The Post-Cold War International System: Strategies, Institutions and Reflexivity

by Harrison,Ewan

• ISBN13: 9780415328364
• ISBN10: 0415328365
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-07-21
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Following the end of the Cold War, which has resulted in the United States being the dominant global power, this book examines patterns of behavior that have emerged in international politics. Drawing on constructivist insights, the author provides a sophisticated assessment of competing theories and sets the liberal, realist and institutionalist approaches off against each other in a quest for synthesis. Three case studies on Germany, China and Japan, identified as key states with the potential to challenge US dominance in this emerging new structure, provide evidence to support his assessment about the overall trajectory of international change in the post-Cold War period.

Author Biography

Ewan Harrison is the Hedley Bull Junior Research Fellow at St. Anne's College, University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix
Series editor's preface	x
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgements	xix
List of abbreviations	xxi
Introduction	1	(27)
Theoretical framework	4	(10)
Operationalizing liberal predictions	14	(8)
Chapter structure	22	(6)
Reassessing the logic of anarchy: rationality versus reflexivity	28	(22)
The neorealist model	30	(3)
The institutionalist model	33	(3)
The liberal model	36	(4)
Towards a general synthesis	40	(8)
Conclusions	48	(2)
German foreign policy after the Cold War	50	(20)
Neorealism	51	(6)
Institutionalism	57	(4)
Liberalism 1: domestic variation	61	(4)
Liberalism 2: Germany's choices	65	(5)
Japanese foreign policy after the Cold War	70	(21)
Neorealism	70	(6)
Institutionalism	76	(3)
Liberalism 1: domestic variation	79	(4)
Liberalism 2: Japan's choices	83	(8)
Chinese foreign policy after the Cold War	91	(21)
Neorealism	91	(6)
Institutionalism	97	(3)
Liberalism 1: domestic variation	100	(6)
Liberalism 2: China's choices	106	(6)
Conclusions	112	(25)
International relations theory after the Cold War	113	(8)
General patterns of institutionalized activity	121	(7)
Foreign policy adjustments	128	(9)
Postscript: September 11, 2001 and its aftermath	137	(12)
Bibliography	149	(17)
Index	166