Organizational Background
The discipline of international relations was first institutionalized as a science and as an academic discipline through the establishment of the Woodrow Wilson Chair – at Aberystwyth, University of Wales. This was rapidly followed through by the establishment of International Relations at US, Europe, UK, Australia and Canadian Universities.
In Zambia, the first Institute entirely specialized to the revise of international relations was Zambia Institute of Diplomacy and International studies (ZIDIS) which was founded in 1995 to form Zambian diplomats. Mulungushi University in Kabwe Zambia was the first to offer a graduate degree. Now, other Universities and institutions in Zambia such as Lusaka University, National Institute for public Administration and Liutebm University offer Graduate and Post-Graduate degrees in international relations. Consequently, this has increased the demand of establishing an International Relations Professional Association that is able to advance the international relations profession, support the interests of people working in this particular profession and serve the public good.
Organizational Description
Initially founded in 2018, IRAZ International Relations Association of Zambia is one of the contemporary Associations in Zambia dedicated to leading its members on a sustainable path towards professional inclusion, empowerment and participation. The Association, mainly guided by its constitution, focuses on activities that strengthen Zambia’s relations and effectively promotes the country’s image at a global stage through the involvement of international relations academia, policy experts, private sector workers, students and independent actors among many. However, it is important to note that, a key characteristic of IR, in common with all social science disciplines, cannot be neatly separated from disciplines such as sociology or political philosophy and theory, nor even from economics and political geography e.t.c. Thus at International Relations Association of Zambia, we extend our membership to any qualified Zambian interested in formally participating in Zambia’s International Relations and diplomacy.
Organizational Structure
To coordinate the authority, information flow, communication and basic work of the Association, the association management consists of;
The IRAZ constitution
The national IRAZ executive board(council)
The secretariat
IRAZ Committees
General Assembly