Abstract

The article investigates the problem of interpretation of the term «world politics». Approaches concerning its definition by Ukrainian and foreign scholars are considered. Examples of its use in scientific literature are made. Researchers used this term at the beginning of the 20th century to describe colonial politics of main European countries. A lot of works with the term «world politics» in the title are published from the middle of the 20th century and to date. Difficulties of interpretation of the notion are caused by ambiguity of its components «world» and «politics». «World politics» may be interpreted from macropolitical perspective that project global system on the international actors activity and micropolitical perspective that discusses interactions of international actors in global aspect. Some scholars explain the term «world politics» through comparison with the term «international relations» and treat it as relations in political sphere, modern phase of development of international relations or the same term as international relations. Interdependence of terms «global politics», «international politics» and «world politics» is revealed in this article. Globalization is very important when discussing world politics as it is one of the main tendencies of world development and helps its formation as economic, cultural and political unity. World politics embraces problems that concern all people. But there is also point of view that interprets the term as totality of foreign politics on a global level. The problems of world politics and their interdependence are discussed in this article.