Abstract
Until the 1960s, the dominant approach in international relations was the realist approach, focusing on the centrality of the unitary states in global politics. In contrast to the classical state-centric approach to international relations theory, this approach develops a framework of global politics that helps account for the presence of international nongovernmental organizations, particularly the transnational social movements. In fact, the last few decades of the twentieth century were marked by the expansion of an organizational infrastructure for transnational social change activism. This growth appears to mirror that of other forms of transnational association, and may both support and respond to expansions in the numbers and intensity of intergovernmental organizations. That is why it is important to think about global politics in other terms, including the classical intergovernmental relations and interactions, but also the international relations and interactions, the transnational relations and interactions between nongovernmental actors and governmental actors, and something new with the transnational relations and interaction between nongovernmental actors.
