Does the world of international relations change at all?
In his lecture, Kiichi Fujiwara points to the different
schools of thought regarding this issue. The neo-realist
school maintains that the structure of international
politics will remain unchallenged, and thus international
relations do not change. It also maintains that as long
as the world is comprised of sovereign states, the main
structure of international relations will be the same,
unless a new global authority that imposes sanctions
on deviant behaviors takes the place of the existing
power structure. Another school of thought states that
international relations have changed dramatically since
the process of globalization and the interdependence
of nations have challenged the isolated autonomy of
sovereign states.
The speaker reviewed the transition of the
international community after adding another factor to
the equation, namely, the entry of non-Western actors
and powers into the calculus of classical power politics.
To sum up, three factors may be identified as potentially
capable of causing changes in international relations:
key players, polities and the interdependence of nations.