<P> What is explicitly recognized as international relations theory was not developed until after World War I, and is dealt with in more detail below . IR theory, however, has a long tradition of drawing on the work of other social sciences . The use of capitalizations of the "I" and "R" in international relations aims to distinguish the academic discipline of international relations from the phenomena of international relations . Many cite Sun Tzu's The Art of War (6th century BC), Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War (5th century BC), Chanakya's Arthashastra (4th century BC), as the inspiration for realist theory, with Hobbes' Leviathan and Machiavelli's The Prince providing further elaboration . </P> <P> Similarly, liberalism draws upon the work of Kant and Rousseau, with the work of the former often being cited as the first elaboration of democratic peace theory . Though contemporary human rights is considerably different from the type of rights envisioned under natural law, Francisco de Vitoria, Hugo Grotius and John Locke offered the first accounts of universal entitlement to certain rights on the basis of common humanity . In the 20th century, in addition to contemporary theories of liberal internationalism, Marxism has been a foundation of international relations . </P> <P> International relations as a distinct field of study began in Britain . IR emerged as a formal academic discipline in 1919 with the founding of the first IR professorship: the Woodrow Wilson Chair at Aberystwyth, University of Wales (now Aberystwyth University), hold by Alfred Eckhard Zimmern and endowed by David Davies . Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is the oldest international relations faculty in the United States, founded in 1919 . In the early 1920s, the London School of Economics' department of international relations was founded at the behest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Philip Noel - Baker: this was the first institute to offer a wide range of degrees in the field . This was rapidly followed by establishment of IR at universities in the US and in Geneva, Switzerland . The creation of the posts of Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at LSE and at Oxford gave further impetus to the academic study of international relations . Furthermore, the International History department at LSE developed a focus on the history of IR in the early modern, colonial and Cold War periods . </P> <P> The first university entirely dedicated to the study of IR was the Graduate Institute of International Studies (now the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies), which was founded in 1927 to form diplomats associated to the League of Nations . The Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago was the first to offer a graduate degree, in 1928 . The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, a collaboration between Tufts University and Harvard, opened its doors in 1933 as the first graduate - only school of international affairs in the United States . In 1965, Glendon College and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs were the first institutions in Canada to offer an undergraduate and a graduate program in international studies and affairs, respectively . In 2012, Ramon Llull University initiated the first International Relations degree in Barcelona, fully in English . </P>

Should international relations be a separate discipline to politics