Template:International relations/Intro



International relations are relationships between countries, including the roles of States, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and multinational corporations (MNCs). International relations are both an academic and public policy field, and can be either positive or normative, as international relations seek to analyze as well as to formulate the foreign policy of particular States. The study of international relations is often considered a branch of political science (especially after 1988 UNESCO nomenclature), but an important sector of academia prefer to treat it as an interdisciplinary field of study. Aspects of international relations have been studied for thousands of years, since the time of Thucydides, but international relations became a separate and definable discipline in the early 20th century.

Apart from political science, international relations draw upon such diverse fields as economics, history, international law, philosophy, geography, social work, sociology, anthropology, criminology, psychology, gender studies, and cultural studies / culturology. International relations involve a diverse range of issues, including, but not limited to: globalization, state sovereignty, international security, ecological sustainability, nuclear proliferation, nationalism, economic development, global finance, terrorism, organized crime, human security, foreign interventionism, human rights.