Revolution in International Relations:study in the changing nature and balance of power

THIS study is addressed to a wider public than the professional student of international relations. It began as an attempt to write an intro duction to the subject for the educated general reader, adapted to an age in which international relations have become the most important of all fields of human activity, and a matter of life and death for the entire human race.

But as I wrote I found myself, sometimes consciously, sometimes, as seen in retrospect, unconsciously, addressing particular audiences within the general public which I have known during years of resi dence in four continents. In writing, for example, on colonisation I was acutely conscious of the attitudes of large numbers of Asian students whom I have taught in the Far East and Middle East. In writing on decolonisation I was aware all the time of those British onlookers who have been tempted into saying, "I told you so", of some of the early results of decolonisation. In writing on the idea of balance of power and on the role of "ideology "-or, as I prefer to call it, political doctrines in international affairs, I was drawn into a more detailed exposition than I might otherwise have made, by the attitudes which I encountered in periods of residence in the United States.

It by no means follows, however, that what is said with one partic ular audience in mind is of little concern to others. Although the educated Asian or African reader will not need to be given reasons why decolonisation was necessary, he will do well to consider care fully what foundation there may have been for the fears and mis givings of those who thought it premature when it came. And western readers, few of whom have had or sought the opportunity to live among the emerging peoples, may benefit from an analysis of the viewpoint of the latter on what to them is or has been foreign rule or domination. In international studies we should strive, not only to see ourselves as others see us, but also to see others as they see themselves. Again, the underlying differences in the attitudes in Europe and the United States respectively towards the role of doctrines, especially that of communism, in international relations are not yet fully appreciated and it is necessary to address both audiences.