International politics is one of the major multi-disciplines of political science, alongside comparative politics, foreign policy analysis and theory, and international law. The field is broadly defined to include the study of relations between nations, but can also extend to non-state actors (such as NGOs or private groups) and global issues such as economics, environment, science and technology.
There are roughly four main schools of thought within IR: realism, liberalism, institutionalism and constructivism. Each has its own underlying assumptions and approach to understanding the world, but they all share an emphasis on power.
Realism assumes there is no governing international authority that determines state behaviour, therefore it is up to the states themselves to coerce or persuade each other to act in their own interests. This enables Great Power politics to be the dominant norm in the international arena, with the actions of major powers being the decisive and dominating force.
Similarly, liberalism assumes that state behaviour is largely determined by unique national characteristics. This means that states will often project a divergent set of interests in the international arena, and that non-state actors are more fundamental to global politics than is commonly assumed. This gives a greater explanatory power to phenomena such as ethnic conflicts, religious wars and transnational diaspora politics.
Institutionalism agrees with realism that cooperation is possible, but takes it a step further by assuming that states tend to cooperate if they are given the right incentives and institutions. This allows for the possibility of a rules-based world order overseen by one, two or seven countries rather than by none.
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