{"id":11431,"date":"2023-01-06T14:06:03","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T14:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/2023\/01\/bd\/"},"modified":"2024-11-20T21:54:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T18:54:00","slug":"the-future-of-the-discipline-of-international-relations-in-the-wake-of-putin-regimes-war-in-ukraine-birgul-demirtas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/2023\/01\/the-future-of-the-discipline-of-international-relations-in-the-wake-of-putin-regimes-war-in-ukraine-birgul-demirtas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of the Discipline of International Relations in the Wake of Putin Regime\u2019s War in Ukraine – Birg\u00fcl Demirta\u015f"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The academic\ndiscipline of International Relations (IR) will celebrate its 104th birthday in\n2023 in the midst of ongoing conflicts, rising tensions and dangerous\nambiguities in global politics. As the civil war in Syria is still going on\nafter 11 years of its outbreak  and\nTaliban regime is violating fundamental human rights in Afghanistan, Putin\nregime has started an unjust war in the neighbouring Ukraine on 24 February\n2022. As the invasion continues unabated, the international community\u2019s efforts\nare far from stopping the aggression of the Russian regime. In addition, the\nRussian president Vladimir Putin is often threatening the world with starting a\nnuclear war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, it is the high time\nto ask the question of why the academic field of IR has so far failed to\nfulfill its most important task of preventing wars and establishing a peaceful\nglobal order? This opinion piece will try to shed light on the reasons for the\ncurrent inability of the discipline to solve the fundamental problems in the\ninter-state relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discipline was\nestablished in 1919 at the University of Aberystwyth in the United Kingdom.\n20,000 Sterlin was donated to the University by a British family \u201cin memory of the\nfallen students of our University for the study of those related problems of\nlaw and politics, of ethics and economics, which are raised by the prospect of\na League of Nations and for the truer understanding of civilisation other than\nour own.\u201d<\/a> The Department of International Politics had just two\nlecturers at the beginning: Alfred Zimmern as the Woodrow Wilson Chair of\nInternational Politics and his fellow scholar Sydney Herbert<\/a>. These scholars had\na fundamental aim in the wake of the tragedy of the First World War: How to\nprevent the outbreak of new wars? How to establish a permanent peace? How to\nconvince states to solve their problems via civilian means? How to establish\ninternational institutions to provide a diplomatic platform for states to have\ndialogue with each other and create alternative and peaceful means of solving\ntheir bilateral and multilateral problems? Though they were later called as \u2018idealists\u2019,\nthey perceived their goals as quite realistic and feasible at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During more than a century\nof IR history; many books, articles, reports, analyses were published all over\nthe world. As the discipline has spread to other parts of the world in the\nfollowing decades, there are now hundreds of IR departments all around the\nglobe. From the East to the West, from the North to the South, thousands of\nscholars are working in IR departments at universities and think tanks. Many\nindexed journals with high impact factor have become the shining stars of the\ndiscipline as prestigious publishers are printing quality textbooks and\nscientific analyses. However, at the end of the day, despite all these\nflourishing publications and departments, the discipline could not yet fulfill\nthe raison d\u2019\u00eatre<\/em> of its existence:\nto prevent wars, conflicts and violence in global politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we think of the\ndiscipline of medicine, it has found the treatment for so many illnesses since\nits emergence in the ancient period from plague to cholera, from tuberclosis to\nspanish flu. If we remember the recent timeline of corona pandemic, an effective\nvaccination (Biontech) was developed 1,5 years after the start of the pandemic.\nAs another example, if we think of the IT departments, their inventions changed\nour daily lives completely. However, the IR department is still embedded in its\nbasic research question and could not come up with an effective solution yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin regime is\nviolating the very fundamental principles of international law and carrying out\nan unjust war in which civilians are especially targeted. Basic infrastructure\nof Ukrainian cities is being destroyed in front of our eyes. Putin aims to\nfulfill his expansionist aims and consolidate its near abroad policy in the\nex-Soviet region by carrying out terrible massacres and destroying a country.\nIn addition, he threatens to use nuclear weapons whenever he deems it appropriate.\nIn April 2022 Putin stated that \u201cIf anyone sets out to intervene in\nthe current events from the outside and creates unacceptable threats for us\nthat are strategic in nature, they should know that our response \u2026 will be\nlightning-fast\u2026 We have all the tools for this, that no one else can boast of\nhaving. We won\u2019t boast about it. We\u2019ll use them, if needed. And I want everyone\nto know that<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In September 2022 Putin once again threatened that\nRussia will use all the means at its disposal to defend its territory<\/a>. These statements\nare a clear nuclear threat. It is so terrible that after more than a century\nof IR, \u2018a man\u2019 has still power at his hand to destroy the whole world via\nnuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, it should\nalso be noted that Putin regime is not the first of its kind to violate basic\nprinciples of the United Nations (UN) Charter and invade other countries. Some\nof the other permanent members of the UN Security Council did also carry out\nsimilar policies in the recent years. US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 is\nanother case from recent history of how the permanent members use violence in\ntheir foreign policy for their so-called \u201cnational interests\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key question is\nwhy the IR discipline could not become successful to end the wars and achieve\npermanent peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think several\nreasons can be accounted for the failures of the IR field. First of all, the\nscholars have forgotten (or chosen to forget) that the basic aim of IR was to\nachieve peace. The focus on establishment of peaceful global order was replaced\nby works based on different kinds of realist understanding. There are\n\u201cscientific\u201d articles published in indexed journals that consider invasions necessary\nfor national interests or they try to normalise the conflictual state of\naffairs. In addition, it should also be noted how the IR professors as