Systems approach in IR

• Intro- Systems approach in IR seeks to analyse international relations as a system of interactions of states which are interdependent and interrelated. It is a product of behavioural revolution in IR

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  Morton A Kaplan.-work- systems and processes in International politics
• Wanted to build a grand theory of international politics which can explain past, present and future of international politics
• Most suitable for study of international politics because it requires interdisciplinary approach. Also it is non-normative ,value neutral and free from biases
• Approach takes international politics as an overarching idea and not as a sum of foreign policies.

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  Critical evaluation by traditionalists like Robert J Lieber:
• Criticised as model building exercise rather than theory building.
• Many models are hypothetical
• Just a general explanation of international politics. No analysis
• Ignore importance of domestic factors, personality factors
• do not help in making predictions
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  Stanly Hoffmann- strange parlour game that has absolute zero analytical value.
• Ernst Haass criticises the approach for not including sub national factors

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  Kenneth Boulding suggests that the effort is certainly more than giving fancy names even though it has pigeonholes.

• Conclusion:  systems theory has helped understand the structure of IR in a more scientific and analytical way that is still used by scholars for their analysis of the contemporary world order.