Current debates about the nature of international politics have centered on the clash between supporters and critics of realism. The Perils of Anarchy brings together a number of recent essays written in the realist tradition. It includes realist interpretations of the collapse of the Cold War order and of the emerging order that has replaced it, the sources of alignment and aggression, and the causes of peace. A final section provides a counterpoint by raising criticisms of and alternatives to the realist approach. Contributors Charles L. Glaser, Christopher Layne, Peter Liberman, Lisa L. Martin, John J. Mearsheimer, Paul Schroeder, Randall Schweller, Stephen M. Walt, Kenneth N. Waltz, William C. Wohlforth, Fareed Zakaria. An International Security Reader

Hobbes's concept of the natural condition of mankind became an inescapable point of reference for subsequent political thought, shaping the theories of emulators and critics alike, and has had a profound impact on our understanding of human nature, anarchy, and international relations. Yet, despite Hobbes's insistence on precision, the state of nature is an elusive concept. Has it ever existed and, if so, for whom? Hobbes offered several answers to these questions, which taken together reveal a consistent strategy aimed at providing his readers with a possible, probable, and memorable account of the consequences of disobedience. This book examines the development of this powerful image throughout Hobbes's works, and traces its origins in his sources of inspiration. The resulting trajectory of the state of nature illuminates the ways in which Hobbes employed a rhetoric of science and a science of rhetoric in his relentless pursuit of peace.

Realism has been the most influential theoretical approach in international relations since the discipline was born. Yet realism, for all its popularity, has always been criticised for its narrow world view of a system of states all seeking power, security and survival in a world of anarchy. Additionally, realism has struggled to provide explanations for some of the major events and evolutions in world politics. The timing of the outbreak of wars, the disappearance of superpowers and trends of regionalisation are all inadequately explained by realism, leaving the critic to ask, simply, why? Dylan Kissane answers this question by going to the core of realist theory and arguing that realism‘s problems stem from a critical yet flawed assumption about the nature of the international system. By assuming an anarchical system, realists diminish the complexity of international politics and blind themselves to the impact of substate actors. In this book, Kissane opens the door to re-founding international relations theory not on anarchy but on the assumption of a complex international system. Drawing on an interdisciplinary literature and offering a novel application of complexity theory to international politics, Beyond Anarchy is the beginning of a new and exciting stream of international relations theory for the twenty-first century.

The politics of legitimacy is central to international relations. When states perceive an international organization as legitimate, they defer to it, associate themselves with it, and invoke its symbols. Examining the United Nations Security Council, Ian Hurd demonstrates how legitimacy is created, used, and contested in international relations. The Council's authority depends on its legitimacy, and therefore its legitimation and delegitimation are of the highest importance to states. Through an examination of the politics of the Security Council, including the Iraq invasion and the negotiating history of the United Nations Charter, Hurd shows that when states use the Council's legitimacy for their own purposes, they reaffirm its stature and find themselves contributing to its authority. Case studies of the Libyan sanctions, peacekeeping efforts, and the symbolic politics of the Council demonstrate how the legitimacy of the Council shapes world politics and how legitimated authority can be transferred from states to international organizations. With authority shared between states and other institutions, the interstate system is not a realm of anarchy. Sovereignty is distributed among institutions that have power because they are perceived as legitimate. This book's innovative approach to international organizations and international relations theory lends new insight into interactions between sovereign states and the United Nations, and between legitimacy and the exercise of power in international relations.

The world is at a critical juncture. The choices we make today will shape the future of our planet and its inhabitants in ways that we cannot fully comprehend. From climate change and global warming, the rise of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity threats, failure to address global poverty, uncontrolled population growth and the neglect of our mental health, the greatest mistakes defining the world’s destiny are many and varied. In this ebook, we will delve into these critical issues and examine the consequences of our errors. By understanding the impact of our actions, we can work together to create a better future and make the necessary changes to correct these mistakes. Through a deep examination of the most pressing challenges facing our world today, we will explore the critical choices we must make to define our destiny and shape a brighter future for all. Join us on this journey as we explore the greatest mistakes defining the destiny of the world, and learn how we can work together to correct these errors and shape a better future for all.

Argues that systems approaches are necessary in order to identify and understand important features of the world.

Nuclear materials have never been more plentiful or more accessible to rogue states and terrorists. In this study, the authors analyze the consequences of such nuclear leakage for United States national security and argue that it is possibly the nation's h

Thought to be Niebuhr's most significant work, as well as one of the few great 20th-century works of theology by an American writer,considers human nature from a Christian perspective.

This book puts forward a new angle of understanding the society of states in the milieu of the contemporary world. The absence of a regulatory mechanism, i.e., anarchy, has been the fundamental issue of international relations. This book explains how the normative imperatives, information and communication technology (ICT) and nuclear deterrence generated ambiance have poised the states in a society where they are bound to follow certain normative imperatives that dilute the color and meaning of anarchy and obliges the states to act in a certain way. It develops a theoretical proposition with regard to state power defined in terms of the capability of determining the outcomes. The proposition first elaborates how international institutions foster normative imperatives; then, in line with this ontology, it narrows down the focus solely on the power of the states in the contemporary world. It explains how the power that can determine the outcome today is holistic in nature, comprising both materialistic and normative factors. In the next step, it tailors the proposition in a way so as to employ it for a specific empirical work. The book does not end just positing the theoretical proposition; the proposition is testified through some case studies with regard to climate negotiations under the UNFCCC. The empirical part not only serves to examine the plausibility of the theoretical proposition, but it also presents the logic of the major actors and the politics with respect to some of the major issues of climate change, i.e., mitigation, funding policy and mechanism and adaptation. The scholars in this arena, climate activists and climate-conscious people in general would find this book worth reading as it kindles a different angle to understand the issues in the context of the contemporary world and as it elaborates the logic, framing process, and mechanism of reaching outcomes through complex negotiation process. No other work has so far analyzed the issues covering the entire period of 21 apex UNFCCC negotiations that led to the Paris Agreement. Apart from university libraries, this book, thus, has the prospect to be sold in the markets targeting the academicians, climate change experts, bureaucrats, negotiators and the common readers.