Theories Of The International System In The 21st Century

The international system is the structure of relationships between the actors in the global environment in the international level. The relationships between both state and non-state actors, international organizations and multi-national corporations. The international system is the ground for policymakers as they work along the process of policy making and applying the interests of their state. To cut the long story short , a person involved in the business of policy making must understand the international system to create a foreign policy that suits the interest of the people. In a way, the use of international relations (IR) theories would help in understanding the status quo and would eventually help a policy maker to create a good foreign

The system is so complex that a single theory can’t explain the entirety of it. Though , realism could play a major part in explaining it thus, the need for other theories is essential to give answer to the lapses that were not discussed by realism. In order to explain the current international system through the aforementioned theories. It is best to know first the current state of the global system in the 21st century. The status quo in the 21st century revolves around the ideas of threat, challenges and opportunities and with that strategic leaders of 21st century are mainly concerned on the issues of foreign policy making and national security. To discussed why the international system behaved the way it does, different theories would help along the way. Each theories has different sets of assumptions and level of analysis. Some theories may analyze on a state-level basis and some would do an overall systematic approach. The most common school of thought are realism and liberalism, though there is another competing concept which is Constructivism and these theories analyzes and gives assumption to the current international system. First school of thought is realism which is the most dominant theory since WWII. To give realism a more vivid picture in 21st century, there are accounts of events which agreed upon the realist