Hello I am Veronica Mondragón a mexican Law student and I will tell you what I think and what I’ve learned about this course.
The first time I saw the course title “International Relations Theory and the International System” I was excited because it sounded quite interesting and now I can confirm that it is. For me this class is going to be a challenge because as a Law student I normally take courses about different types of Law, for example Labor Law, Environmental Law, Tax Law and many others, but I have never been in touch with the information about International Relations and its theories. Almost all the concepts that are used in this class are new for me and they also are kind of difficult because of the language barrier.
The topics that we have seen this couple of weeks are very interesting, mostly because now I have a new concept and vision about what is happening around the world and how do people even when they have different cultures and concepts of topics such as economics, politics and many others can interact, with each other.
The authors explain about several debates in which the scientists have tried to define the behavior of human beings in the society. They have also established thoughts to really know if International Relations is an art or a science. Among these debates there are many theories or paradigms that try to explain this. The first debate was after the Second World War between the realists and the idealists, the second was in 1960 between traditionalists versus modernists, then between 1960s and 1980s it arose the third debate which was the Inter-paradigm (realistic, marxist or pluralist), and finally the fourth debate was a disagreement between several thinkers who tried to find the answer to the following question: What International Relations should study and how it should be study?
In general, the study of International Relations is very important because it moves the world. In the same way, it’s the basis of how people develop over time. This matter has influence at all levels, for example, if there’s a war, all of humanity is modified because there are deaths and even advances in technology. It is also important to understand how we should relate to other countries, always keeping in mind that while we all work for the common good it will be the best for us, and if individuals can study this in a scientific manner we can regulate the way of life in the world and the relationships between ourselves as human beings regardless of the geographical place where we live.