Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation: An Introduction to Theory and History Book

Foreword x

Preface xii

Chapter 1 Are There Enduring Logics of Conflict and Cooperation in World Politics? 1

What Is International Politics? 3

Differing Views of Anarchic Politics 5

Building Blocks 11

The Peloponnesian War 16

A Short Version of a Long Story 17

Causes and Theories 19

Inevitability and the Shadow of the Future 21

Ethical Questions and International Politics 25

Limits on Ethics in International Relations 26

Three Views of the Role of Morality 27

Chapter 2 Explaining Conflict and Cooperation: Tools and Techniques of the Trade 37

Key Concepts 38

States, Nations, and Nation-States 38

International Actors, Power, and Authority 42

International System and International Society 47

System Stability and Crisis Stability 49

The "National Interest" 51

Levels of Analysis 52

The Individual Level 54

The State Level 57

The System Level 59

Paradigms and Theories 62

Realism 62

Liberalism 64

Marxism 69

Constructivism 69

Counterfactuals and "Virtual History" 72

Plausibility 73

Proximity in Time 73

Relation to Theory 73

Facts 74

Chapter 3 From Westphalia to World War I 77

Managing Great Power Conflict: The Balance of Power 81

Balances as Distributions of Power 82

Balance of Power as Policy 83

Balance of Power as Theory 84

Balance of Power as Historical Multipolar Systems 86

The Nineteenth-Century Balance-of-Power System 86

Structure 87

Process 88

The Origins of World War I 94

Three Levels of Analysis 94

Was War Inevitable? 100

What Kind of War? 103

The Funnel of Choices 104

Lessons of History Again 107

Chapter 4 The Failure of Collective Security and World War II 111

The Rise and Fall of Collective Security 112

The League of Nations 113

The United States and the League of Nations 114

The Early Days of the League 115

The Manchurian Failure 118

The Ethiopian Debacle 119

The Origins of World War II 121

Hitler's War? 121

Hitler's Strategy 123

The Role of the Individual 128

Systemic and Domestic Causes 128

Was War Inevitable? 130

The Pacific War 131

Appeasement and Two Types of War 135

Chapter 5 The Cold War 141

Deterrence and Containment 142

Explaining the Cold War 143

Three Approaches 143

Roosevelt's Policies 246

Stalin's Policies 147

Phases of the Conflict 148

Inevitability? 153

Levels of Analysis 155

U.S. and Soviet Goals in the Cold War 157

Containment in Action: The Vietnam War 159

Motives, Means, and Consequences 160

The Rest of the Cold War 165

The End of the Cold War 167

The Role of Nuclear Weapons: Physics and Politics 172

Balance of Terror 276

Problems of Nuclear Deterrence 177

The Cuban Missile Crisis 179

Moral Issues 182

Chapter 6 Post-Cold War Cooperation, Conflict, Flashpoints 192

Managing Conflict 193

International Law and Organization 296

Predictability and Legitimacy 299

The United Nations: Collective Security and Peacekeeping 200

Intrastate Conflict 206

Intervention and Sovereignty 208

Defining Intervention 209

Judging Intervention 211

Exceptions to the Rule of Nonintervention 212

Problems of Self-Determination 213

Genocide and the "Responsibility to Protect" 215

Interstate Conflict: Current Flashpoints 218

The Middle East 219

Chapter 7 Globalization and Interdependence 254

The Dimensions of Globalization 255

What's New about Twenty-First Century Globalization? 258

Political Reactions to Globalization 259

Power and Globalization 261

The Concept of Interdependence 261

Sources of Interdependence 262

Benefits of Interdependence 263

Costs of Interdependence 264

Symmetry of Interdependence 266

Leadership and Institutions in the World Economy 269

Realism and Complex Interdependence 273

The Politics of Oil 275

Oil as a Power Resource 280

Chapter 8 The Information Revolution and Transnational Actors 285

Power and the Information Revolution: From the Invention of Writing to the Arab Spring 286

Lessons from the Past 287

A New World Politics? 290

Sovereignty and Control 294

Transnational Actors 299

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) 302

The Information Revolution and Complex Interdependence 306

Transnational Terrorism and the "War on Terror" 309

Conclusions 312

Chapter 9 What Can We Expect in the Future? 315

Alternative Visions 316

The End of History or the Clash of Civilizations? 320

Technology and the Diffusion of Power 323

Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction 325

Transnational Challenges to Security 327

A New World Order? 337

Future Configurations of Power 338

The Prison of Old Concepts 341

The Evolution of a Hybrid World Order 343

Thinking About the Future 345

Glossary 348

Credits 354

Index 355