Evolutionary Interpretations of World Politics / Edition 1

by William R. Thompson

Overview

The field of international relations is often stagnated in realism and liberalism. Groundbreaking and guaranteed to stir debate, this work will move the field of international relations beyond its current, and often inadequate, assumptions. The contributors describe how states, ideologies, and other areas of analysis evolve, conquer others, or disappear entirely. Change and the fluid nature of history—though so clearly a part of historical reality—are not so deeply embedded in other paradigms as they are in the variation and selection model of evolutionary international relations. Some contributors lay out the various controversies inherent to the new theory, while others apply the paradigm to specific problems in IR theory. Regardless of the approach, the presentation of this entirely new perspective and method succeeds in forming a new paradigm of international relations. Contributors include: William R. Thompson, George Modelski, Vincent S. E. Falger, David P. Rapkin, Jennifer Sterling-Folker, Hendrik Spruyt, Stewart Patrick, Paul Hensel, Karen Rasler, Craig N. Murphy, Jeffrey A. Hart, Sangbae and Brian Pollins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415930581
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/08/2001
Pages:	362
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

William R. Thompson is Professor Political Science and Director of the Center for the Study of International Relations at Indiana University. He is the author of Emergence of the Global Political Economy (Routledge, 2000) and was formerly the co-editor of International Studies Quarterly.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Evolving Toward an Evolutionary Perspective, William R. Thompson; Central Questions About Interpretation Evolutionary World Politics: Problems of Scope and Method, George Modelski; Evolutionary World Politics Enriched: The Biological Foundations of International Relations, Vincent S.E. Falger; Obstacles to an Evolutionary Global Politics Research Program David P. Rapkin; Bridges to Other Perspectives Evolutionary Tendencies in Realist and Liberal IR Theory, Jennifer Sterling-Folker; Divergence or Uniformity in the Modern World?: Answers from Evolutionary Theory, Learning and Social Adaptation, Hendrik Spruyt; The Evolution of International Norms: Choice, Learning, Power and Identity, Stewart Patrick; Applications to Conflict and Cooperation Evolution in Domestic Politics and the Development of Rivalry: The Bolivia-Paraguay Case, Paul R. Hensel; Expectancy Theory, Strategic Rivalry Deescalation, and the Evolution of the Sino-Soviet Case, William R. Thompson; Political Shocks and the De-Escalation of Protracted Conflicts: The Israeli-Palestine Case, Karen Rasler; Applications to International Political Economy Egalitarian Social Movements and New World Orders, Craig N. Murphy; Technological Capacity as Fitness: An Evolutionary Model of Change in the International Political Economy, Sangbae Kim and Jeffrey A. Hart; Continuity vs. Evolutionary Shift: Global Financial Expansion and the State, Brian Pollins; About the Contributors; Index

Editorial Reviews

"A valuable portrait of evolutionary theory as applied to the study of world politics. In contributions that range from international history to contemporary political economy they capture the diversity and dynamism of this approach." — Miles Kahler, Rohr Professor of Pacific International Relations, University of California, San Diego
"An innovative, potentially ground-breaking, book that will help the field of international relations move beyond realism and liberalism and onto a truly new perspective that provides non-obvious insights that will eventually produce new mid-range theories of world politics and the global economy." — John Vasquez, Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University
"This thought-provoking collection of essays offers an authoritative survey of the state-of-the art in evolutionary thinking applied to a variety of topics in world politics. Analysts wanting to resurrect systemic international relations theory cannot afford to overlook this approach and its contributions." — Lars-Erik Cederman, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles
"Evolutionary world politics proves itself to be a powerful paradigm for apprehending global change. This volume is evidence of its growing methodological sophistication, its adoption and use in alternative theoretical frameworks, and its enlightening application to a variety of questions about conflict, cooperation and the functioning of the global political economy." — Robert A. Denemark, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Delaware
"This thought-provoking collection of essays offers an authoritative survey of the state-of-the art in evolutionary thinking applied to a variety of topics in world politics. Analysts wanting to resurrect systemic international relations theory cannot afford to overlook this approach and its contributions." — Lars-Erik Cederman, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles
"[T]his impressive volume conclusively demonstrates that an evolutionary approach, in combination with political and sociologically oriented theories, may go along way toward improving our understandings of the mechanisms that govern and explain international change and institutionalization... a much needed collection of essays on evolutionary world politics, which is essential reading not only for IR theorists interested in evolutionary perspectives, but also for all IR theorist who are looking for better ways to explain international change and stability." — The Journal of Politics, Emanuel Alder

From the Publisher