There are many currents in the study of the question of international relations. Such diversity is due to various criteria that are used by those or other authors.
Some researchers, based on geographicalfeatures, highlight the Anglo-Saxon, Chinese and Soviet theoretical positions. Other authors are based on the degree of generality of existing concepts, highlighting, for example, particular methods and hypotheses, explicative propositions (eg, the philosophy of history and political realism), the Marxist-Leninist typology.
However, the main theories of international relations are also highlighted. In particular, they include:
- Political idealism.This theory of international relations has ideological and theoretical foundations. In their capacity, liberalism, utopian socialism and pacifism of the 19th century stand out. The basic idea of this theory of international relations is the conviction that it is necessary to end all world wars and armed conflicts by means of democratization and legal regulation, spreading the norms of justice and morality. One of the priority themes of the concept is the formation of collective security on the basis of voluntary disarmament, as well as the mutual refusal to use the war as a foreign policy tool.
- Political realism.This theory of international relations is based on the fact that the only way to preserve peace is to establish a certain balance of power (power) in the world arena as a result of each power's aspiration to satisfy its national interests to the maximum.
- Political Modernism.This theory of international relations reflects a commitment to the use of rigorous scientific procedures and methods, an interdisciplinary approach, an increase in the number of empirical, verifiable data.
- Transnationalist theory of internationala set of several concepts. Its supporters put forward a general idea of the discrepancy between political realism and the inherent paradigm of the main tendencies and nature of interstate interactions. In their opinion, international relations affect not only states, but also enterprises, individuals, organizations, other non-state associations. This theory contributed to the realization of some new phenomena in interstate interactions. In connection with the change in the technology of transport and communications, the transformation of the situation in foreign markets, as well as the increase in the number and importance of transnational corporations, new trends have emerged. The most important of them include:
- the faster growth of world production, the growth of trade in the world;
- development of modernization, urbanization, communication facilities;
- increasing the international importance of private actors and small countries;
- Reduction of the capacity of large states to control the natural state.
An overall result is an increase in interdependence in the world with a relative decrease in the role of power in international relations.
5. Neo-Marxism.This current is considered as heterogeneous as transnationalism. The concept is based on the idea of the integrity of the community and some utopia in assessing its future. Based on separate theses of traditional classical Marxism, the neo-Marxists space of interstate interactions is represented in the form of a global empire. Its periphery (colonial countries) at the same time feels the yoke of the center even after gaining political independence. This, in turn, is manifested in uneven development and inequality in economic exchanges.
