Fifty key thinkers in international relations

FIFTY KEY THINKERS

IN INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONS

Here in one handy volume is a unique and comprehensive overview of the key thinkers in international

relations in the twentieth century. From influential statesmen such as Lenin and Kissinger, to emerging

thinkers of hitherto marginalised areas of concern, including feminism, historical sociology and the

study of nationalism, the book describes the main elements of each thinker’s contribution to the study

of international relations. Information, where appropriate, is supplied on the individual thinker’s life

and career, and signposts to further reading and critical analysis are also provided.

Martin Griffiths is a senior lecturer in the School of Political and International Studies at the Flinders

University of South Australia. Previous works include Realism, Idealism and International Politics

(Routledge, 1992).

FIFTY KEY THINKERS

IN INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONS

Martin Griffiths

London and New York

First published 1999 by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.

© 1999 Martin Griffiths

The right of Martin Griffiths to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in

accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or

by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including

photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission

in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data

has been applied for

ISBN 0-415-16227-0 (hbk)

ISBN 0-415-16228-9 (pbk)

ISBN 0-203-00547-3 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-17491-7 (Glassbook Format)

To the memory of my parents

Richard Tudor (1924–1993)

Lilian Doreen (1926–1996)

vii

CONTENTS

PRE

FACE ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi

REALISM

1

Raymond Aron

3

Edward Hallett Carr

7

Robert Gilpin 11

John Herz 16

George Kennan 21

Henry Kissinger 25

Stephen Krasner 31

Hans Morgenthau 36

Susan Strange 41

Kenneth

Waltz 46

LIBERALISM 51

Norman Angell 53

Charles Beitz 58

Michael Doyle 63

Francis Fukuyama 68

David Held 75

John Hobson 80

Stanley Hoffmann 85

Richard Rosecrance

8

9

Woodrow

Wilson 95

Alfred Zimmern 100

RADICAL/CRITICAL THEO

RY 107

John Burton 109

Robert Cox 113

Richard A. Falk 119

André Gunder Frank 124

Johan Galtung 129

Vladimir I. Lenin 134

Andrew Linklater 138

CONTENTS

viii

THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY 145

Hedley Bull 147

Terry Nardin 151

John Vincent 156

Michael Walzer 162

Martin Wight 168

INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION 175

Karl W. Deutsch 177

Ernst Haas 181

Robert Keohane 185

David Mitrany 191

John Ruggie 194

Alexander Wendt 199

POSTMODERNISM 205

Richard Ashley 207

Robert B. J. Walker 211

GENDER AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 217

Jean Bethke Elshtain 219

Cynthia Enloe 223

J. Ann Tickner 227

HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY/THEORIES OF THE STATE 233

Anthony Giddens 235

Michael Mann 240

Charles Tilly 246

Immanuel Wallerstein 252

THEORIES OF THE NATION 259

Benedict Anderson 261

Ernest Gellner 266

Anthony D. Smith 270

GUIDE TO FURTHER READING 277

ix

PREFACE

This book follows in the footsteps of Diané Collinson’s Fifty Major Philosophers (1987) and John

Lechte’s Fifty Key Contemporary Thinkers (1994). It has been a daunting challenge to maintain the high

standards set by these authors. Like them, I provide the reader with a summary of each thinker’s work,

some biographical information where appropriate and a bibliographical guide to further reading. I have

tried to be as objective as possible with each thinker, although I have not shied away at times from

inserting my own judgements. To assist the reader in navigating the field as a whole as well as the

particular schools of thought within it, I include a general guide to further reading at the end of the book.

This book confines its coverage to key thinkers of the twentieth century. There are a number of

other, excellent texts on classical thinkers in the discipline (listed in the general guide), and I wanted as

little overlap with them as possible. For this reason I also excluded key thinkers in nuclear strategy, and

refer the reader to John Baylis and John Garnett (eds), Makers of Modern Strategy, London, Pinter,

1991. Some duplication is inevitable, however. The last two decades have been characterised by a series

of seemingly endless arguments over the comparative merits of competing ‘paradigms’ in the field. In

the absence of consensus over the appropriate criteria for their identification and evaluation, it is fitting

to consider key thinkers in their own right, and this is increasingly the case in the field. Thus a number

of the thinkers included in this book are also discussed elsewhere. See, in particular, Iver B. Neumann

and Ole Waever (eds), The Future of International Relations: Masters in the Making, London, Routledge,

1997; Joseph Kruzel and James N. Rosenau (eds), Journeys Through World Politics: Autobiographical

Reflections of Thirty-Four Academic Travellers, Lexington, Massachusetts, Lexington Books, 1989;

and Michael Smith, Realist Thought From Weber to Kissinger, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University

Press, 1986. However, I have tried to minimise such duplication, some of which is inevitable when one

is writing about key thinkers in any academic field.

