The study of international relations and global politics is largely the product of attempts to understand the systemic causes of why nation states confront and cooperate with one another. Understanding the causal conditions which lead to both confrontation and cooperation makes it possible to formulate policies which create conditions suitable to the most desired type of interaction.

According to a realist understanding of international relations, conflict is more a norm than the exception in global politics. While nations rise and fall, bringing with each period different types of political and economic elites holding varying ideologies, one thing which dominant theories have noted remains constant is the incidence of conflict. This has often been explained through the condition of anarchy, which means the absence of a central authority at the heart of the international state system.

Report by Institute for Global Dialogue