International Relations theory and its problems

This brief article reflects on International Relations theory and its shortcomings. It points to three major areas of consideration that have been either omitted or too readily discounted. The first is the determining role of domestic politics in international affairs; the second, the importance of agency, of drawing lessons from history and giving due recognition to political leadership; and the third, the need to inform the study of the empirical world with a concern for ethics. Despite ‘globalization’, the article argues, we live in a world of increasing disintegration in which the imperatives to defuse violence, promote global justice, and empower international and regional institutions press upon us with ever greater urgency.