Strategic Choice and International Relations

by Lake, David A.

• ISBN13: 9780691026985
• ISBN10: 069102698X
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1999-07-01
• Publisher: Princeton University Press

Summary

The strategic-choice approach has a long pedigree in international relations. In an area often rent by competing methodologies, editors David A. Lake and Robert Powell take the best of accepted and contested knowledge among many theories. With the contributors to this volume, they offer a unifying perspective, which begins with a simple insight: students of international relations want to explain the choices actors make--whether these actors be states, parties, ethnic groups, companies, leaders, or individuals.This synthesis offers three new benefits: first, the strategic interaction of actors is the unit of analysis, rather than particular states or policies; second, these interactions are now usefully organized into analytic schemes, on which conceptual experiments may be based; and third, a set of methodological "bets" is then made about the most productive ways to analyze the interactions. Together, these elements allow the pragmatic application of theories that may apply to a myriad of particular cases, such as individuals protesting environmental degradation, governments seeking to control nuclear weapons, or the United Nations attempting to mobilize member states for international peacekeeping. Besides the editors, the six contributors to this book, all distinguished scholars of international relations, are Jeffry A. Frieden, James D. Morrow, Ronald Rogowski, Peter Gourevitch, Miles Kahler, and Arthur A. Stein. Their work is an invaluable introduction for scholars and students of international relations, economists, and government decision-makers.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
International Relations: A Strategic-Choice Approach	3	(36)
David A. Lake
Robert Powell
Actors and Preferences in International Relations	39	(38)
Jeffry A. Frieden
The Strategic Setting of Choices: Signaling, Commitment, and Negotiation in International Politics	77	(38)
James D. Morrow
Institutions as Constraints on Strategic Choice	115	(22)
Ronald Rogowski
The Governance Problem in International Relations	137	(28)
Peter Alexis Gourevitch
Evolution, Choice, and International Change	165	(32)
Miles Kabler
The Limits of Strategic Choice: Constrained Rationality and Incomplete Explanation	197	(32)
Arthur A. Stein
References	229	(32)
About the Authors	261	(2)
Name Index	263	(4)
General Index	267