An Assessment of Modern International Relations Theory

The scholarship of traditional International Relations Theory (IR) seems that has little to say to students, academicians and analysts at present days. The events of the last decade in world politics and the present geopolitical situation seem to have passed the centuries old relations between nations, accompanied with a new and unprecedented approach to international formal conventions and agreements. Modern political leaders often use elements of traditional IR theory when articulating solutions to national and international security dilemmas. But these solutions then translate into modern policies capturing courses of action for accomplishing national objectives with varying strategic implications. It appears that policies of today convert into acts aiming at strengthening power and influence, via corporations and military means. This paper presents the incompatibility of traditional IR theory with the modern one, accompanied with examples and analysis of the key events that have startled academicians, students and interpreters of IR studies.