Nastanak savremenih međunarodnih odnosa kao naučne discipline i kratak osvrt na njihov istorijski razvoj

Abstract

This paper considers the establishment of modern international relations as a scientific discipline and the first theoretical discussions relating to the definition of its subject. The paper also presents a brief overview of the historical development of international relations with a special emphasis on defining its important contextual determinants, or features. The post-war establishment of a new science of international politics did not proceed without disagreements, theoretical differences, methodological discussions, and even open resistance to the emerging scientific discipline. Discussions and disputes primarily concerned its subject matter. Some theorists emphasized its eclectic character and the methodological and theoretical wanderings present in the discussions at the time, attempting to challenge a clear and precise subject determination. But all the trials and great debates that the new scientific discipline went through did not only reveal its theoretical and methodological blunders, but primarily demonstrated the complexity of the subject matter it researches. The ever-present dynamics of the development of international relations between the two world wars further intensified the feeling of frustration and the impossibility of establishing a relevant perception of the new world reality. The new discipline also shed light on the accelerated changes that pushed world relations in the direction of a new global conflict. In its one-hundred-year-long history, the development of WMO as a scientific discipline has gone through four major debates which, despite the intensity of theoretical discussions and methodological challenges, ultimately contributed to its overall constitution as a scientific discipline. Additionally, there is a greater awareness that the shifting of theoretical paradigms is also inherent in other sciences, which are much more exact than political sciences as a whole, and specifically the new discipline that studies international relations.