Political Science and International Relations

The core concern of political science is power: how it is distributed and used within states and societies. International relations (IR) examines its use and distribution among the state units that compose the international “system.” Historically, IR’s overriding concern is with peace and war, though in recent decades the discipline has grappled increasingly with the growth of international “regimes”: norms, rules, and patterns of conduct that influence state behavior in a given issue area.