Conjuncture in International Relations

Relations between countries

International relations

International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

 can follow a curve. This curve can be shaped by the domestic conditions and policies of the countries and international conditions. An appropriate conjuncture may facilitate decision-making and action, while inappropriate international conditions may create great difficulties and even impede international action.

The word conjuncture is derived from the Italian "congiuntura". An extensive usage of the word is found in French as "conjuncture". Dictionnaire des Dictionnaires puts it is as "the meeting, by coincidence, of different things at the same place." Dictionnaire Encyclopédique Quillet describes it as a situation created as a result of some events or interests meeting at the same time and place." Kathleen Christison

Kathleen Christison

Kathleen Christison is an American political analyst and author whose primary area of focus is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict....

, in her book on Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

, interprets this term as a "unique constellation of forces".

Recent Examples

The current international system is affected by the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 and the end of the Cold War. These are three major events shaping the international conjuncture today. Relations between countries take on a different shape when they are situated in the Cold War period or during the end of the Cold War. The countries in Europe have clearly shown us that they have been affected by the international conjuncture. The Reunification of Germany

German reunification

German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...

 is certainly a result of the end of the Cold War. It could not have been achieved had the USSR

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 not disintegrated. As of today, it can be said that a new international conjuncture was created as a result of the 9/11 attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

 on the United States thereby leading to the invasion of Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 and Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

.