Unit 2

Question 1

Who defined the word ‘international’, the basis of international relations?

Answer 1

Justin Rosenberg

Question 2

How did Rosenberg define ‘international’?

Answer 2

That dimension of social reality which arises specifically from the existence within it of more than one society. … at any given historical point, the human world has comprised a variety of societies, of differing sizes, cultural forms and levels of material development.

Question 3

What is the term for Rosenberg’s definition of a world (always) consisting of more than one society?

Answer 3

Societal multiplicity

Question 4

What are the key features of polities?

Answer 4

• Collectively binding rules (laws, social norms, traditions, etc.)
• Differentiating insiders and outsiders (Inländer, Ausländer, deren Rechte etc.)
• Managing external relations (relations with other polities/societies)

Question 5

How do we come from co-existence of societies to international relations?

Answer 5

Rosenberg: it is not just that societies coexist in some passive way, but rather that ‘diplomacy’ – in the broadest sense of the negotiated management of inter-societal relations – has been an institutionalised feature of just about every type (or case) of society.