International Relations Theory: United States Edition

Combining extensive commentary by the authors and excerpts from original scholarship, this major new edition of International Relations Theory evaluates all the 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 field’s many controversies.

Table of Contents:
*Readings new to the fourth edition.    Chapter 1. Thinking About IR Theory: Images and Interpretive Understandings The IR Field in an Age of Globalization Epistemology, Methodology, and Ontology What Is Theory? Images Interpretive Understandings Summation Selected Readings     James N. Rosenau, “Thinking Theory Thoroughly”     Kenneth N. Waltz, “Explaining War: The Levels of Analysis”     *Max Weber, “On Interpretive Understanding” Suggestions for Further Reading                           PART I. IMAGES   Chapter 2.  Realism: The State and Balance of Power Major Actors and Assumptions Intellectual Precursors and Influences Power System Globalization and Interdependence Realists and International Cooperation Change Realists and Their Critics Selected Readings     Thucydides, “The Melian Dialogue”     Machiavelli, “On Princes and the Security of Their States”     Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Natural Condition of Mankind”     Jean Jacques Rousseau, “The State of War”     *Joseph S. Nye, Jr., “Hard and Soft Power in American Foreign Policy”     *John J. Mearsheimer, “Tragedy of Great Power Politics” 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 Decisionmaking Change and Globalization Liberals and Their Critics Selected Readings     Michael W. Doyle, "Liberalism and World Politics"     *Robert O. Keohane, “From Interdependence and Institutions to Globalization and Governance”     *Stephen G. Brooks, “Producing Security” 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”     *Immanuel Wallerstein, “Gramsci, Hegemony, and International Relations”     *Robert W. Cox, “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, “War, Peace, and the Law of Nations”     *Hugo Grotius, “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. Constructivist Understandings Major Actors and Assumptions Intellectual Precursors Intersubjectivity Structure, Rules, and Norms Agents Identity Logic of Appropriateness Interests The Diversity of Social Constructivist Thought Wendt’s “Naturalist” Constructivism Constructivist Affinities in the Broader IR Field Constructivists and Their Critics Selected Readings     *Alexander Wendt, “Constructing International Politics”     *John Locke, “On War and Maintaining the Peace”     *Alexander Wendt, “The Lockean Culture”     *Martha Finnemore, “Constructing Norms of Humanitarian Intervention” Suggestions for Further Reading   Chapter 7. Positivism, Critical Theory and Postmodern Understandings Positivism Intellectual Precursors: Phenomenology and Hermeneutics critical Theory: Major Assumptions Postmodernism: Major Assumptions Critical Theory, Postmodernism and Their Critics Summation Selected Readings     *Ken Booth, “Critical Explorations and the Highway of Critical Security Theory”     *Francis A. Beer and Robert Hariman, “Realism and Rhetoric in International Relations”     *David Campbell, “Writing Security” Suggestions for Further Reading   Chapter 8. Feminist Understandings 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 Can’t Rule the World: International Politics According to Francis Fukuyama” Suggestions for Further Reading     PART III. NORMATIVE UNDERSTANDINGS   Chapter 9. Normative IR Theory: Ethics and Morality Norms, Ethics, and Morality Normative Theory: Alternative Perspectives The Levels of Analysis Moral Relativism Secular Bases  for Moral or Ethical Choice Justice and War Justice and Human Rights Armed Intervention and State Sovereignty Alternative Images and Foreign Policy Choice Rationality and Foreign Policy Choice Values, Choices, and Theory Selected Readings     Immanuel Kant, “Morality, Politics, and Perpetual Peace”     E.H. Carr, “The Nature of Politics”     *Robert E. Williams, Jr. and Dan Caldwell, “Jus Post Bellum: Just War Theory and the Principles of Just Peace” Suggestions for Further Reading

About the Author :
Paul R. Viotti is Associate Professor at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies.   Mark V. Kauppi is Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.