International relations theory

1. Chapter 1, “Thinking About IR Theory,”

includes a new reading by Thomas Walker

on the dangers of becoming wedded to a

single paradigm or image of world politics.

2. Chapter 2, “Realism: The State and Balance

of Power,” now has an expanded discussion

of Thucydides and new sections on defensive

and offensive realists, nonsystemic realist

explanations, and dynamic differential theory

of great power war.

3. Chapter 3, “Liberalism: Interdependence

and Global Governance,” expands the

discussion on both the impact of global￾ization on IR theory and the literature on

deliberative global governance and has a new

article by Robert Keohane on Elinor Ostrom’s

Governing the Commons.

4. Chapter 4, “Economic Structuralism:

Global Capitalism and Postcolonialism,”

provides more in-depth coverage of Antonio

Gramsci, Robert Cox, and the postcolonialism

literature. It also includes a new reading

by Barbara Bush on the role of culture in

imperial relations.

5. Each reading features an expanded

headnote and critical-thinking questions

that provides more context for the selection

and teases out its conceptual or theoretical

import.

If you’re wondering why you should buy

this new edition of International Relations

Theory, here are fi ve good reasons!

International

Relations Theory

Fifth Edition

PAUL R. VIOTTI

University of Denver

MARK V. KAUPPI

Georgetown University

Longman

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Viotti, Paul R.

International relations theory / Paul R. Viotti, Mark V. Kauppi.—5th ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-205-08293-3 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-205-08293-9 (alk. paper)

1. International relations. I. Kauppi, Mark V. II. Title.

JZ1305.V56 2012

327.101—dc22 2010048600

Copyright © 2012, 2010, 1999 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10—DOC—14 13 12 11

ISBN-13: 978-0-205-08293-3

ISBN-10: 0-205-08293-9

B R I E F C O N T E N T S

Detailed Contents iv

Preface viii

CHAPTER 1 Thinking About IR Theory 1

PART I Images of International Relations 37

CHAPTER 2 Realism: The State and Balance of Power 39

CHAPTER 3 Liberalism: Interdependence and Global Governance 129

CHAPTER 4 Economic Structuralism: Global Capitalism and Postcolonialism 189

CHAPTER 5 The English School: International Society and Grotian Rationalism 239

PART II Interpretive Understandings 275

CHAPTER 6 Constructivist Understandings 277

CHAPTER 7 Positivism, Critical Theory, and Postmodern Understandings 322

CHAPTER 8 Feminist Understandings in IR Theory 360

PART III Normative Considerations 389

CHAPTER 9 Normative IR Theory: Ethics and Morality 391

Glossary 441

Index 471

iii

D E T A I L E D C O N T E N T S

Brief Contents iii

Preface viii

CHAPTER 1

Thinking About IR Theory 1

The IR Field in an Age of Globalization 1

Epistemology, Methodology, and Ontology 2

What Is Theory? 4

Explanation and Prediction 5

Abstraction and Application 8

Levels of Analysis 8

Images 12

Interpretive Understandings 14

Normative Theory 16

A Look Ahead 17

Selected Readings

Thinking Theory Thoroughly /

James Rosenau 19

The Perils of Paradigm Mentalities:

