Important milestones in modern International Relations
Drawing a timeline of the development of the field of International Relations (IR) is not simple, but it is not impossible. We can rely on several important historical events to map out turning points
Although there is evidence that International Relations existed in ancient times, this young discipline was only officially popularized and taught in universities from 1919. Before that, IR was still considered a matter of war. After the events of World War I ended, IR was born at Aberystwyth University in Wales. Later that year, Georgetown University in the US also began to include IR in its curriculum, starting a trend for universities to research and teach International Relations. Below is a summary of the main historical milestones of International Relations.
Before 1914, a system of agreements and laws called the 'Concert of Europe' was arranged between the great powers of Europe to maintain the status quo on the continent. The collapse of this system led to war, and the European powers, divided into two major groups, drew their overseas colonies and other powers such as Japan and the US into the conflict. At the time, this was called the 'Great War' because of the unprecedented global scale of the conflict.
After World War I ended, the years between the two wars were considered a period of optimism. The first efforts at global governance were made, marked by the birth of the 'League of Nations' based in Geneva, to provide a forum for managing disputes through negotiation instead of war. However, the 'Great Depression' spread worldwide in the early 1930s, bringing significant economic decline. This event marked the importance of economics to the global system, especially the speed with which its negative impacts spread from place to place.
As a result, several countries dissatisfied with the status quo in the interwar years, most notably Germany and Japan, sought to increase their power and gain more territory by invading neighboring countries. This led to the collapse of the League of Nations and another world war when a group of countries including the US, China, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union formed an alliance (called the Allies) to fight against the expansionist powers (called the Axis), eventually winning after occupying Germany and Japan surrendered in 1945.
But peace did not last long, a new war was brewing. The next war was called the Cold War because the presence of nuclear weapons made a traditional war between adversaries (in this case the US and the Soviet Union) unlikely because each side had the power to destroy each other and in doing so, endanger the entire human civilization. This was called mutually assured destruction (MAD). For that reason, smaller-scale conflict and competition existed, but a full-blown 'hot war', such as the wars of previous decades, was no longer possible. This period also emphasized the importance of ideology in shaping global conflict, mainly between capitalism and communism, creating two opposing systems.
A short period followed the end of the Cold War, in which it was thought that the international organizations built after 1945 (such as the United Nations) would finally mature and create a safer and more peaceful world order based on ideas and practices shared globally. Francis Fukuyama's idea of the 'end of history', in which he argued that liberal democracy was the only viable long-term political system to complement a capitalist world, marked this era. However, critics of such ideas highlighted their shortcomings in terms of a Western image of world order.
The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the new century were marked by turmoil. On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda - a terrorist group opposed to Western (mainly American) dominance in the global system - attacked the US by hijacking four commercial planes and crashing two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York and a third into the Pentagon. This event led the US to start the War on Terror to eliminate terrorists and governments that support or facilitate them in the world. The actions of the US - along with subsequent activities of al-Qaeda and similar terrorist groups - shaped the first two decades of the 21st century and led to significant changes in the nature of both domestic and international politics.
Gradually, the world developed further, and technology also advanced rapidly. People were also constantly moving from place to place and exchanging goods and cultural artifacts. What had changed, due to advances in technology and transportation, was the speed and intensity of this process. The embodiment of this shrinking of time and space was the term 'globalization', a major part of how we view the world today. However, a major event occurred. In 2020, when the novel coronavirus became the Covid-19 pandemic, it brought two focal points that changed our perspective. First, transnational terrorism was no longer the central issue it once was. Second, the pandemic raised questions about the image of an interconnected, interdependent world as borders closed and most countries initially turned inward to solve their own problems instead of looking outward to pursue a global solution for all. Therefore, it is likely that the era emerging from this crisis will be a test of the resilience of the global system and the nature of globalization in the future.
In summary, there are 6 main milestones to note:
World War I from 1914 to 1918
Interwar period from 1919 to 1938
World War II from 1939 to 1945
Cold War from 1947 to 1991
Post-9/11 from 2001 to 2019
Post-Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to present
This is just one of many ways to divide or create a timeline for the development of the field of IR. What is important is how these events shape the world we live in, how it develops rapidly, creating increasingly larger tsunamis. Therefore, once again, these events remind us of the importance of exploring and studying IR, whether you are an insider or outsider. No one lives alone in this world, no country is an island in the international system.