World Politics: Trend and Transformation

by Charles W. Kegley Jr., Shannon L. Blanton, Eugene R. Wittkopf

Book Overview

WORLD POLITICS: TREND AND TRANSFORMATION offers analysis of the most up-to-date data, research, and contemporary events from today's international political stage. You will understand what is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0495500194
• ISBN13: 9780495500193
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing Company
• Length: 636 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.9" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Exactly as Described

Was delivered in a timely manner and was exactly as described. I would definately use this seller again!!!

world politics; trend & transformation

I am very pleased with this book. It is in excellent condition. The service was very good!!

Uses a Comprehensive World View

I really liked this book because it doesn't just present one world view, instead, like any good IR text should, it covers multiple. It's also very good at debunking some of the neo-conservative world views. On a special note, it also has great information on debunking the myth that Ronald Reagan ended the cold war (in reality he prolonged it with his rhetoric and military posturing as this book documents). If you are a hard right hawk, I'm sure you'll find much lacking. Ditto if you only subscribe to the realist view of things. But, if you want to go beyond American Nationalism, and towards a more educated view of the world, this book is a great starting place.

Well Done

I took an international relations course awhile ago, and this book was part of the required reading. While it does not provide a complete overview of IR, it does a very good job at the intro level. Specifically, the text does a very thorough job of adressing globalization, the global south, and introductory political economy. I would suggest buying this book and then reading the works of the political scientists upon which much of the theory is based (Mearsheimer, Nye, Waltz, Angell, Doyle, Morganthau, Carr, etc.)

Memorable Textbook

I read an earlier paperback edition of this textbook for my class in Intl. Relations at Northwestern University in 1987. Somehow it was misplaced since then, but I never forgot it. My 15 year old son has expressed an interest in learning more about the world than what he is fed in school, so I ordered a new copy, and now he's reading it. The book covers all aspects of the post WWII world order, which still governs most of what takes place today. My only complaint about this text, and why I did not give it five stars, is that it seems to be a bit idealistic about what can be done to solve the world's problems. As a student, I actually believed that diplomacy, the UN, other NGO's etc. could substantially change the tendency toward using violence to solve disputes. And that reducing north-south inequality was an important key to this. East-west tensions were supposed to be reduced by negotiation. While that has been true to a small degree, the past 20 years have been shaped by nations acting in their own economic and military self-interest and a sharp rise in sectarian violence. And the cold war was won by the West economically, not by some negotiated settlement with communism. The end of the cold war also unleashed dozens of formerly quiescent nationalist movements. I don't think Kegley and Wittkopf address these issues adequately. They don't take into account basic human nature and historic inevitability of conflict. Also, the push for impossible north-south equality and first world guilt is annoying. Trade is far better than aid. Many many more countries in the south are moving from dependency to industrialization, reducing the legacy of colonialism, and hence the importance of north-south wealth transfers. Still, the ideals behind attempts to move toward a more benevolent world order are worth pursuing, and this book is an excellent introduction of those concepts. It's important to keep the authors' bias in mind, however, because history has not been kind to idealists. (Even in the fictional 24th century "United Federation of Planets," there are still wars to be fought.) Regardless of these shortcomings, this book was a vital part of my education. Highly recommended.