Revisiting Kuhn, Lakatos, and Popper /

Thomas C. Walker 27

Suggestions for Further Reading 34

PART I Images of International

Relations 37

CHAPTER 2

Realism: The State and Balance

of Power 39

Major Actors and Assumptions 39

Intellectual Precursors and Influences 42

Thucydides 42

Machiavelli 45

Hobbes 47

Grotius 48

Clausewitz 49

Carr 50

Morgenthau 51

Power 52

Definitions 52

Measurement 53

System 54

Game Theory and Anarchy 55

Distribution of Capabilities and the Balance of Power 58

Change 68

Power Transition 68

Long Cycles 69

Globalization and Interdependence 71

Globalization 71

Interdependence and Vulnerability 71

Realists and International Cooperation 72

Realists and Their Critics 74

Realism: The Term Itself 74

The System and Determinism 75

Realists and the State 76

Realists and the Balance of Power 77

Realism and Change 78

Realism: The Entire Enterprise 79

Selected Readings

The Melian Dialogue / Thucydides 83

On Princes and the Security of Their States /

Niccolò Machiavelli 88

Of the Natural Condition of Mankind /

Thomas Hobbes 90

The State of War: Confederation as

Means to Peace in Europe / Jean-Jacques

Rousseau 93

iv

Detailed Contents v

Explaining War: The Levels of Analysis /

Kenneth N. Waltz 96

Hard and Soft Power in American Foreign

Policy / Joseph S. Nye, Jr. 109

Suggestions for Further Reading 117

CHAPTER 3

Liberalism: Interdependence

and Global Governance 129

Major Actors and Assumptions 129

Intellectual Precursors and Influences 131

Stoicism 132

Liberalism—Classical and Social Variants 132

Immanuel Kant 134

Richard Cobden 135

Joseph Schumpeter 135

Interest-Group Liberalism 135

Integration 137

Transnationalism 142

Interdependence 144

International Regimes 144

Neoliberal Institutionalism 147

Global Governance 149

Green Politics and the Environment 150

Economic Interdependence and Peace 152

The Democratic Peace 154

Decision Making 156

Change and Globalization 160

Liberals and Their Critics 161

Anarchy 161

Theory Building 162

The Democratic Peace 163

Voluntarism 163

Selected Readings

Producing Security / Stephen G. Brooks 167

Beyond the Tragedy of the Commons/

Robert O. Keohane 176

Suggestions for Further Reading 180

CHAPTER 4

Economic Structuralism: Global Capitalism

and Postcolonialism 189

Major Actors and Assumptions 189

Intellectual Precursors and Influences 193

Karl Marx 193

Hobson and Imperialism 195

Lenin 196

Luxemburg and Revolution vs. Reform 197

Antonio Gramsci 198

Dependency Theorists 199

ECLA and UNCTAD Arguments 199

Radical Critiques 200

Domestic Forces 202

The Capitalist World-System 203

System 204

Political, Economic, and Social Factors 206

Change and Globalization 207

Postcolonialism 209

Economic Structuralists and Their Critics 213

The Question of Causality 213

Reliance on Economics 213

System Dominance 213

Theoretical Rigidity 214

Accounting for Anomalies 214

Defining Alternatives and Science as Ideology 215

Responses 215

Selected Readings

The Economic Taproot of Imperialism /

J. A. Hobson 219

Culture and Imperialism /

Barbara Bush 222

The Modern World-System as a Capitalist

World-Economy / Immanuel Wallerstein 227

Suggestions for Further Reading 233

CHAPTER 5

The English School: International Society

and Grotian Rationalism 239

Major Actors and Assumptions 239

vi Detailed Contents

Intellectual Precursors and Influences 241

Grotius 241

Kant 242

Carr 242

The Divergence of British and American

Scholarship 243

The Genesis of the English School 244

Levels of Analysis and Theory 246

Change 246

From System to International Society 246

From International Society to World Society 247

The English School, Liberals, and Social

Constructivists 249

The English School and Its Critics 250

Methodological Muddle 250

Historical Knowledge 250

Political Economy, the Environment, and Gender 250

Conceptual and Philosophical Eclecticism 251

Selected Readings

The Law of Nations on War, Peace and

Freedom of the Seas / Hugo Grotius 254

Inventing International Society /

Tim Dunne 260

Does Order Exist in World Politics? /

Hedley Bull 267

Suggestions for Further Reading 270

PART II Interpretive

Understandings 275

CHAPTER 6

Constructivist Understandings 277

Major Actors and Assumptions 278

Intellectual Precursors and Influences 279

Kant 279

Locke 280

Durkheim 281

Weber 281

Intersubjectivity 281

Structure, Rules, and Norms 284

Rules 285

Norms 286

Agents 287

Identity 287

Logic of Appropriateness 289

Interests 290

The Diversity of Social Constructivist Thought 291

Schools of Thought 291

Levels of Analysis 292

Wendt’s “Naturalist” Constructivism 293

Constructivist Affinities in the

Broader IR Field 297

Constructivists and Their Critics 297

Liberal and Realist Critiques 297

Debates within Constructivism and Postmodern

Challenges 298

Selected Readings

Constructing International Politics /

Alexander Wendt 302

Constructing Norms of Humanitarian

Intervention / Martha Finnemore 309

Suggestions for Further Reading 316

CHAPTER 7

Positivism, Critical Theory, and Postmodern

Understandings 322

Positivism 323

Intellectual Precursors: Phenomenology

and Hermeneutics 328

Critical Theory: Major Assumptions 331

Postmodernism: Major Assumptions 333

Critical Theorists, Postmodernists,

and Their Critics 335

Summation 337

Selected Readings

Critical Explorations and the Highway

of Critical Security Theory / Ken Booth 339

Writing Security / David Campbell 348

Suggestions for Further Reading 355

Detailed Contents vii

CHAPTER 8

Feminist Understandings in IR Theory 360

Intellectual Precursors and Influences 360

Major Assumptions 362

Strands of Feminism in IR 364

Gender, War, and Security Studies 365

Gender and International Organizations 367

Gendered Understandings and IR Theory 368

Feminists and Their Critics 369

What Critics? 369

Research Program and Cumulative Knowledge 369

Selected Readings

The Logic of Masculinist Protection:

