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Written by renowned scholar and former policymaker Joseph Nye,Understanding International Conflictsis a brief and penetrating introduction to the study of world politics. The text deftly applies a combination of history and theory to evaluate conflict and cooperation among international actors, thus providing students a framework for understanding contemporary issues. From World War I to modern terrorism and information revolutions to global governance,Understanding International Conflictsis a highly readable survey that answers as well as raises compelling questions about the future of international relations. "Sometimes original scholars sound pedantic when addressing central issues of world politics; often policymakers speak in code or platitudes. Not so Professor Nye. As any reader will see, the work in your hands is lucid, direct, and concise. Reading Nyers"s writing on world politics is like watching Joe DiMaggio play center field or Yo-Yo Ma play the cello: he makes the difficult look easy."-from Robert Keohaners"s Foreword toUnderstanding International Conflicts, 7/e.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr., is University Distinguished Service Professor and former Dean of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government

Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Resources	p. xvii
Is There an Enduring Logic of Conflict in World Politics?	p. 1
What is International Politics?	p. 2
Differing Views of Anarchic Politics	p. 4
Building Blocks	p. 9
The Peloponnesian War	p. 13
A Short Version of a Long Story	p. 13
Causes and Theories	p. 16
Inevitability and the Shadow of the Future	p. 18
Ethical Questions and International Politics	p. 21
Limits on Ethics in International Relations	p. 22
Three Views of the Role of Morality	p. 23
Chronology: Peloponnesian Wars	p. 29
Study Questions	p. 30
Selected Readings	p. 30
Further Readings	p. 30
Notes	p. 32
Origins of the Great Twentieth-Century Conflicts	p. 34
International Systems and Levels of Causation	p. 34
Levels of Analysis	p. 36
Systems: Structure and Process	p. 38
Revolutionary and Moderate Goals and Instruments	p. 39
The Structure and Process of the Nineteenth-Century System	p. 41
A Modern Sequel	p. 43
Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy	p. 44
Liberalism Revived	p. 46
Liberal Democracy and War	p. 48
Defining National Interests	p. 50
Variations in Foreign Policies	p. 51
Counterfactuals	p. 52
Plausibility	p. 53
Proximity in Time	p. 53
Relation to Theory	p. 54
Facts	p. 54
Chronologies: Europe	p. 55
Study Questions	p. 57
Selected Readings	p. 57
Further Readings	p. 58
Notes	p. 59
Balance of Power and World War I	p. 60
Balance of Power	p. 60
Power	p. 61
Balances as Distributions of Power	p. 65
Balance of Power as Policy	p. 66
Balance of Power as Multipolar Systems	p. 68
Alliances	p. 70
The Origins of World War I	p. 71
Three Levels of Analysis	p. 71
Was War Inevitable?	p. 77
What Kind of War?	p. 80
The Funnel of Choices	p. 82
Lessons of History Again	p. 83
Chronology: The Road to World War I	p. 84
Study Questions	p. 85
Selected Readings	p. 85
Further Readings	p. 85
Notes	p. 87
The Failure of Collective Security and World War II	p. 88
The Rise and Fall of Collective Security	p. 88
The League of Nations	p. 89
The United States and the League of Nations	p. 91
The Early Days of the League	p. 92
The Manchurian Failure	p. 95
The Ethiopian Debacle	p. 96
The Origins of World War II	p. 97
Hitler's War?	p. 97
Hitler's Strategy	p. 99
The Role of the Individual	p. 103
Systemic and Domestic Causes	p. 104
Was War Inevitable?	p. 105
The Pacific War	p. 107
Appeasement and Two Types of War	p. 111
Chronology: Between the World Wars	p. 112
Study Questions	p. 113
Selected Readings	p. 114
Further Readings	p. 114
Notes	p. 115
The Cold War	p. 116
Deterrence and Containment	p. 117
Three Approaches to the Cold War	p. 118
Roosevelt's Policies	p. 120
Stalin's Policies	p. 121
Phases of the Conflict	p. 122
Inevitability?	p. 128
Levels of Analysis	p. 129
U.S. and Soviet Goals in the Cold War	p. 131
Containment	p. 132
The Vietnam War	p. 133
Motives, Means, and Consequences	p. 134
Chronology: American Involvement in Vietnam (1954-1975)	p. 135
The Rest of the Cold War	p. 138
The End of the Cold War	p. 140
The Role of Nuclear Weapons	p. 145
Physics and Politics	p. 145
Balance of Terror	p. 148
Problems of Nuclear Deterrence	p. 149
The Cuban Missile Crisis	p. 151
Moral Issues	p. 153
Chronology: The Cold War Years	p. 156
Study Questions	p. 160
Selected Readings	p. 161
Further Readings	p. 161
Notes	p. 162
Conflicts after the Cold War - Interventions and Institutions	p. 163
Ethnic Conflicts	p. 164
Intervention and Sovereignty	p. 166
Defining Intervention	p. 166
Sovereignty	p. 168
Judging Intervention	p. 169
Exceptions to the Rule	p. 170
Problems of Self-Determination	p. 171
International Law and Organization	p. 173
Domestic Analogies	p. 173
Predictability and Legitimacy	p. 175
United Nations: Collective Security and Peacekeeping	p. 176
Conflicts in the Middle East	p. 182
The Questions of Nationalism	p. 183
The Arab-Israeli Conflicts	p. 185
The Conflicts in the Persian Gulf of 1991 and 2003	p. 192
Chronology: The Arab-Israeli Conflict	p. 196
Study Questions	p. 199
Selected Readings	p. 199
Further Readings	p. 200
Notes	p. 201
Globalization and Interdependence	p. 202
The Dimensions of Globalization	p. 203
What's New about Twenty-First-Century Globalization?	p. 205
Political Reactions to Globalization	p. 207
Power and Interdependence	p. 208
The Concept of Interdependence	p. 208
Sources of Interdependence	p. 209
Benefits of Interdependence	p. 210
Costs of Interdependence	p. 211
Symmetry of Interdependence	p. 213
Leadership and Institutions in the World Economy	p. 216
Realism and Complex Interdependence	p. 220
The Politics of Oil	p. 221
Oil as a Power Resource	p. 225
Study Questions	p. 226
Selected Readings	p. 227
Further Readings	p. 227
Notes	p. 229
Information Revolution and Transnational Actors	p. 231
Power and the Information Revolution	p. 231
Lessons from the Past	p. 231
A New World Politics?	p. 235
Sovereignty and Control	p. 239
Transnational Actors	p. 242
Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)	p. 245
The Information Revolution and Complex Interdependence	p. 248
Conclusions	p. 251
Study Questions	p. 252
Selected Readings	p. 252
Further Readings	p. 253
Notes	p. 254
A New World Order?	p. 256
Alternative Designs for the Future	p. 256
The End of History or the Clash of Civilizations?	p. 261
Technology and the Diffusion of Power	p. 263
Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction	p. 265
Transnational Challenges to Security	p. 267
A New World Order?	p. 276
Future Configurations of Power	p. 277
The Prison of Old Concepts	p. 280
The Evolution of a Hybrid World Order	p. 282
Thinking About the Future	p. 284
Study Questions	p. 285
Selected Readings	p. 286
Further Readings	p. 286
Notes	p. 288
Glossary	p. 289
Credits	p. 293
Index	p. 295
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Understanding International Conflicts : An Introduction to Theory and History

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