Classics of International Relations: Essays in Criticism and Appreciation

Classics of International Relations introduces, contextualises and assesses 24 of the most important works on international relations of the last 100 years. Providing an indispensable guide for all students of IR theory, from advanced undergraduates to academic specialists, it asks why are these works considered classics? Is their status deserved? Will it endure? It takes as its starting point Norman Angell’s best-selling The Great Illusion (1909) and concludes with Daniel Deudney’s award winning Bounding Power (2006). The volume does not ignore established classics such as Morgenthau’s Politics Among Nations and Waltz’s Theory of International Politics, but seeks to expand the ‘IR canon’ beyond its core realist and liberal texts. It thus considers emerging classics such as Linklater’s critical sociology of moral boundaries, Men and Citizens in the Theory of International Relations, and Enloe’s pioneering gender analysis, Bananas, Beaches and Bases. It also innovatively considers certain ‘alternative format’ classics such as Kubrick’s satire on the nuclear arms race, Dr Strangelove, and Errol Morris’s powerful documentary on war and US foreign policy, The Fog of War. With an international cast of contributors, many of them leading authorities on their subject, Classics of International Relations will become a standard reference for all those wishing to make sense of a rapidly developing and diversifying field. Classics of International Relations is designed to become a standard reference text for advanced undergraduates, post-graduates and lecturers in the field of IR.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction, Henrik Bliddal, Casper Sylvest and Peter Wilson 2. ‘A Pillar of Air? Norman Angell and The Great Illusion’, Torbjørn L. Knutsen 3. ‘A Democratic Critique of the State: G. Lowes Dickinson’s The European Anarchy’, Jeannie Morefield 4. ‘Attacking Hitler in England: Patriarchy, Class and War in Virginia Woolf’s Three Guineas’, Peter Wilson 5. ‘Power, Morality and the Remaking of International Order: E. H. Carr’s The Twenty Years’ Crisis’, Peter Wilson 6. ‘A New Politics for a New Global Age: David Mitrany’s A Working Peace System’, Lucian M. Ashworth 7. ‘Politics Between and Beyond Nations: Hans Morgenthau’s Politics Among Nations’, Nicolas Guilhot 8. ‘The Enduring Logic of the Three Images: Kenneth Waltz’s Man, The State, and War’, Brian C. Schmidt 9. ‘The Conditions and Consequences of Globality: John Herz’s International Politics in the Atomic Age’, Casper Sylvest 10. ‘Realism Meets Historical Sociology: Raymond Aron’s Peace and War', Bryan-Paul Frost 11. ‘Towards a Liberal Realism: Inis Claude’s Power and International Relations’, J. Samuel Barkin 12. ‘The Joke’s on You: International Relations and Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove’, Henrik Bliddal 13. ‘The Value of Uncertain Advice: Robert Jervis’s Perception and Misperception’, Shiping Tang 14. ‘Testing the Institutional Fabric of World Politics: Hedley Bull’s The Anarchical Society’, Andrew Hurrell 15. ‘A Circumspect Revival of Liberalism: Keohane and Nye’s Power and Interdependence’, Thomas C. Walker 16. ‘The Politics of International Theory: Reading Waltz 1979 as a Classic’, Anders Wivel 17. ‘The Cosmopolitan Turn: Beyond Realism and Statism in Charles Beitz’s Political Theory and International Relations’, William Smith 18. ‘Obligations Beyond the State: Andrew Linklater’s Men and Citizens in the Theory of International Relations’, Richard Devetak and Juliette Gout 19. ‘The Making of IR/IPE: Robert Cox’s Production, Power and World Order', Randall Germain 20. ‘Gendering Geopolitics, Gendering IR: Cynthia Enloe’s Bananas, Beaches and Bases’, Alexandra Hyde and Marsha Henry 21. ‘The Limits of International Relations: R. B. J. Walker’s Inside/outside: International Relations as Political Theory’, Tom Lundborg and Nick Vaughan-Williams 22. ‘The State has a Mind: Alexander Wendt’s Social Theory of International Relations’, Alan Chong 23. ‘A Modest Realist in a Tragic World: John Mearsheimer’s The Tragedy of Great Power Politics’, Brian C. Schmidt 24. ‘Interrogating the Subject: Errol Morris’s The Fog of War’, Casper Sylvest 25. ‘Restraint in the Global Polity, the Remix: Daniel Deudney’s Bounding Power’, Brent J. Steele 26. Conclusion, Henrik Bliddal, Casper Sylvest and Peter Wilson

About the Author :
Henrik Bliddal is the Director of the Science and Technology Committee at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels, Belgium. Casper Sylvest is an associate professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science, University of Southern Denmark. Peter Wilson is a senior lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Review :
"This is a standard reference text or what the editors call a "cross-over" (5), "companion" (8) or "aide memoire" (8) and will be of great help to students and academics across IR." - Dr Shannon Brincat, Griffith University