A Cultural Theory of International Relations

by Richard Ned Lebow

• ISBN13: 9780521691888
• ISBN10: 0521691885
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In this exciting new volume, Richard Ned Lebow introduces his own constructivist theory of political order and international relations based on theories of motives and identity formation drawn from the ancient Greeks. His theory stresses the human need for self-esteem, and shows how it influences political behavior at every level of social aggregation. Lebow develops ideal-type worlds associated with four motives: appetite, spirit, reason and fear, and demonstrates how each generates a different logic concerning cooperation, conflict and risk-taking. Expanding and documenting the utility of his theory in a series of historical case studies, ranging from classical Greece to the war in Iraq, he presents a novel explanation for the rise of the state and the causes of war, and offers a reformulation of prospect theory. This is a novel theory of politics by one of the world's leading scholars of international relations.

Author Biography

Richard Ned Lebow is James O. Freedman Presidential Professor of Government at Dartmouth College and Centennial Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of The Tragic Vision of Politics (Cambridge, 2003) which was the winner of the Alexander L. George Book Award of the International Society of Political Psychology, 2005.

Table of Contents

List of figures and tables	p. viii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Fear, interest and honor	p. 48
The spirit and its expression	p. 122
The ancient world	p. 165
Medieval Europe	p. 222
From Sun King to Revolution	p. 262
Imperialism and World War I	p. 305
World War II	p. 371
Hitler to Bush and beyond	p. 439
General findings and conclusions	p. 505
Bibliography	p. 571
Index	p. 741
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