well as\njournalists in discussion programs on TV channels all over the world try to\nexplain Russian military tactics without questioning the invasion at all. There\nare abundant examples of these on Turkish TV channels as well. One example of\nsuch statements can be as follows: A Turkish \u201cscholar\u201d on one of these programs\nstated that Ukrainian people wanted to leave their country anyway and the\nRussian war gave them an opportunity to do so! Hence, thanks to Putin, they\nrealised their aims! The normalisation of hard power politics and the\ninternalisation of realism by scholars can very well be observed during times\nof conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second reason for the\nfailure is still the domination of Western-origin understanding and concepts in\nthe IR discipline. Although global IR is an emerging field, it still did not\npermeate the mainstream works adequately. Publications on understanding and implementation of IR\nin different regions of the world from Asia to Africa would provide us new frameworks\nto think IR from different perspectives<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third reason is\nrelated to the linkage between scholarship and political hegemony. In some\ncountries, including Turkey, some scholars perceive academia as a step forward\nfor them to get different prizes in their future career, particularly in\npolitics. Some of them just adopt the politically correct view in line with\ndomestic Zeitgeist<\/em> and forget about\nthe basic principles of academic ethics. These organic intellectuals do not aim\nto come up with original scientific works at all. Therefore, the ethics of\nacademia should be brought back to the agenda of the IR. Offering courses and\nseminars on academic ethics can be the first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth, IR is still a\nmale-dominated discipline. All over the globe male scholars still constitute\nthe majority. Related with this fact, masculine understanding of global\npolitics still dominate most of the writings despite important achievements of\nthe feminist theory of international relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this gloomy\npicture of the IR discipline, we should highlight some achievements as well.\nThe statistical data show us that inter-state wars have a decreasing trend all\nover the world and deaths in battle continue to decline as well. (Pevehouse,\nGoldstein, 2017, s. 72-73) Therefore, although the wars did not come to an end\nyet, we face fewer conflicts and that should be related to development of the\nIR discipline in addition to some other factors as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second achievement\ncan be the establishment of a suprantional organisation, the European Union\n(EU), in which member states go beyond the Westphalian understanding of\nsovereignty based on nation-state and achieve to share their decision-making\nauthority in different realms. An armed conflict among the EU members has just become\nunthinkable. Hence, the Kantian permanent peace has already been achieved in\nEurope and we should think about how to spillover the EU example to other parts\nof the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, it\nshould be noted that authoritarian states are more tempted to use violence in\ntheir foreign policy. Therefore, if the authoritarian turn in global system can\nbe replaced by a new wave of democratisation, it should be expected to decrease\nthe number of conflicts as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, the\nnew year can be seen as an opportunity to question and rethink about the IR\nscholarship in its 104th year. We need to remember why the discipline came into\nbeing in 1919. How we, as scholars, can contribute to change the war-ridden\nglobal politics and establish a peaceful global order. Otherwise, the IR would\njust be a derivative of global and domestic Zeitgeists<\/em>\nand lose its importance in the coming decades. We can contribute to change the\nworld, only if we, as scholars, wish to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bilgin P\u0131nar and Zeynep G\u00fcl\u015fah \u00c7apan, Special Issue on Regional International Relations and Global Worlds: Globalising International Relations, Uluslararas\u0131 \u0130li\u015fkiler<\/em>, Vol. 18, No 70, 2021, https:\/\/uidergisi.com.tr\/yazilar\/cilt-18-sayi-70-2021
Pevehouse, John C. W. and Joshua S. Goldstein, International Relations<\/em>, Boston, Pearson, 2017, p. 72-73.
Tharoor, Ishaan, \u201cRussia pushes the panic button and raises risk of nuclear war\u201d, Washington Post<\/em>, 21 September 2022, https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/09\/21\/russia-referendums-ukraine-occupied-nuclear\/<\/a>
\u201cTimeline of Events\u201d, Aberystwyth University, https:\/\/www.aber.ac.uk\/en\/interpol\/about\/centenary\/interpollegacy\/timelineofevents\/
Wolfgang, Ben, \u201cAngry Putin wields energy, nuclear threats against West\u201d, Washington Times<\/em>, 27 April 2022, https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2022\/apr\/27\/angry-putin-wields-energy-nuclear-threats-against-\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prof. Dr. Birg\u00fcl Demirta\u015f, Turkish-German University <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Birg\u00fcl Demirta\u015f is a faculty member at the Turkish-German University. She completed her undergraduate education in Bo\u011fazi\u00e7i University, her graduate education in Bilkent University, and her doctorate in Free University of Berlin (Freie Universitaet Berlin). She works on Turkish foreign policy, German foreign policy, the Balkans, local diplomacy and gender in academia. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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To cite this work:<\/strong> Birg\u00fcl Demirta\u015f, “The Future of the Discipline of International Relations in the Wake of Putin Regime\u2019s War in Ukraine” Panorama<\/em>, Online, 06 January 2023, https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/blog\/2023\/01\/06\/bd<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Copyright@UIKPanorama.<\/em> All on-line and print rights reserved. Opinions expressed in works published by the Panorama<\/em> belongs to the authors alone unless otherwise stated, and do not imply endorsement by the IRCT, Global Academy, or the Editors\/Editorial Board of Panorama. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The academic discipline of International Relations (IR) will celebrate its 104th birthday in 2023 in the midst of ongoing conflicts, rising tensions and dangerous ambiguities in global politics. As the civil war in Syria is still going on after 11 years of its outbreak  and Taliban regime is violating fundamental human rights in Afghanistan, Putin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":9841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[512,486,507],"tags":[656,653,760,621,644],"class_list":["post-11431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crisis-in-ukraine","category-opinion","category-russia","tag-english","tag-international-politics","tag-putin-en","tag-russia","tag-ukraine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}