ABSTRACT
Additionally, there are three relatively objective reasons for studying international relations (or international politics as they are called in some quarters) :
Like Mount Everest, they are there. Politically speaking, the world is divided into sovereign states which interact with each other intensely and on a huge variety of matters. It is a type of arrangement which, arguably (there is some controversy about its starting point), has been in continuous existence for half a millennium. Today, moreover, the attachment to sovereign statehood as an organising political device is at least as intense as ever. It is a natural consequence that some people want to know more about this phenomenon.
