aware of them or not. A theory is not simply some grand formal model with hypotheses and assumptions; rather a theory is some kind of simplifying device that allows you to decide which facts matter and which do not. A good analogy is with sunglasses with different coloured lenses; put on the red pair and the world looks red, put on the yellow pair and it looks yellow. The world is not any different, it just looks different. Well, so it is with theories. Three main theoretical views have dominated the study of world politics, and through them we get an idea of which 'colours' they paint world politics. But theory is not an option. It is not as if we can say that we do not want to bother with a theory, all we want to do is to look at the 'facts'. This is simply impossible, since the only way in which we can decide which of the millions of possible facts to look at is by adhering to some simplifying device which tells us which ones matter the most. Theory is such a simplifying device. We may well not be aware of our theory, it may just be the view of the world that we have inherited from family, peer group, or the media. It may just seem common sense to us and not at all anything complicated like a theory.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages