Political science part x

Part X

International Relations

A.M. SALVA

The study of relationships between
countries, including the roles of states, inter-
governmental organizations (IGOs), international
nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) and
multinational corporations (MNCs). It is both
an academic and public policy field, and can be
either positive or normative as it both seeks to
analyze as well as formulate the foreign policy of
particular states.

It 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.

Refers to international relationship
among sovereign and non-sovereign
political entities in global arena, for the
promotion of national interest of a
political sector (state) in the pursuit of
peaceful coexistence, mutual
interdependence and the right to self-
preservation

Two Dominant Issues
1. War and Peace (The negative features)
2. Poverty and Health (The positive features
of the world)

Propaganda Technique
A form of communication in
international relations by nation-states,
intended to promote a particular cause by
changing the attitudes and behavior of
other states. The primary end is to justify a
nation’s program. Other ends would be the
conciliation of friendly states, and the
undermining of the positions of unfriendly
ones.

International Politics and
Domestics Politics
Domestics Politics. Generally refers to the conduct
of state within its territorial borders.
International Politics. Occurs among sovereign
entities in international relations under common
agreement they so declared in the form of
international law. Such laws do not impose an
obligation on its members but rather a political
commitment or declaration one may always shun
when its interest so demand.

The Practice of Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the legal capacity of a
geographic unit to maintain ultimate responsibility
for the conduct of its own affairs. It is so
compelling a force that clothes a nation all the
necessary power to control its own turf or
bailiwick.
But, just because a nation is legally
sovereign does not necessarily mean it really
controls its own grass (eg. Lebanon).

Sovereignty does not precludes outside
intervention. Small and poor countries are
routinely dominated and influenced by large, rich
countries.
The efficacy of international law is often
challenged on the basis of its weakling capability
to police non conformist-states, and to stop or
prohibit dominant political actors in the
international spectrum.

Lacking the sovereignty that prevails in
most domestic situations, international relations
depend a lot on power.
Hans Morgenthau: Power is the basic element
of international politics and that idealists
ignores it at their peril.

Theories of International
Relations
1. The Realist and Structuralist Theory.
Realists. “To understand international
relations, we must understand the behavior of
actors”. States are the main actors in their pursuit
of power as state’s major goals.
Structuralists. “To understand the
international system, we concentrate on the
structures rather than on the behavior and
choices of the individual actors”.

Issues in International Relations
“There is no international government
either to devise the law in the first place or to
be the last source of sanctions if the law is
flouted. There is a body of international law but
where does it come from and what is its
status? To whom does it apply? Individuals or
what? Some hold that international law is a
minor factor in international scene, state will
always ignore it if necessary. Others argue it
involves a genuine guide to conduct and its
significance will grow as its practice increases”.

Two major moral concerns :
1. Dilemmas and paradoxes raised by the
use of war and violence;
2. Obligations raised by the extent of
poverty and the great disparity of income
and wealth among the world’s inhabitants.
Some Moral issues:
i) War. Killing is never justified. War
is murder on a large scale, which is
pacifism.

Some Moral issues:
1.] War. Theories that explains war.
A) Macro Theories. States expand when they
can. Morgenthau: “ one country fearing the
growth of a neighbor will strengthen its
defenses or form alliances to offset the
neighbor’s power”. It is explained by the
aphorisms si vis pacem para bellus (if you want
peace, prepare for war).

Some Moral issues:
1.] War. Theories that explains war.
B) Micro Theories. Attempts to explain the
engagement in war as the result of human
aggressiveness. Evolution have made people
fighters obtain for food, defend their families,
and guard their territories.

Some Moral issues:
1.] War.
Sir Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) deliberated
on the morality of just war:
1. That war had to be declared by a competent
ruler in authority;
2. That war was a result of a wrongdoing, or
that war came to avenge a wrongful act;
3. That war had the purpose to achieve good
and avoid evil.

Some Moral issues:
1.] War. Jus ad bellum principle
(the right of going to war):
1. The war must be for just cause;
2. War is rarely an issue of absolute right
against wrong. The aim of the
combatants should nevertheless be
considered.
3. There should be a reasonable chance
of winning. War must be purely
instrumental to achieve a just outcome;

Some Moral issues:
1.] War. Jus ad bellum principle (the right
of going to war):
4. War must be a proportional response to the
offense committed by the opponent;
5. A war should be declared by a competent
authority, which is responsible for the
government of a society; and
6. War should be resorted to only as a last
resort when all other options have been
exhausted.

