Historical Approach:

It was the earliest approach adopted for the study of International relations. Under this approach diplomacy and inter-state relations for a fixed period were studied. This approach worked well till the time only the international relations of the European countries were studied. But with the emergence of Asia and Africa, the field of study of international relations widened and this approach assumed doubtful value. However, this cannot be denied that historical approach was a great importance as it tried to express contemporary relations in the light of the recent past. This, on one hand gave deeper understanding on the problems and on the other, enabled the students to know the weaknesses of previous statesmen.