Theoretical Considerations

Abstract

The central aim of this book is to examine more closely some aspects of the international political process. At the outset the meaning of “international political process” should be clarified. While there is no general agreement either on the definition of “politics” or on the scope of political studies,¹ politics is viewed here as a process consisting of the actions and interactions of men and groups of men in so far as they are concerned with the making of authoritative policy for the groups in which they participate. Political activities are those activities of men and groups of men directed toward influencing the making of authoritative policy. Groups, as defined here, are aggregates or collectivities of men, with or without frequent interaction. Policy is the web of decisions and actions that allocate values, both material and non-material, for a group, or in other words, that deny goods to some people and provide them to others. Authoritative policy is policy which is considered binding by the group, either for reasons of moral obligation, of self-interest, or of fear. Students of politics have been interested in the political process in all groups but have mainly concentrated their attention on the political process within national states or among national states. The reason for this concentration of attention is to be found in the underlying value-concern of students of politics, who have sought out the most important problems facing men in their common life and studied the attempts to solve these problems by men organised collectively in national states under governments possessing a monopoly of physical coercion.