The rapid expansion of courses in international relations on the university level is causing an acute need for a consideration of the contents of the introductory course. More and more political scientists are required to teach international relations, and many of them are not at all certain about what material to cover or what approach to use. The relative newness of courses in international relations and the lack of any standard criteria have created a situation perplexing to both teacher and student.

The field of international relations may be broken down into international law, international organization, and international politics. The study of international politics is the basic, introductory course in the field. International politics is really a study of the primary factors that enter into the politics of nations as reflected in current international developments. International politics is a new academic discipline only in so far as it involves the selection of certain pertinent material largely from the social sciences and the application of these data to international developments. The study of international politics reflects the present tendency toward the consideration of social science as a whole and away from its artificial division into separate compartments.