AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

If by now the reader is confused over the use of the terms international relations, international politics, and foreign policy, he or she joins the company of most experts in the field. There are many definitions of these terms but little agreement upon which are the most adequate or where the distinctions among them lie. This lack of consensus is no doubt related to the problem of organizing devices. How one defines these terms is largely influenced by what one wants to investi­gate, and what one investigates is largely a function of a particular approach, model, or theory.

Most studies in "world politics" or international politics have in fact been studies of foreign policy. They have concentrated on describing the inter­ests, actions, and elements of power of the great powers. At what point, if any, does foreign policy become international politics? Distinction between the terms may be more academic than real, but it is roughly the difference between the objectives and actions (decisions and policies) of a state or states and the interactions between two or more states.⁶ The student who analyzes the actions of a state toward external environment and the conditions—usually domestic— under which those actions are formulated is concerned essentially with foreign policy; the person who conceives of those actions as only one aspect of a pattern of actions by one state and reactions or responses by others is looking at interna­tional politics, or the processes of interaction between two or more states. The distinction is illustrated in the figure on p. 20.

This book will apply both perspectives, depending upon the problem under analysis. A discussion of state objectives, variables affecting their choice, and some techniques employed to achieve them is related closely to the study of foreign policy, while consideration of international systems, deterrence, and behavior in conflict situations comes closer to the idea of interactions between states.

As distinct from international politics and foreign policy, the term interna­tional relations may refer to all forms of interaction between the members of separate societies, whether government-sponsored or not. The study of interna­tional relations includes the analysis of foreign policies or political processes between nations; however, with its interest in all facets of relations between distinct societies, it would include as well studies of international trade unions, the International Red Cross, tourism, international trade, transportation, com­munication, and the development of international values and ethics. The student of international politics is not concerned with these types of relationships or phenomena, except where they impinge upon official government objectives or where they

⁶ See Fred A. Sondermann, "The Linkage Between Foreign Policy and International Poli­tics," in International Politics and Foreign Policy: A Reader irf-nesearch and Theory, ed. James N. Rosenau (New York: Free Press, 1961), pp. 8-17.

FOREIGN POLICY

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

are employed by governments as instruments of inducement to achieve military or political objectives. An international ice-hockey tournament is an international or transna­tional relationship. So is a world congress of the International Political Science Association. But the student of international politics is interested in these events only if they have some reasonably immediate impact on intergovernmental rela­tions. Where to draw the line is never entirely clear; "ping-pong diplomacy" interests us because it was a novel vehicle used by the Chinese government to establish more important diplomatic links with the United States, while a more ordinary table-tennis match between Australia and New Zealand would not be noteworthy. Similarly, the student of international relations is interested in all aspects of international trade. In international politics, we are concerned with international trade only to the extent that governments may employ economic threats, rewards, or punishments for political purposes, as when they promise to lower tariffs vis-a-vis another country in return for the right to establish a military base in that country.

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