International Relations. Approaches To Poverty, Environmental Issues - Essay Example

These set the framework within which the State, International Organisations and Non-State Actors work together. The State The state is the most important and the most central element of International Relations. This is basically because International Relations attempts to examine and evaluation the relationship between countries in the 'family of nations'. As such, the nation or the state becomes the fundamental actor that constitutes the basis of the various activities of International Relations.

International Relations aims at creating a framework through which nations relate to each other. The world 'international' could be construed as a set of bilateral and multilateral systems that are used to analyse and evaluate the contact and transactions between nations and states. As such, the state forms the basic unit through which the framework for International Relations can be created and prepared for various levels of analyses and evaluation. As such, the Sovereign State becomes the basic element of International Relations.

A state has permanent populations, occupies a defined territory, has a central government and is independent of other states with similar governments. As such, the government of each state has the duty of maintaining its own structures, systems and institutions. By International Law and International Convention, each nation's government is autonomous. As such, International Relations gives these governments an avenue to interact with each other. This again confirms that without states with defined boundaries, International Relations would be impossible in both the theoretical and practical sense.

Although the State is the main Actor in International Relations, it is by no means the only Actor. There are other Actors that are woven into the theory of International Relations through various situations and circumstances. Basically, these Actors come to play because of the role of International Law and International Convention. They include International Organisations and Non-State Actors. International Organisations International Organisations are those organisations that have the force and authority to operate because of agreements between various nations.

In other words, they come to being through international conventions and treaties. They are meant to supervise certain defined interest and requirements that allow International Relations to be carried out. Such entities vary in their authority and scope. Whereas some are very powerful and are more or less like states, others are less powerful and are set up to attain defined ends. Thus, an international organisation like the European Union, which has a supranational authority and is a system through which states have ceded a level of their authority becomes a crucial actor that has a similar merit as a state in International Relations.

On the other hand, there are some other players like the World Trade Organisation, regional groupings like the South African Development Community amongst others. By far, the United Nations seem to be the most powerful of International Organisations. This is because it has the mandate of almost all nations around the world and it co-ordinates the activities of major international organisations and defines the territorial integrity of nations around the world and International Law. Non-State Actors Aside States and International Organisations, there are other actors that are often called Non-State Actors in International Relations.

These are entities that have or promote ties between two or more nations around th