The template is to be placed on talk pages (only) of the articles identified as being within the Project's scope (at or near the top of the talkpage).

This template automatically assigns the category Category:WikiProject International relations articles to the articles' talk pages. This category and other associated Project categories are used in various ways by the Project in the overall management of the Project's workload.

This template contains optional parameters, details of usage are given below.

Full syntax options for the {{WikiProject International relations|class=|importance=|un=|un-importance=|law=|law-importance=}} template are as follows:

{{WikiProject International relations
 |class= 
 |importance=
 |un= <!-- yes, if applicable -->
 |un-importance=
 |law= <!-- yes, if applicable -->
 |law-importance=
 |attention=
 |needs-infobox=
 |listas=
}}

The parameters are named, and (if used) must be entered exactly as-is (note, all are lowercase).

• class – valid values are listed in the custom class mask. See the project's quality scale for details. Setting an explicit value of NA is rarely necessary; for this, either leave |class= blank or omit the parameter.

This optional parameter records the Project quality assessment rating currently assigned to the particular article on whose talkpage the project banner appears.

If unassigned, or an invalid value is given, the parameter defaults to "unassigned" and the template places the talkpage into Category:Unassessed International relations articles.

Valid values for this parameter, their associated meanings and categories are given in the table below. Values should be typed as shown (e.g. |class=GA ):

• importance – valid values are: top, high, mid, low, na (case-insensitive). See the project's importance scale for details. Setting an explicit value of NA is rarely necessary; for this, either leave |importance= blank or omit the parameter.

This optional parameter records the Project importance assessment rating currently assigned to the particular article on whose talkpage the project banner appears.

If unassigned, or an invalid value is given, or the class parameter is set to "NA", the parameter defaults to "unassigned" and the template places the talkpage into Category:Unknown-importance International relations articles.

Valid values for this parameter, their associated meanings and categories are given in the table below. Values should be typed as shown (e.g. |importance=Mid ):

• un – set |un=yes if the article is supported by WikiProject United Nations.
  • This parameter populates Category:WikiProject United Nations articles, and the relevant subcategory of Category:United Nations articles by quality based upon the |class= parameter.
  • un-importance (only used if |un=yes is set; uses the same values as |importance=) – Importance rating within WikiProject United Nations
    • This importance rating populates the relevant subcategory of Category:United Nations articles by importance.
• law – set |law=yes if the article is supported by WikiProject International law.
  • This parameter populates Category:WikiProject International law articles, and the relevant subcategory of Category:International law articles by quality based upon the |class= parameter.
  • law-importance (only used if |law=yes is set; uses the same values as |importance=) – Importance rating within WikiProject International law
    • This importance rating populates the relevant subcategory of Category:International law articles by importance.

• attention – set |attention=yes if the article needs immediate attention from experienced editors. Use only if another parameter does not cover the need for attention; this should be used sparingly. It is strongly encouraged to also add a section to the talk page explaining what needs attention.
  • This parameter populates Category:International relations articles needing attention.
• needs-infobox – set |needs-infobox=yes if the article needs an infobox. Remember that infoboxes are not suitable for all articles, and can overwhelm short articles.
  • This parameter populates Category:International relations articles needing infoboxes.
• listas – This parameter, which is the equivalent of the DEFAULTSORT sortkey that should be placed on all biographical articles, is a sortkey for the article talk page (e.g. for John Doe, use |listas=Doe, John so that the talk page will show up in the D's and not the J's of the various assessment and administrative categories). This is important because it is one source used by those who set DEFAULTSORT on the article; consider also setting the DEFAULTSORT for the article when setting this parameter. For more information about this, please see Wikipedia:Categorization of people § Ordering names in a category.
  If the article is using {{WikiProject banner shell}} then it is preferable to add |listas= to that template instead of a project banner template. Putting the parameter on more than one template is not required.
• category – set |category=no if, and only if, a banner is being used for demonstration or testing purposes, to prevent unnecessary or undesirable categorization. Otherwise, omit this parameter.