Realism and World Politics

by Booth; Ken

• ISBN13: 9780415570589
• ISBN10: 0415570581
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2011-02-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book will be a landmark volume on the work of Kenneth Waltz, and on realism in general, bringing together a theoretically varied group of major scholars from both sides of the Atlantic. It begins by focusing explicitly on Waltz's key works on international politics, then addresses key Waltzian themes, and finally discusses Waltzian realism in relation to broad questions about the study of world politics. The book does not purport to be a comprehensive overview of realism and world politics, but rather an assessment of the work of realism's most important thinker since the Second World War, and a discussion of the persistent themes thrown up by his work over a half-century. The contributors do not engage with Waltz's work as slavish disciples, but rather as positive critics, recognising its decisive significance in the subject of International Relations, while using the process of critical engagement to search for new or renewed understandings of unfolding global situations and new insights into long-standing problems of theory-building.The book will be of great interest to students of IR, foreign policy, security studies and politics.