Theory of International Politics

by Kenneth N. Waltz

Book Overview

The seminal text on neorealist analysis! From Theory of International Politics: National politics is the realm of authority, of administration, and of law. International politics is the realm of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0075548526
• ISBN13: 9780075548522
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Langua
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

An excellent book!

Only Waltz and other writers he refers to in his book as being the theoretical base to his approach, had made any scientifically meaningful progress , up to our days , in an attempt to start decoding one of the phenomena connected with the sociological activity of the human race - the realm of international politics. I had an unpleasant feeling all along my studies for my bachelor's degree of international politics, and stopped my studies for the master degree after a few weeks, because I did not encounter any approach, in the scientific field of international politics, that met even partially, standards required by the philosophy of science. Those approaches can't explain satisfactorily events in world politics, and of course can't allow us to forecast the shape events are going to take, let alone, allowing us to influence the future, possibilities that are the ultimate tests of a useful theory. Scientists of international politics are always enthusiastic to be interviewed about events in the International realm and even give their advice what to do, but never ever would be prepared to forecast events to come, claiming that an envision of the future is ability given only to prophets. But theories can be tested only if events to come can be deducted from past and the current situation, according to laws derived from the theories. Giving advice about the future is impossible if you cannot assume the way events will develop in the future, and that is exactly what all other scholars are not prepared to do. Waltz's approach rests on a solid logical base, imbedded in the philosophy of science, and therefore can give rise to numerous testable theories, something lacking in writings of other scholars of international politics. It seems that all those who reviewed the book in this internet site, no matter what their opinion of the book is, including scholars in the field of international politics, fail in their understanding of science and its meaning. They don't seem to know much (to put it mildly), about the standards of the philosophy of science, or of its importance. The moment anyone reflects on the book using the concept of schools of thoughts in international politics you can be sure that he did not understand fully what he read in the first chapter of the book, if he read it at all. Really understand the first chapter (philosophically); otherwise there is no point in continuing to read.

this is a perfect book

The only thing you can complain about this book is its PRICE!!

What part of "THEORY" did you not get?

This is the book that sucked me into IR; it was a transformative addition to my toolkit for understanding the world. Theory is a tool, not an explanation.I suspect the readers that reject Waltz's treatment of human nature were never in a schoolyard fight. Anything that can explain coalition behavior on a playing field AND be usefully applied to understanding the '91 Gulf War is a mighty fine tool (ooooh, theory of utility!!).I have to laugh about the complaints of denseness and unreadability - you would have hated Waltz's lectures. Isn't that always the complaint of people that didn't finish the reading??

Please forgive the dear Brit, he knows not what he says....

I suppose that this book might be a bit dry. I can remember the first time that I read it, my eyes about bled at both its aridness and at how theoretical it actually was. And yes, it is also THE seminal text on neorealist analysis. If you disagree with many of the premises of realism or neorealism (as, quite obviously, the L.S.E reviewer did, not entirely unexpectedly--) quite possibly because one 1)misunderstands them 2)finds them hygenically amoral, etc. you're going to hate the text. Beyond that, it is brilliant. No other book sets out such a clear method to understand deviations from rationality in the construction of foreign policy. THIS BOOK MAKES SENSE. There are few other books which do what Waltz tries to. Allison's 'Essence of Decision' makes an attempt at it (I've not read the newer version....), this takes that analysis and trumps it, bar none. I might have a bit of bias here. I was weaned on realism at ol' SUNY-Harlem (nee Columbia)-- the bastion of neorealism on the Hudson.... If one were going to dislike a book because of what one believed its conclusions led to, Waltz is not the place to start. The analysis is harsh: in reality, outside of this text, he comes across as fairly dovish.... and brilliant....

The most influential book ever written on International Poli

This is the groundbreaking book that defined the Neorealist concept of International Relations.Some of the propositions set forth by Waltz are indisuputable: The results of anarchy on state behavior and how it limits interstate competition; How the system forces states to behave in certain ways, making the unit-level factors much less important. Also included is why security considerations always outweigh economic ones, and the benefits of internal balancing versus external balancing. Some of his precepts are more subject to critisicm: The benefits of bipolarity of multipolarity. N Nonetheless, this is the book that made the field of IR a real social science rather than a history-like humanities study. Any real student of International Relations needs to start here to understand both the academic discipline, and the real world of interstate relation. Eric Gartman