Some Moral issues:
1.] War. Jus in bello Principle - Rights in
War:
1. Prisoners should be properly treated, fed,
given medical attention when necessary, and
properly housed;
2. Noncombatants should not be attacked or
killed, when it is inevitable that some civilians
will be killed when a military target is attacked,
such civilian casualties should be kept to the
minimum; and

Some Moral issues:
1.] War. Jus in bello Principle - Rights in
War:
3. A war should be terminated as soon as
feasible. Extreme conditions such as
unconditional surrender that would prolong war
should not be demanded of an enemy.

The League of Nations and the United
Nations Organizations exist to shun warfare
and bring about peace.

Some Moral issues:
1.] War
Proposals to prevent or avert war:
a) Diplomacy. The oldest approach, thru
diplomatic contact. There must be willingness
to compromise. This is often difficult because
countries define vital interest as non-negotiable
and are unwilling to cut them down to
compromising face.

Some Moral issues:
1.] War
b) Peacekeeping. Employs a third party military
force to support a truce or other agreement,
but such peace keeping can not enforce peace
by stopping a conflict that is in progress.

Some Moral issues:
1.] War
c) Collective Security. The failure of the
League of Nation to promote collective security
and international peace resulted in outbreak of
another bigger war, World War II in 1939 to
1945.

Some Moral issues:
1.] War
d) World Government. Roskins (1997): the
real culprit is the old doctrine of sovereignty.
The solution is to have states give-up some of
their sovereignty to an international
government that would prevent war much as
an individual country keeps peace within its
border. But, would the U.S.

Some Moral issues:
2.] Terrorism and Freedom Fighters
Terrorist conflict is an armed conflict where one
active participant is not a member of an army
in the standard sense. Nicholson (1998) its
military power is small in comparison of their
opponent. They can not engage in direct
combat, instead they seek out ‘soft’ targets,
and often with the primary aim of destroying
property, assassinate, bomb, or shoot people
whether they are relevant targets, to sow fear.

Some Moral issues:
3.] Nuclear War
The invention of weapons of mass destruction
and nuclear weapons adds a new dimension to
the moral problems of war. Technically, it is
possible to eliminate society and eliminate life
on this planet. Nuclear threat is an immoral
action. It is moral if the benefits of doing so are
for morals goals such as the preservation of
peace.

Some Moral issues:
4.] Human Rights
Almost always violated by structural violence,
or by the government to extend freedom and
civil liberties consistent with their beings as
human persons. Civil liberties should go with
developing basic economic well being of the
people. Liberty involves the freedom of speech
abd the right to express one’s opinion even if
they offend people, the government, and the
powerful.

Some Moral issues:
4.] Human Rights
Also include freedom from arbitrary arrest and fair
trial, freedom from discrimination of race or sex.
States are not the primary guardian of people’s
welfare, it implies that states are entitled to
intervene activities of other states in order to
promote human rights.

Some Moral issues:
5.] Poverty and Wealth
It is a truism that there exists wide discrepancy in
terms of spread of incomes between rich and poor.
Rich countries should help the poor ones thru
government aid, economic assistance, or thru
private organizations. It could be in the form of
enabling economies, or direct help in case of natural
catastrophies. The most effective means of giving
aid and the most useful tactics should enable
economies.

Some Moral issues:
6.] Environmentalism
Rapid industrialization, urbanization and
globalization breed new dimensions in world
politics. Ecology is the care and protection of the
environment for future generation. Various
advocacies came at the height of global warming,
ozone depletion, acid rain, pollution, garbage
disposal, nuclear threat and other man-made
calamities. Effects of these, further agitated care for
the only planer suitable for human.

Some Moral issues:
6.] Environmentalism…cont.
If human beings continue to refuse and conserve the
ecological system, it will ultimately deteriorate the
quality of human living and threaten human
existance. Thus, nation-states should work together
and cooperatively to avert or prevent the
catastrophic effects of ecological degradation.

Some Moral issues:
6.] Environmentalism…cont.
Ecologism, as political doctrine or ideology, is
developed on the grounds of ecological
assumptions, notably about the essential link
between human kind and the natural world. It is
concerned with protecting nature, advocating
measures to preserve the ecosystem all for the
future benefits of the human race.

