Information about the discipline "international relations" |
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From 2022, "international relations" has become a separate scientific discipline in the field of social sciences in Poland, enabling the obtaining of doctoral and habilitated doctor degrees as well as the title of professor. The discipline of "international relations" is distinguished by a separate identity, which consists of five elements. Firstly, the subject of research, ontology, which is international relations as a sphere of social reality. They are proposed to be understood as multi-faceted (political, economic, cultural, social, military, ecological, etc.) and multi-level (international system, state level) cross-border activities, phenomena and processes as well as factors conditioning them in a decentralized international environment. Cross-borderness, identified with internationality, is an indispensable requirement of the subject of research in the discipline of "international relations". States are not the only actors. A feature of contemporary international relations is the increase in cross-border activity of non-state actors, also called transnational ones. Secondly, it is an epistemology consisting of over 100 years of theoretical traditions, schools of thought about international relations, their explanation or interpretation, with the dominant meaning of varieties of realism, liberalism and constructivism. Thirdly, it is a set of specific research methods inspired by the traditions of the social sciences and humanities. Fourthly, it is a specific conceptual network, categories used to describe, explain or interpret internationality, i.e. what is cross-border. Fifthly, these are the institutional structures for conducting research in the discipline of "international relations". Globally, they are over 100 years old. At the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, international relations have been studied in various organizational forms since the mid-1960s. |
