There are many currents in studying the question of international relations. Such a variety is due to various criteria used by various authors.
Some researchers, based on geographical features, highlight the Anglo-Saxon, Chinese and Soviet theoretical positions. Other authors are based on the degree of generality of existing concepts, highlighting, for example, particular methods and hypotheses, explicative propositions (for example, philosophy of history and political realism), Marxist-Leninist typology.
However, the main theories of international relations stand out. These include, in particular:
- Political idealism. This theory of international relations has an ideological and theoretical foundation. They are liberalism, utopian socialism and pacifism of the 19th century. The main idea of this theory of international relations is the conviction that it is necessary to end all world wars and armed conflicts with the help of democratization and legal settlement, spreading the norms of justice and morality. One of the priority themes of the concept is the formation of collective security on the basis of voluntary disarmament, as well as the mutual renunciation of the use of war as a foreign policy instrument.
- Political realism. This theory of international relations is based on the fact that the only way to maintain peace is to establish a certain balance of power (power) in the world arena as a result of the desire of each power to satisfy its national interests as much as possible.
- Political modernism. This theory of international relations reflects a commitment to the use of rigorous scientific procedures and methods, an interdisciplinary approach, and an increase in empirical, verifiable data.
- The transnational theory of international relations is a combination of several concepts. Its supporters put forward the general idea of the discrepancy between political realism and its inherent paradigm of the main trends and the nature of interstate interactions. In their opinion, international relations affect not only states, but also enterprises, individuals, organizations, and other non-state associations. This theory contributed to the awareness of some new phenomena in interstate interactions. In connection with the change in the technology of transport and communications, the transformation of the situation in foreign markets, as well as the increase in the number and importance of transnational corporations , new trends have arisen. The prevailing ones include:
- outstripping the development of world production, growth in trade in the world;
- development of modernization, urbanization, communications;
- an increase in the international significance of private entities and small countries;
- reducing the ability of large states to control the natural state.
The general result is an increase in interdependence in the world with a relative decrease in the role of power in international relations.
5. Neo-Marxism. This trend is considered as heterogeneous as transnationalism. The concept is based on the idea of community integrity and some utopianism in assessing its future. Based on individual theses of traditional classical Marxism, neo-Marxists represent the space of interstate interactions in the form of a global empire. At the same time, its periphery (colonial countries) experiences oppression of the center even after gaining political independence. This, in turn, is manifested in uneven development and inequality in economic exchanges.