Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. 1 The study of relationships among countries, commonly abbreviated as IR. 2 The relationships themselves
Wikipedia
International relations (IR) or international affairs, depending on academic institution, is either a field of political science, an interdisciplinary academic field similar to global studies, or an entirely independent academic discipline in which students take a variety of internationally focused courses in social science and humanities disciplines. In both cases, the field studies relationships between political entities ( polities) such as states, sovereign states, empires, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), international non-governmental organizations (INs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs), and the wider world-systems produced by this interaction. International relations is an academic and a public policy field, and so can be positive and normative, because it analyzes and formulates the foreign policy of a given State.
As political activity, international relations dates from the time of the Greek historian Thucydides (c. 460–395 BC), and, in the early 20th century, became a discrete academic field (No. 5901 in the 4-digit UNESCO Nomenclature) within political science. In practice International Relations and International Affairs forms a separate academic program or field from Political Science, and the courses taught therein are highly interdisciplinary.
For example, international relations draws from the fields of: technology and engineering, economics, history, international law, demography, philosophy, geography, social work, sociology, anthropology, criminology, psychology, gender studies, cultural studies, culturology, and diplomacy. The scope of international relations comprehends globalization, diplomatic relations, state sovereignty, international security, ecological sustainability, nuclear proliferation, nationalism, economic development, global finance, as well as terrorism and organized crime, human security, foreign interventionism, and human rights, as well, as, more recently, comparative religion.
International Relations is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of international relations. The journal's editors-in-chief are Ken Booth ( Aberystwyth University) and Michael Foley ( Aberystwyth University). It was established in 1960 and is currently published by SAGE Publications in association with the David Davies Memorial Institute.
Usage examples of "international relations".
House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, Report, Urging the Executive Branch to Take Action Regarding the Acquisition by Iran of C-802 Cruise Missiles, 105th Cong.
Theories about international relations never account for 100 percent of what happens in the world.
He had his college degree, and was close to his master's, in international relations no less.
Chavez was still short of his master's degree in international relations, but he blessed all the books that Professor Alpher had forced him to read.
Her judgment was every bit as good as his, and unschooled as she might be in international relations, every day she made decisions that directly affected the lives of real people in the most immediate way.
They'd met at parties perhaps five or six times, traded a few jokes, talked about baseball or the weather or maybe international relations.
He had a master's degree in international relations, which he jokingly defined as one country fucking another-but now, it wasn't a country, it was a corporation.