Reflections on the Current Security State /

Iris Marion Young 371

Why Women Can’t Rule the World:

International Politics According to Francis

Fukuyama / J. Ann Tickner 380

Suggestions for Further Reading 386

PART III Normative

Considerations 389

CHAPTER 9

Normative IR Theory: Ethics

and Morality 391

Norms, Ethics, and Morality 391

Normative Theory: Alternative Perspectives 392

The Levels of Analysis 392

Moral Relativism 393

Secular Bases for Moral or Ethical Choice 393

Justice and War 397

Applying Just War Theory in the Twenty-First

Century 399

Morality and Weaponry 400

Justice and Human Rights 402

The Enlightenment 402

Current Application 403

Humanitarian Treatment and the

Sovereign State 403

Armed Intervention and State

Sovereignty 405

Intervention and Civil Wars 406

Criteria for Humanitarian Intervention 407

Alternative Images and Foreign Policy

Choice 410

Rationality and Foreign Policy Choice 411

Values, Choices, and Theory 412

Selected Readings

Morality, Politics, and Perpetual Peace /

Immanuel Kant 415

The Nature of Politics / E. H. Carr 421

The Law of Peoples / John Rawls 425

On War and Peace—The Nobel Peace

Prize Speech / Barack Obama 430

Suggestions for Further Reading 436

Glossary 441

Index 471

P R E F A C E

The idea for International Relations Theory resulted from a conversation

between the authors in 1982 as they strolled through the grounds of Schloss

Solitud, located just outside Stuttgart, Germany. The topic of discussion was

the perennial problem of presenting in a relatively coherent manner a significant

portion of the vast literature that comprises the field of international relations

theory. After several years of classroom experimentation and numerous other con￾versations, the result was the first edition of this volume, published in 1987; with

subsequent editions in 1993 and 1999; and, after a decade-long intermission, the

fourth edition in 2010. Informed by feedback from former students, colleagues, and

reviewers in North America, Europe, East Asia, and elsewhere, this fifth edition

continues to take account of changes in the world and major developments within

the field that have occurred over the past quarter century.

International relations theorists try to make the world and human interactions

within it more intelligible. They try to unpack the complexities that surround our

subjective and intersubjective understandings of global politics. And they disagree

substantially in these efforts. It is a field so torn by controversies that the casual ob￾server may wonder if these IR theorists are writing about the same world. At times,

IR theorists sound collectively like a cacophony of voices, discordant and anything

but harmonious. On the other hand, we reflect that this out-of-tune sound is also a

mark of a field in ferment, decidedly not moribund and potentially very productive

of theories and understandings that may improve our grasp of how the world works.

Theorists have observed the end of the Cold War, increasing globalization, the

prevalence of state and non-state conflict, and global economic crises. As in the previ￾ous editions, we’ve taken the time needed to reflect on and assess both the impact of

these substantial developments as well as the increased diversity in thought within the

images and interpretive understandings we identify.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

In this edition, we have added the following:

j A new reading in Chapter 1by Thomas Walker on the dangers of students in

IR becoming wedded to a single paradigm or image of world politics. We also

update and expand coverage in Chapter 1to set the stage for subsequent chap￾ters on all the diverse perspectives—the theoretical approaches now prevalent in

the IR field—realism, liberalism, economic structuralism, English School, con￾structivism, postmodernism, critical theory, feminism, and normative theory.

j In Chapter 2an expanded discussion of Thucydides and new sections

on defensive and offensive realists, nonsystemic realist explanations, and

dynamic differential theory of great power war.

viii

Preface ix

j Expanded discussion in Chapter 3on both the impact of globalization on IR

theory and the literature on deliberative global governance—adding as well a

new article by Robert Keohane on Elinor Ostrom’s Governing the Commons.

j Broader coverage in Chapter 4on economic structuralism with an expanded dis￾cussion on Antonio Gramsci, Robert Cox, and the postcolonialism literature. We

also add a new reading by Barbara Bush on the role of culture in imperial relations.

j Identification, beginning with constructivism in Chapter 6 , of interpretive

under standings (constructivism, postmodernism, critical theory, feminism) as

another overarching conceptual category that gives meaning to the approaches

and theories they contain.

j Updated coverage of normative theory in Chapter 9as a value-oriented category

of theoretical inquiry not only on warfare, human rights, and other ethical chal￾lenges facing policymakers, but also on how values relate to the images and inter￾pretive understandings that influence scholarly work by theorists in the IR field.

j Greater detail in the newly revised précis—the expanded headnotes before

each selected reading in this edition that couple an overview with critical

thinking questions of conceptual or theoretical import to think about while

reading each article.

