Nepal, Feb. 27 -- The very nature, contents and orientation of international relations have shown some remarkable changes in the last three decades or so. They are now more complex as the principles and instruments of engagement are transforming into unorthodox pathways. Simmering tensions that have gripped Bretton Woods institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, marginalisation of the basic principles of the World Trade Organisation, and setting up of parallel institutions like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have given a new twist to the liberal school's viewpoint that international relations are essentially market-centric.

Non-state actors

For instance, it is not that non-state actors were never ac...