This long-awaited new edition has been fully updated and revised by the original authors as well as two new members of the author team. Based on many years of active research and teaching it takes the discipline's most difficult aspects and makes them accessible and interesting. Each chapter builds up an understanding of the different ways of looking at the world. The clarity of presentation allows students to rapidly develop a theoretical framework and to apply this knowledge widely as a way of understanding both more advanced theoretical texts and events in world politics. Suitable for first and second year undergraduates studying international relations and international relations theory.

How do we understand international relations in a globalized world? This clear and concise text takes as its starting point the theoretical frameworks that are the foundation of current IR. Joyce P. Kaufman explains and contextualizes the traditional theories, highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses. Her levels-of-analysis approach provides students with the basic tools for a more inclusive understanding of international politics by not forcing them to choose between competing theories. Instead, in a refreshing alternative to most of the current introductory-level texts, the book allows readers to view the globe as a complex place of multiple actors facing multiple issues. It concludes with cases of current events that will help students apply theories to real-world issues.

This edition provides a systematic introduction to the principle theories in international relations. It focuses on the main theoretical traditions - realism, liberalism, international society, and theories of international political economy. It also includes two chapters on social constructivism and foreign policy.

Invaluable to students and those approaching the subject for the first time, An Introduction to International Relations, Second Edition provides a comprehensive and stimulating introduction to international relations, its traditions and its changing nature in an era of globalisation. Thoroughly revised and updated, it features chapters written by a range of experts from around the world. It presents a global perspective on the theories, history, developments and debates that shape this dynamic discipline and contemporary world politics. Now in full-colour and accompanied by a password-protected companion website featuring additional chapters and case studies, this is the indispensable guide to the study of international relations.

This is a major new edition of a highly-regarded textbook on International Relations theory which combines deep analysis into the diversity of thought within the major scholarly traditions and the guidance for students on doing their own theorising. Knud Erik Jorgensen analyses the nuances of the main contending theories and approaches, their philosophical underpinnings, and explains their use and relevance to different research agendas. This is all placed within the context of cross-cutting coverage of key current issues and debates; of the philosophical foundations of IR theory; and of why different theories are addressed to different research agendas. All chapters have been fully revised and updated, and a new chapter on the Human-Nature tradition has been included to reflect the changes within the field. This text is the most up-to-date and informative text on International Relations theory, and is an essential companion for all International Relations students.

This cutting-edge textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to international relations theory. Arguing that theory is central to explaining the dynamics of world politics, it includes a wide variety of theoretical positions--from the historically dominant traditions to powerful critical voices since the 1980s. The editors have brought together a team of international contributors, each specializing in a different theory. The contributors explain the theoretical background to their positions before showing how and why their theories matter. The book opens up space for analysis and debate, allowing students to decide which theories they find most useful in explaining and understanding international relations.

Introducing students to the main theories in international relations, this textbook also deconstructs each theory, allowing students to engage critically with the assumptions and myths that underpin them.

What does it mean to adopt a realist, or a world systems, or a green approach to international relations? Does the plethora of ¿isms¿ have any relevance to the real world of global politics and policymaking? Making Sense of International Relations Theory addresses these questions by illustrating theories in action. With the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies as a common point of reference, each contributor presents a particular framework for interpreting world affairs. This structure offers students tangible examples of how theory is used in practice and at the same time highlights the explanatory differences among theories. Incorporating extensive introductory sections, the book is uniquely designed to explore alternative ways of understanding current events¿to assist students in making sense of, as well as with, IR theory.

Since the field of International Relations was established almost a century ago, many different theoretical approaches have been developed, each offering distinctive accounts of the world, why it has come to be the way it is, and how it might be made a better place. In this illuminating textbook, leading IR scholar, Stephanie Lawson, examines each of these theories in turn, from political realism in its various forms to liberalism, Marxism, critical theory and more recent contributions from social theory, feminism, postcolonialism and green theory. Taking as her focus the major practical issues facing scholars of international relations today, Lawson ably shows how each theory relates to situations ?on the ground?. Each chapter features case studies, questions for discussion to encourage reflection and classroom debate, guides to further reading and web resources. The study of IR is a profoundly normative enterprise, and each theoretical school has its strengths and weaknesses. Theories of International Relations encourages a critical, reflective approach to the study of IR theory, while emphasising the many important and interesting things it has to teach us about the complexities and challenges of international politics today.

The 1954 Conference on Theory, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, featured a 'who's who' of scholars and practitioners debating what would become the foundations of international relations theory. Assembling his own team of experts, the editor revisits a seminal event in the discipline.