Essentials of International Relations by Karen A. Mingst, Heather Elko Mckibben, Ivan M Arreguin - Toft (7th Edition) is a book with real insights on the current cooperation and international law. The authors of the book give a different perspective of the law putting into consideration the current issues. Unlike the other books which focus majorly on war, the book opens the readers to contemporary topics such as health, cybersecurity, environment, and refugees. It draws our focus to this book. This paper is purposed to analyses the first two chapters of the book.
Modern international relations cannot be understood without considering historical events. It begins with history because some of the existing world issues were as a result of some historical happenings. An example is a dispute between the Jews and Arabs over territory, which resulted from the bombings of Israel. Understanding the root problem of the current issues is critical in coming up with solutions. Another event dated in the past and its aftermath is still felt to date is the neglect of the marginalized communities by the central government in South Sudan. Marginalization was associated with religious differences and thought to have been amplified by natural disasters ( Mingst & Arreguín-Toft, 2013) . An initiative taken to resolve the Darfur crisis in Sudan was the establishment of territorial boundaries giving rise to the Republic of South Sudan in 2011. However, that was not able to solve the problem. The crisis continues in Sudan, and understanding history is critical in resolving the conflicts.
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Interpretation of past patterns can explain relationships that exist between different events. An example is documentation of all the facts about past wars to explain the causes. Thucydides, an ancient historian, applied this approach to classify the causes of action into immediate and underlying causes. One of the key findings was the growth of Athenian power made war inevitable. Thus, concluding that change in the distribution of power was the underlying cause of action.
The origin of the State system dates back to 1648 in Europe in most theories in International Relations. That is the year when the Treaties of Westphalia ended thirty years of war. It marked the beginning of the secular authority and end of ruling by the religious power. The secular authority established a principle of the state that has been used in international relations since then. This principle defines the territorial integrity of government, sovereignty, and the equality of participants. The thirty years of religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants devastated Europe and ended due to bankruptcy and mutual exhaustion. The disputes were ended by treaties that impacted how international relations were practiced. One of the significant impacts was the embracing of sovereignty, which was attained by all the small states in central Europe ( Mingst & Arreguín-Toft, 2013) . It resulted in states that exercised rights and freedom. They have the right to determine how their nation was ruled, domestic policies within their own geographical space. The leaders of the most influential European countries established their national militaries, which were permanent. It centralized the control, and the national army became the most potent force. Another impact was the establishment of states that dominated the world up to the 19 th century. These states include Russia, Austria, England, the United Provinces, and Prussia.
Cold War resulted from the emergence of the Soviet Union and the United States, which were the two superpowers after World War Two. The two superpowers differed so much in terms of ideologies and interests which resulted in the intensification of incompatibilities. Several confrontations characterized the era of Cold War, which happened between 1945 and 1989. This confrontation was not intended to escalate as they did because they were between proxies. Some of these confrontations played a role in shaping the post-Cold War World. The two most significant events were the blockade of Berlin, the capital city of Germany by the Soviet Union. After the end of World War II, Germany remained divided such that both the superpowers had a share of the territory; this included the capital city of Germany. However, the Soviet Union blocked access to Berlin in 1948, creating a lot of tension between the two. It made the US and Britain adopt to Airlift to supply people in West Berlin, their territory with medical supplies, and other foods. They did that for eleven months every day. The action taken by the US was heroic and gained recognition from the whole world make it a better superpower. The fall of the Berlin wall marked the end of the Cold War (Gaddis, 1991) . Another important event was the start of political and economical reforms by Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. It happened in the year 1985 and led to Europe emerging as an integrated massive economic power (Wohlforth, 1994) .
In conclusion, the book Essentials of international relations is a very informative book. The first three chapters of the book give insights into international relations approaches. Also, it helps the reader understand the historical context of modern international relations. The authors use a different system to look into the current global issues.
References
Gaddis, J. L. (1991). Toward the post-Cold War world. Foreign Affairs , 70 (2), 102-122.
Mingst, K. A., & Arreguín-Toft, I. M. (2013). Essentials of international relations (7th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Wohlforth, W. C. (1994). Realism and the End of the Cold War. International Security , 19 (3), 91-129.
