Role of Domestic Factors in International Politics:
In domestic politics and international politics, the power factor remains a dominant aspect. In fact, the relations between domestic and international politics are the manifestations of power struggle.
The internal and external relations between states, to speak in the strict sense, are complementary to each other and are not separable at all. As a matter of fact, as Prof. A. E. Moodie remarks, “the achievement of harmony between the internal and external relations of all states is a pre-requisite to the development of human well-being in the world as a whole”.
Three factors illustrate clearly the harmony between domestic and international politics. These factors are increasing interdependence of states, rapid expansion in the means of communication and modern warfare.
The First Factor- Just as man cannot live in isolation so no state, no community, however small it may be, can live in isolation. A human community can only maintain its vitality by intercourse with others. The false ideals of a self-contained, self-supporting country are in modern times unnatural concepts. According to Prof. Goblet, “International intercourse is an essential condition for the health of the body politic, and the greater the activity of this intercourse, the greater the development of interdependence”. The economic and demographic character of interdependence provides a great harmony between domestic and international politics.
The Second Factor- To illustrate this harmony between domestic and international politics is the progressive increase in the radius of communication. Through the increasing means of communication, now facilities for the movement of peoples, goods and ideas are available to mankind. By this rapid increase in the means of communication, people of one land have become aware of the existence of other peoples. This growth and spread of knowledge help a lot in the achievement of harmony between the internal and external relationships of all states.
The Third Factor- It is that the present atomic warfare has changed the strategic consideration. The mechanization of modern warfare has made wars more total than in any other period of history. Now almost all citizens of the nation identify themselves with the war of their nation. Now, everybody in some way or the other is affected by war. Under such circumstances, external relationships of states do not remain the entire responsibility of some statesmen but are directly the concern of all people of all states.
Up to the end of the nineteenth century, inter-state relations were mainly dominated by “imperial consideration”. “Energetic, expansionist peoples, sought outlets for their trade and territorial ambitions in the acquisition of lands beyond the limits of their own countries, As a result, vast empires were built up, usually by haphazard methods and often because the representatives of one state happened to be first in the field of empire-building”. At the beginning of the 20th-century territorial imperialism was replaced by economic imperialism. Rapidly increasing means of communication and growing industrialism changed the nature of inter-state relationships. There came “spheres of interest” in the world political order. Britain, France, Holand, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the U.S.A. recognized that they possessed “vital interest” in different parts of the world. As Prof. Moodie writes, “Treaties, often incorporating ‘most favoured nations’ clauses, trade agreements, and a widespread network of consular representatives were the means by which inter-state economic relationships were defined and dominated”.
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