International Relations and Political Philosophy

by Wight, Martin; Yost, David S.

• ISBN13: 9780198848219
• ISBN10: 0198848218
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2022-05-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author Biography

Martin Wight, Former Dean of the School of European Studies and a Professor of History, , University of Sussex

Martin Wight was one of the most important British scholars on International Relations of the 20th century. He was Dean of the School of European Studies and a Professor of History the London School of Economics and the University of Sussex, where he served as the founding Dean of European Studies.
Wight is often associated with the British committee on the theory of international politics and the so-called English School of International Relations.


David S. Yost is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. His books have been published by Harvard University Press, the United States Institute of Peace, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He has held fellowships from Fulbright, NATO, the Council on
Foreign Relations, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the United States Institute of Peace.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Ian Hall
Preface: Martin Wight's Scholarly Stature
1. Introduction: Martin Wight and the Political Philosophy of International Relations
2. Why Is There No International Theory?
3. An Anatomy of International Thought
4. Western Values in International Relations
5. Three Questions of Methodology
6. Machiavellian Temptations: Methodological Warning
7. The Balance of Power in The World in March 1939
8. Kaplan's System and Process
9. Is There a Philosophy of Statesmanship?
10. The Communist Theory of International Relations
11. The Idea of Just War
12. The Causes of War: An Historian's View
13. Gain, Fear, and Glory: Reflections on the Nature of International Politics
14. Correspondence about War in The Listener
15. On the Abolition of War: Observations on a Memorandum by Walter Millis
16. International Legitimacy
17. Reflections on International Legitimacy
18. Dynastic Legitimacy
19. Popular Legitimacy
20. What Confers Political Legitimacy in a Modern Society?
21. Note on Conquest and Cession
22. Fortune's Banter
23. Review of Hugh Ross Williamson, Charles and Cromwell
24. Review of E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939
25. Review of Friedrich Meinecke, Machiavellism: The Doctrine of Raison d'?tat and its Place in Modern History
26. Review of Richard W. Sterling, Ethics in a World of Power: The Political Ideas of Friedrich Meinecke
27. Review of Hans J. Morgenthau, Dilemmas of Politics, and Correspondence
28. Review of Kenneth W. Thompson, Political Realism and the Crisis of World Politics: An American Approach to Foreign Policy
29. Review of J. L. Talmon, Political Messianism: The Romantic Phase
30. Review of Raymond Aron, Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations