Read more
Winner of the 2014 International Studies Association Theory Section Book Award
Framed by a new and substantial introductory chapter, the book collects Stefano Guzzini's research on power, realism and constructivism. It explores the diversity of different schools and their intrinsic tensions and fallacies by analysing both theories and their assumptions, and theorists following their intellectual paths. Guzzini's approach to the analysis of power - within and outside International Relations - provides the common theme of the book through which the theoretical state of the art in International Relations is re-assessed.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, international politics, international relations theory and constructivism.
List of contents
Introduction Part I: Power 1. Structural Power: The Limits of Neorealist Power Analysis 2. The use and misuse of power analysis in international theory 3. From (alleged) unipolarity to the decline of multilateralism? A power-theoretical critique 4. Constructivism and International Relations: an analysis of Niklas Luhmann’s conceptualisation of power 5. Power analysis in Bourdieu Part II: Realism 6. The enduring dilemmas of realism in International Relations 7. The Different Worlds of Realism in International Relations 8. Foreign Policy without diplomacy: the Bush administration at a crossroads 9. Robert Gilpin: A Realist Quest for the Dynamics of Power 10. Strange’s oscillating realism: opposing the ideal - and the apparent Part III: Constructivism 11. A reconstruction of constructivism in International Relations 12. The concept of power: a constructivist analysis 13. 'The Cold War is what we make of it’: when peace research meets constructivism in International Relations 14. Wendt’s constructivism: a relentless quest for synthesis’ with Anna Leander 15. Imposing coherence: the central role of practice in Friedrich Kratochwil’s theorising of politics, international relations and science Epilogue: The significance and roles of teaching theory in International Relations
About the author
Stefano Guzzini is Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies and Professor in the Department of Government at Uppsala University, Sweden.
Summary
This book brings together Stefano Guzzini’s research on power, realism and constructivism, framed by a new and substantial introductory chapter. It explores the diversity of different schools and their intrinsic tensions and fallacies by analysing both theories and their assumptions, and theorists following their intellectual paths.
Additional text
"Guzzini’s book opens up 'thinking space' for a self-reflective, cogent, and fertile vision for how to study the intersection between power and processes of social construction. Together, they suggest an approach to research and theorization of tremendous importance to a field that continues to wrestle with that intersection." - 2014 International Studies Association Theory Section Book Award
