Conclusion

This course has introduced you to the meaning and function of concepts and theories in the study of International Relations. As you have learned, concepts are a tool that thinkers use to categorise the world around them, whilst theories offer a framework for understanding how the different elements of that world are connected to one another.

There is a great variety of theoretical approaches to international relations, and you have had the opportunity to engage with seven of these in detail. Resting on different philosophies, premises and assumptions, these theories tend to approach key issues in international relations in different ways. So, on the one hand, they might rely upon similar sets of concepts to categorise the world, but provide contrasting interpretations of these key concepts (recall the different ways in which realists and Marxists view power, as well as how poststructuralists link power to discourse). Alternatively, they might incorporate specific sets of concepts better suited to the issues that they aim to address (recall liberal ideas of norms and cooperation, constructivists’ focus on the process of social construction, as well as postcolonialist and ecofeminist attention to colonialism and gender).

Beyond their contrasting uses of key concepts, the seven theoretical traditions in IR that you have encountered in this course take fundamentally different approaches to their key topics of interest. This might be the state-focused elements of realist approaches, the economic aspects addressed by Marxist approaches, or the political and gender hierarchies considered by postcolonial and feminist approaches respectively. It might be the issues of discourse and values that, in one way or another, find themselves central to constructivist, poststructuralist and liberal approaches.

As you have learned throughout this course, each IR theory has different strengths and weaknesses. The key thing is to be able to relate the theoretical perspective to the problem under consideration, to ensure that its insights are of use in understanding the real-world problems and questions you are investigating. This short course has equipped you with the basics of each of these seven theoretical traditions, so that you can begin to make these connections yourself as you try to make sense of developments in international relations.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course D322 International relations: people, power and change [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . You can find out more about Open University courses and qualifications, tuition fees and funding options by visiting our online prospectus.