Combining extensive commentary by the authors and excerpts from original scholarship, International Relations Theory evaluates all the major theoretical perspectives that political scientists use to analyze world politics. This unique survey/reader not only looks at classic international relations theory but takes into account changes in the world and important developments in the field. Highly regarded for its lucid and comprehensive coverage, International Relations Theory explains the role of theory in studying world politics and invites readers to critically engage the fields many controversies.
Chapter 1. Thinking About IR Theory The IR Field in An Age of Globalization Epistemology, Methodology, and Ontology What is Theory? Images Interpretive Understandings Normative Theory A Look Ahead Selected Readings James Rosenau, "Thinking Theory Thoroughly" *Thomas C. Walker, "The Perils of Paradigm Mentalities: Revisiting Kuhn, Lakatos, and Popper" PART I. IMAGES OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Chapter 2. Realism: The State and Balance of Power Major Actors and Assumptions Intellectual Precursors and Influences Power System Change Power Transition Long Cycles Globalization and Interdependence Realists and Their Critics Selected Readings Thucydides, "The Melian Dialogue" Niccolo Machiavelli, "On Princes and the Security of Their States" Thomas Hobbes, "Of the Natural Condition of Mankind" Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "The State of War: Confederation as Means to Peace in Europe" Kenneth N. Waltz, "Explaining War: The Levels of Analysis" Joseph S. Nye, Jr., "Hard and Soft Power in American Foreign Policy" Suggestions for Further Reading Chapter 3. Liberalism: Interdependence and Global Governance Major Actors and Assumptions Intellectual Precursors and Influences Integration Transnationalism Interdependence International Regimes Neoliberal Institutionalism Global Governance Economic Interdependence and Peace The Democratic Peace Decision Making Change and Globalization Liberals and Their Critics Selected Readings Stephen G. Brooks, "Producing Security" *Robert O. Keohane, "Beyond the Tragedy of the Commons" Suggestions for Further Reading Chapter 4. Economic Structuralism: Global Capitalism and Postcolonialism Major Actors and Assumptions Intellectual Precursors and Influences Dependency Theorists The Capitalist World-System Change and Globalization Postcolonialism Economic Structuralists and Their Critics Selected Readings J.A. Hobson, "The Economic Taproot of Imperialism" *Barbara Bush, "Culture and Imperialism" Immanuel Wallerstein, "The Modern World System as a Capitalist World Economy" Suggestions for Further Reading Chapter 5. The English School: International Society and Grotian Rationalism Major Actors and Assumptions Intellectual Precursors and Influences The Divergence of British and American Scholarship The Genesis of the English School Levels of Analysis and Theory Change The English School, Liberals, and Social Constructivists The English School and Its Critics Selected Readings Hugo Grotius, "The Law of Nations on War, Peace, and Freedom of the Seas" Tim Dunne, "Inventing International Society" Hedley Bull, "Does Order Exist in World Politics?" Suggestions for Further Reading PART II. INTERPRETIVE UNDERSTANDINGS Chapter 6. Positivism, Critical Theory, and Postmodern Understandings Positivism Intellectual Precursors: Phenomenology and Hermeneutics Critical Theory: Major Assumptions Postmodernism: Major Assumptions Critical Theorists, Postmodernists, and Their Critics Summation Selected Ken Booth, "Critical Explorations and the Highway of Critical Security Theory" David Campbell, "Writing Security" Suggestions for Further Reading Chapter 7. Constructivist Understandings Major Actors and Assumptions Intellectual Precursors and Influences Intersubjectivity Structure, Rules, and Norms Agents Identity Logic of Appropriateness Interests The Diversity of Social Constructivist Thought Wendts "Naturalist Constructivism" Constructivist Affinities in the Broader IR Field Constructivists and Their Critics Selected Readings Alexander Wendt, "Constructing International Politics" Martha Finnemore, "Constructing Norms of Humanitarian Intervention" Suggestions for Further Reading Chapter 8. Feminist Understandings in IR Theory Intellectual Precursors and Influences Major Assumptions Strands of Feminism in IR Gender, War, and Security Studies Gender and International Organizations Gendered Understandings and IR Theory Feminists and Their Critics Selected Readings Iris Marion Young, "The Logic of Masculinist Protection: Reflections on the Current Security State" J. Ann Tickner, "Why Women Cant Rule the World: International Politics According to Francis Fukuyama" Suggestions for Further Reading