The Logic of Anarchy: Neorealism to Structural Realism (New Directions in World Politics)

You want to understand the theory of international politics? Well, then, first try Kenneth Waltz's "Theory of International Politics", then go to Robert Keohane's "Neorealism and its Critics", then read David Baldwin's "Neorealism and Neoliberalism", and finally peruse this work. "The Logic of Anarchy" anatomises every part of Waltz's "T of P", criticises it wholly, and improves it to the extent to which I doubt there will be any further refinement. It is the most important and best response to Waltz's work! EEn......Page 0 Front Cover......Page 1 TOC......Page 2 Preface......Page 3 1. Overview......Page 4 Section I: Rethinking System and Structure......Page 13 2. Waltz, His Critics, and the Prospects for a Structural Realism......Page 14 3. System, Structure, and Units......Page 18 4. Beyond Neorealism: Interaction Capacity......Page 38 Section II: Rethinking System Continuity and Transformation......Page 46 5. Structural Realism and World History......Page 48 6. Structural Realism and the Agent-Structure Debate......Page 57 7. Agency and Competing Theories of the State......Page 63 8. The Structure and Logic of Anarchy......Page 73 9. Continuity and Transformation in the International System......Page 86 Section III: Rethinking the Methodology of Realism......Page 94 10. Analogy, Theory, and Testing......Page 96 11. Analogy and Metaphor......Page 110 12. Vertical Sectors and Disaggregated Power......Page 118 13. Summary and Conclusions......Page 127 References......Page 134

— James Der Derian, University of Massachusetts

James Der Derian

A superb piece of architecture. It strips Waltz's classic down to struts and studs to reconstruct a richer, more complex theory of neorealism.