Despite the growing emphasis on the need to discuss individual thinkers rather than disembodied

‘schools of thought’, I follow the example of John Lechte’s volume and so divide the thinkers into

particular categories rather than simply list all fifty thinkers in alphabetical order. The categories

themselves represent the dominant schools of thought in the contemporary study of international

relations, even though there is a substantial range of views and ideas among the thinkers within them.

Indeed, it could be argued that the mark of any great thinker is his or her ability to transcend conventional

frameworks for analysis. For example, J.A. Hobson’s theory of imperialism is highly critical of many

liberal arguments concerning the merits of ‘free trade’, and was inspired by some of the ideas of Karl

Marx. Similarly, Robert Keohane is indebted to the insights of many realists, even as he has sought to

go beyond their alleged limitations. The use of categories, in my view, is not meant to place these

thinkers within some kind of intellectual or ideological cage, but to show how key thinkers, whilst they

PREFACE

x

can be usefully slotted into long-standing traditions of thought, are rarely bound by them. A brief

introductory note precedes each group of thinkers within a particular category.

This book covers writers who have made a substantial contribution to the way we think about

international relations at the end of the twentieth century, and I have tried to ensure that the book as a

whole fairly represents the scope of the field. Thus, in addition to the traditional trilogy of realists,

liberals and radicals, I have included thinkers in emerging sub-fields, such as gender and postmodernism.

Within the three main categories, I have included one statesman who represents the political embodiment

of the category in question. Thus Henry Kissinger as the arch-realist, Woodrow Wilson as the liberal,

and V.I. Lenin as the radical. These historical figures also contributed a substantial literature on

international relations. The section on theories of the nation may be problematic for some. I believe

that in an era when nationalism is resurgent in global politics, it makes sense to include some of the best

writers on the phenomenon, even though they may not be considered as ‘international relations

theorists’ in a narrow sense. Within the three dominant categories, I have tried to ensure some balance

between political philosophers, students of diplomacy and the use of force among states, as well as

international political economists.

Finally, it should be pointed out that most of the thinkers in this book are still thinking and writing,

so the reader should not substitute my thumbnail sketches for a more direct encounter with their work.

What follows is intended to supplement courses on international relations, and to provide some

inspiration for students entering one of most exciting and rapidly changing academic disciplines.

Martin Griffiths

xi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Kieron Corless first contacted me in 1995 with the initial proposal for this book. He was most helpful

in getting it off the ground, and I thank him for all the work he did in the initial stages. I could not have

written this book without the research assistance of a number of people along the way. Special thanks

to Terry O’Callaghan for his help in researching key bibliographical items. I am also grateful to David

Mathieson and Lachlan Pontifex for their aid in collecting material. Several colleagues read and provided

useful critical feedback on particular entries. They include George Crowder, Leonard Seabrooke, Tom

Martin and David Moore. I am especially indebted to Rick DeAngelis. He read the entire book from

beginning to end and his editorial skills were invaluable in improving the final draft. To all those who

encouraged me to believe that I could complete this project on time, many thanks.

Finally, my partner Kylie had to endure many late nights listening to the sound of a keyboard in the

next room. I thank her for her tolerance and love, and I promise not to work so obsessively on a project

like this ever again!

REALISM

Relations among states take place in the absence of a world government. For realists, this means that

the international system is anarchical. International relations are best understood by focusing on the

distribution of power among states. Despite their formal legal equality, the uneven distribution of

power means that the arena of international relations is a form of ‘power politics’. Power is hard to

measure; its distribution among states changes over time and there is no consensus among states about

how it should be distributed. International relations is therefore a realm of necessity (states must seek

power to survive in a competitive environment) and continuity over time. When realists contemplate

change in the international system, they focus on changes in the balance of power among states, and

tend to discount the possibility of fundamental change in the dynamics of the system itself. The

following key thinkers all subscribe to these basic assumptions in their explorations of the following

questions: (1) What are the main sources of stability and instability in the international system? (2)

What is the actual and preferred balance of power among states? (3) How should the great powers

behave toward one another and toward weaker states? (4) What are the sources and dynamics of

contemporary changes in the balance of power? Despite some shared assumptions about the nature of

international relations, realists are not all of one voice in answering these questions, and it would be

wrong to believe that shared assumptions lead to similar conclusions among them. In fact, there is

sharp disagreement over the relative merits of particular balances of power (unipolarity, bipolarity and

multipolarity). There is also much debate over the causal relationship between states and the international

pressures upon them, and the relative importance of different kinds of power in contemporary

international relations.