06/06/2021
The field of international relations dates from the time of the Greek historian Thucydides.
While international relations is sometimes considered a subdiscipline of political science,[2][3] it also draws heavily upon international economics, international law, world history and cultural anthropology, leading many academic institutions to characterise it as an independent or multidisciplinary field.[4][5] Dependent on the academic institution, the study of international relations may thus be situated in the department of politics and social sciences, within its own department, or across multiple departments of study.
The study of international affairs dates at least to the fifth century BC, when Greek historian Thucydides analysed the interactions between Athens and Sparta that led to the Peloponnesian War.[6] It did not emerge as a discrete field until the turn of the 20th century, initially as an extension of political science; it was first distinguished as its own discipline in 1919, when it was offered as an undergraduate major by Aberystwyth University in Wales.[7] Over the next decade, similar studies were established at the University of Oxford and London School of Economics, which led the field to develop its independence and prominence.[8]
After the Second World War, international relations burgeoned in both importance and scholarship—particularly in North America and Western Europe—partly in response to the geostrategic concerns of the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent rise of globalisation in the late 20th century presaged new theories and evaluations of the rapidly changing international system. Into the 21st century, as connections between states become progressively more complex and multifaceted, international relations has been incorporated into other fields, such as economics, law, and history, leading to a convergent, interdisciplinary field.[9]
