International Relations: Concepts and Contending Accounts - Hardcover

Chernoff, F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1403974543 ISBN 13: 9781403974549

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007

Synopsis

This book uses three controversial contemporary American foreign policy problems to introduce students to the 'new debates' in international relations, in which the criticisms of constructivism, interpretivism, and postmodernism are presented against traditional positivist concepts of social science.

About this title

Review:

"This book is a rare attempt to practice what so often is preached in the study of International Relations. The study takes major debates in the philosophy of inquiry and abstract battles over theory and shows why they matter in the most practical of all contexts. Historically important examples of US decision-making are used to show how and why results could be improved if those in charge in the real world thought more deeply about the foundations of their choices in theory and even meta-theory. The book is a fascinating 'read' because of the way in which the decision to invade Iraq, challenges from North Korea's nuclear program and the rise of China as a world power are integrated into a sophisticated treatment of theoretical controversies in the field of International Relations. This book will interest academics in that discipline as well as those in the more applied world of foreign policy decision-making. I recommend the work with great enthusiasm."--Patrick James, Director, C

About the Author:

FRED CHERNOFF is Professor of Political Science, Director of the International Relations Program, Colgate University, USA.

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1403974543
• ISBN 13: 9781403974549
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 236