ABSTRACT
The principal unit of analysis for both realists and internationalists was the state. Indeed, the nature of the state and inter-state relations in an environment of anarchy were the justification for the separate status of International Relations (IR) as a discipline. The aim of the internationalists was to set the people free through democratic institutions, nation-states and international organisations based on collective security where the harmony of interest would be able to manifest itself. Political, class and ethnic wars could take place within states, and the economic system, and other functional ties, could operate freely across state boundaries reflecting shared value systems. Behaviouralism in the social sciences generally had its impact on political science and IR, leading inter alia to consideration of the individual as the prime unit of analysis. Movements away from the realist consensus occurred along two principal axes – the relaxation of assumptions about the state-centricity of the world and about the pervasive nature of power politics.