Foreign Policy
A general set of principles which nation-states
adopts towards their external environment, a pattern of
behavior that states adopts in pursuing its national
interests with other nation-states as part of the general
program of the government. It used to concern mainly
with the political and strategic relationship between or
among nation-states. Economic interactions and
globalization became the emerging thrust if state;s
foreign policy directions nowadays.
Every state pursues international relations as a
response to independence, national pride, and to assert
political right as part of a global community of nations
to co-exists.

The DFA - OSEC
The Office of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs
(OSEC) advises the President on matters relating to the
formulation and execution of Philippine foreign policies.
Its functions are:
1. Administration and coordination of Philippine
foreign relations;
2. Promulgation of rules and regulation which may be
necessary to carry out foreign policy objectives; and
3. Delegation of authority to perform any function or
set of functions to officers and employees necessary
for the conduct of Philippine Foreign Relations.

The DFA - OSEC
The Secretary is assisted by three Undersecretaries in the
formulation and implementation of the Department’s
objectives and policies, and one of them may be
designated in his absence.

Under the rules and regulations of the DFA, the
Secretary is given the power to designate Career of
Mission as Assistant Secretaries to head 12 principal
offices of the Department.

Foreign Policy System

Procedural Substantial Directional

Formulation Political/Cultural Bilateral

Implementation Economic/Social Regional

Evaluation Military Multilateral

1. The Procedural Subsystem. It introduces how a foreign
policy is initiated starting with the formulation of policy
goals, or the interests that the state hold dear in dealing
with other states. It by gathering of information or
intelligence by the state’s diplomatic offices, data
analysis, the translation of information into an
alternative course of action, followed by planning and
decision-making that would result in the adoption of
policy goals. Policy-making power is vested in the
executive or head of state and/or the Congress. The
implementation comes thru the state’s agents or
diplomats. Evaluation follows whether a policy is a
success or a failure.

2. The Substantial Subsystem. It refers to the specific
interests that the state promotes in relation with other
countries. It is multifarious, social, poliyical, economic,
cultural or military that may be the immediate or
undelying purpose in a state’s relations abroad.

3. The Directional Subsystem. Refers to the strategic
partnership which may be state to state dealings
(bilateral), state to region relationship (regional), or state
to international organizations (multilateral).

National Interests
A state pursue foreign relations and plays
international politics on the basis of national interest.
It may be understood as anything good for the nation
as a whole in world affairs. As international politics
is inherently selfish, nations rarely behave like saints.
Countries may practice generosity and altruism, but
often with an eye to enhancing their international
power and prestige.
In broad terms, this refers to the general and
continuing ends for which the nation acts. It is the
sum total of all the national values, symbols and
prestige a state promotes not only within its domestic
policy but also largely in international relations.

Classification of National Interests
1. Vital Interests v. Secondary Interests.
Vital interests. Those interest which a nation may
ultimately go to war only to preserve its sovereignty.

Secondary interests. The less urgent and distant.
Those which the state pursue but not to the extent of
going to war. They are desirable and dispensable
and subject ot diplomatic negotiation ( like the need
to contract foreign loans). To some extent, military
actions may be necessary(like when US detested
Iraq’s invasion over Kuwait in 1991, where oil
diplomacy was threatened by such annexation of
territory.

2. Temporary Interests v. Permanent Interests.

Temporary interests. One which is of fixed duration
(like when US support Iraq in 1980 war with Iran).

Permanent interests. It may last over centuries (like US
interest in keeping hostile powers out of western
hemisphere).

3. Specific Interests v. General Interests.

Specific interests. Centers on one single
problem, issue or dilemma such as the Japanese
trade barriers to US goods in products.

General interests. Might take the form of
universal respect for environmental protection
and human rights orotection. The US interests is
general, temporary, and secondary one
concerning human rights and regional stability.

Framework for National Security
Direction
It is always important to carefully design a
state’s course of action in view of promoting
multifarious national goals: well-being, security,
and preservation.
It is important to strategize national security
goals within the framework of geopoliticsvis-a-vis
foreign policy relations based on two basic
assumptions.

Framework for National Security
Direction
Two basic assumptions:
i) What is the most problem among the array of
problems discovered. Why is it a problem. To what
extent does it veer away from our national security?
What are its political nature, socio-cultural
characteristics, economic dynamics, and military
posturing?
ii) To resolve this problem, what national objectives or
ends should be adopted to give directions or focus to
its resolution?

Next:

Part XI
Concepts and Models of International
Law with International Law

Political science part x

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