Actors of international relations

Seminar 5-6

Actors of international relations

Actor is any individual or political entity, which has enough authority and power and has a will to exercise its power to influence political processes.

An international relations actor can be defined as an entity with the capacity of having an impact in international relations. Unlike domestic actor, struggling for ability to govern or influence domestic governance, international actors are those who act across state borders and impact other actors in the other countries.

International actors are multiple (individuals, social groups and movements, companies, organizations, states and groups of states). The mightiest and the main international relations actor in international relations since the Treaty of Westphalia(1648) is sovereign state.

Why actors matter?

Methodologically and theoretically it is not possible to analyze a political process without an understanding of who drives politics, what are his motives and intentions and what capabilities it has.

Types of actors

There are three basic types of actors in international relations:

States - sovereign states, which are considered the most important actors in international relations. Modern sovereign state emerged in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty-year War.

International organizations - inter-state (intergovernmental) institutions, created by states on the basis of treaties and charters to fulfill the states' interests and purposes.

Non-state actors - all other social entities, which have enough resources to influence the international politics and who are active at the word arena. Their importance and presence is growing since 1970s, due to globalisation.