From an academic standpoint, the study of international politics is a discipline of inquiry that provides objective tools for the observation and analysis of the behavior of world political leaders. However, the original purpose of the field – preventing war – remains as the primary guiding element of the discipline.
As the field of study grew, various approaches to it emerged. These included the concept of world government, with special reference to the League of Nations; various kinds of “devil” theories, with munitions makers, capitalists, and imperialists being cast as the devils; geopolitics; the realist school, stressing power drives; psychological approaches, focusing on tensions as causes of war; game and bargaining theory; and systems theory and the study of transformations in concrete systems.
The first university departments to teach international politics opened in the 1920s. Journals also began to appear, with the Council on Foreign Relations beginning with Foreign Affairs in 1922. The Journal of Conflict Resolution followed in 1948, the International Studies Quarterly in 1957, and the Journal of Peace Research, more oriented to work employing quantitative methods, in 1962.
As the world has grown increasingly interdependent, the importance of studying international politics has become more evident. However, despite the proliferation of international institutions, the state remains the dominant actor in world politics. Moreover, even in the most effective of these organizations, states will often act independently of one another. Consequently, the world will continue to be plagued with conflict and the need for scholars to study it.