In many ways, International Relations does what it says on the tin. Whatever direction you choose to take your degree, it all comes down to how nations, groups, and peoples interact with one another. Of course, as with any human relationships, international relations can go in both positive and negative directions. You might spend one week looking at international alliances and coalition building to combat fuel poverty and spend the next looking at genocide and child soldiers.
As a Christian then, studying International Relations offers a compelling insight into the nature of the human condition in all its goodness but also its corruption at a far larger scale than we normally do. Whilst the subject can veer towards high-minded idealism or despairing cynicism, the Christian has the resources to walk a humble yet hopeful path, mindful that ‘the earth is the LORD’s and everything in it’ (Psalm 24:1).
Working for the wellbeing of creation
International Relations is a fantastic tool for understanding the world better on a host of issues that offer very practical and very obvious routes to serving the common good. International Relations gives you the chance to study war and conflict, humanitarian crises and efforts to prevent and alleviate them, terrorism and matters of international security, as well as human rights and international development to name just a few.
Is military intervention on humanitarian grounds ever justified? If it is, does it work? What about international aid? Is that an effective use of money or does it simply fuel corruption and dependency forming yet another arrow in the bow of the great powers? Is terrorism primarily a result of economic deprivation or are there other factors at play? These are complicated questions, the answers to which greatly impact both domestic and international politics. These are also questions which directly impact millions of peoples’ lives and so answering them well will either contribute to the improved welfare of nations, communities, and families, or their harm or even destruction.
Whilst there is a danger this can become an overly academic exercise, there are great opportunities in International Relations to understand what causes some of the worst human catastrophes and explore how they might be prevented or alleviated in the future.
Christians have a unique role to play within these debates for multiple reasons.
First, there is a tendency in the field to minimise human evil and attempt to build heaven here on earth. It can be immensely attractive to overstate human capacity to eradicate evil and massively overstretch in an attempt to build the promised land. This can lead to great dangers: for example, do wars to impose democracy do more harm than good?
We may be tempted to oversimplify complex global affairs into neat soundbites or lessons from history – yet in reality, people, cultures, and problems can be complex and intractable. Not every issue is merely the result of economics. The international stage is littered with evil actors doing evil things, and we need to have a vocabulary to be able to call a spade a spade. Christianity offers this in a way our secular humanistic world simply cannot.
Second, there is an opposing tendency to overstate human evil and attempt to build hell here on earth. It can be all too tempting to see the worst of humanity and resort to a brutal view of the state of nature in which everyone looks out for themselves and the strong rule and dominate the weak for selfish gain. An account of power and influence that seeks to serve and bless offers a more constructive and hopeful way for global affairs.
Worshipping the God we work for
Based on my degree, studying International Relations can be extremely interesting but not necessarily that cheerful. Whilst there is much good within the discipline that can be celebrated, you also spend a lot of your time looking at some of darkest and most difficult issues possible. Understandably therefore it is very easy to feel out of your depth and to wonder what can be done.
There is a good lesson in there for believers about the true nature of belief and the power of our Lord. While history is littered with grandiose human schemes, the Bible reminds us of the limits of human power. Take for example Isaiah 40:21-24:
‘Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.’
For all the greatness and might of human schemes and power plays, they are but grasshoppers before the Lord. He is not surprised by what takes place, nor is he powerless in the face of human evil or natural catastrophe. One can grow disillusioned, or one can turn to the Maker of heaven and earth in awe and wonder, and a profound sense of need. That is no bad thing in a world which tends to look inwards not upwards.
T.S. Elliot wrote: “We cannot be satisfied to be Christians at our devotions and merely secular reformers all the rest of the week, for there is one question that we need to ask ourselves every day and about whatever business. The Church has perpetually to answer this question: to what purpose were we born? What is the end of Man?”
There is a real danger that Christians fall into a practical atheism, confessing God with our lips but seeking to redeem the world through our own efforts. International Relations certainly has plenty of examples of this - but in seeing the depth of human wickedness and scale of the challenges facing the human condition, we might learn from what Psalm 146 says:
“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.”
Witnessing to the world
G.K. Chesterton famously said, “I find it amazing that moderns reject the doctrine of original sin when it is the only Christian doctrine that can be empirically verified.” Likewise, in Cormac McCarthy’s novel ‘No Country for Old Men’, there is a scene in which the local Sheriff muses on the existence of Satan, coming to the conclusion that “He explains a lot of things that otherwise don’t have no explanation. Or not to me they don’t.”
International Relations, I think, lends itself to a similar conclusion. What other explanations are there for a subject in which your day-to-day focuses on conflict, war crimes, terrorism, international crime, famine, dire poverty, and the scheming of powers great and small? This might be a rather depressing thought, but for the believer there is good news, and good opportunities to explain the brokenness of the world. That is not to say that the connection is always easy or straightforward, but there is fertile ground for the gospel because it is not difficult to see the reality of sin and the often-futile attempts to make the world a better place.
There is also a more positive story to tell, with Christians having played an incredibly influential role in international affairs over the years. Early theologians wrestling with the horrors of warfare developed the doctrine of Just War theory, which has largely shaped our understanding of war, good wars, and good conduct in wars ever since. Christians have been involved in the founding and running of some of the largest humanitarian aid organisations in the world with Tearfund, Worldvision, International Justice Mission, and Compassion some of the most well-known in our day and age. Scholars like Tom Holland have shown how the human rights doctrine we take for granted today was largely shaped by Christian thinking and practice, with Christians prominent in the development of the human rights framework in the wake of the Second World War.
The gospel both makes sense of the horrors of the world and offers the moral resources and direction to animate a response, all rooted in our God who “rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity. The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed a stronghold in times of trouble” (Psalm 9).
Conclusion
International Relations is a fascinating degree with opportunities to (at least conceptually) travel the world and explore solutions and improvements to some of the thorniest and most devastating issues facing humanity. It is also an incredibly humbling degree, that highlights the human capacity for wickedness yet also our weakness when compared to the Lord most High, righteous and just, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Keep your eyes on Him then in your degree, for even the best of princes (insert favoured aid organisation/diplomatic grouping here) are powerless to save. Let your degree be a reminder of the devastating condition of the world without a saviour and let the gospel and the rich biblical teaching on justice shape your response to offer both immediate and ultimate hope to a world in need.
Reflect and discuss
Think: Think back over what you have studied so far in your degree. Where have you seen God's fingerprints? Where have ideas presented to you challenged what you believed to be true?
Live: What do you think your coursemates would know about what is important to you from the way you live? Is there anything you want to change here?
Speak: Are there topics in your subject that are closer to talking about your outlook on life, God or the gospel? Pray for people on your course and for opportunities to share about Jesus with them this term.
Taking it further
- Jubilee Manifesto: A Framework, Agenda and Strategy for Christian Social Reform by Michael Schluter and John Ashcroft.
- David French is a well-known American Christian who often comments on international affairs: https://x.com/davidafrench?lang=en
- Tom Simpson in the UK is a Christian academic working in this space and would also be worth a follow: https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/people/tom-simpson
- Not exclusively IR but lots of CARE’s opinion/thought pieces look at IR topics. https://care.org.uk/opinions