FEATURES

This volume (1) discusses and illustrates what is meant by theory and why theoriz￾ing about IR is important; (2) analyzes and assesses the underlying assumptions

and orientations that influence scholarly work in the IR field—images that we label

realism, liberalism, economic structuralism, and the English School and interpretive

understandings found in social constructivism, critical theory, postmodernism, and

feminism; (3) provides an overview of normative theory—what ought to be done,

how actors should conduct themselves; (4) offers in the chapters and readings rep￾resentative samples of theoretical works; (5) introduces the reader to key concepts

used in the IR field (some indicated in boldface type)—hence, an extensive glossary;

(6) encourages the reader to assess both historical and contemporary conceptual

and theoretical works in the IR field; and (7) raises questions that lead us to scru￾tinize critically diverse theoretical claims made in these works.

Indeed, if we are better equipped to analyze everyday events from a conceptual

or theoretical perspective; to ask the right questions; to recognize underlying assump￾tions in written works or public pronouncements by academics, government officials,

journalists, and other commentators, this would transcend any supposed achieve￾ment made simply by memorizing which author is associated with what theory.

Keys to Navigating the IR Field

When dealing with the four images and four interpretive understandings we have

identified, we hasten to underscore that these are not airtight, mutually exclusive

categories of thought. As we maintained in earlier editions of this book, they are best

understood more as pure or ideal types—general ways of thinking about IR that can

serve as benchmarks that delineate major currents in the IR field. Indeed, the works

x Preface

of particular scholars (and the scholars themselves) oftentimes blend or cross from

one image or interpretive understanding to another. Nevertheless, these categories

of thought presented in this volume do help us organize and thus make better sense

of what remains a deeply divided field of inquiry—one made even more difficult to

navigate by the “laundry” lists of “isms” found in many IR theory books.

Images

Images that attempt a comprehensive, overarching view of the field are the subject

matter in Part One, with separate chapters on (1) realism (with new developments in

structural or neorealism) in Chapter 2 , (2) liberalism (adding global governance found

in rational or neoliberal institutionalism) in Chapter 3 , (3) economic structuralism

(with postcolonialism integrated with earlier discussions of world-system theory and

dependency) in Chapter 4 , and (4) the English School (with discussion of the Grotian

roots of international society and prospects for a Kantian world society) in Chapter 5 .

Interpretive Understandings

The other “isms” that now dominate the field do not pretend to provide so over￾arching, comprehensive a view of international relations or world politics as these

four images do. Instead, their focus is on the interpretive or subjective and inter￾subjective understandings we and others as human beings hold about the world in

which we are immersed. Social constructivists in Chapter 6and critical theorists

and postmodernists in Chapter 7pose a substantial challenge to positivists wedded

to scientific modes of inquiry. So do some feminists discussed in Chapter 8 .

In Chapter 7we also examine how the first three of the four interpretive under￾standings (constructivism, critical theory, and postmodernism) owe so much to the

work of Max Weber on Verstehen or interpretive understanding and, more broadly,

to phenomenology—a philosophical inquiry into human consciousness or the work￾ings of the mind that affect our interpretations of the phenomena we observe. For its

part, feminism, and its focus on gender as an interpretive lens, has a longer, also very

rich history influenced by, but separate (for the most part) from, these philosophical

or phenomenological currents. Nevertheless, we group these four modes of think￾ing into one broad category in Part Two—interpretive understandings—precisely

because each is sensitive to the importance of interpretation, the subjective and

intersubjective dimensions in and among human beings, the actions they take, and

interactions among them that our theorizing takes into account.

Normative Considerations

The final part of this volume takes up in Chapter 9the philosophical underpinnings

of the IR field found in political theory. Normative theory connects moral or ethical

obligation to the challenges that confront policymakers. Conceptual understand￾ings and values in political theory also underlie both the images and interpretive

understandings we identify. On images, we see values or norms in the exercise of

power and the search for order in realism, the multilateral or institutional remedies

for global problems in liberalism, the exploitative class or interstate relations in

Preface xi

economic structuralism, and the search for “Grotian” rules and “Kantian” norms

in international or world society in the English School.

Political theory also informs the interpretive understandings scholars take to

IR whether (1) they identify international norms as ideational structures, as social

constructivists are prone to do; (2) frame the critique offered by critical theorists

looking for underlying power or other motives in ideologies masquerading as if

they were scientifically grounded theories; (3) point us to the value-laden mean￾ings in the concepts and theoretical claims IR scholars make when we deconstruct

their work, as postmodernists do; or (4) find, as feminists are prone to identify, the

gender-related values present not only in everyday life, but also in IR theories that

frequently purport to be value neutral.

Though deeply divided, when viewed as a whole, the IR field is intellectually

very vibrant. Journals and recently published books have been filled with important

new theoretical work as well as challenges to already established understandings

and responses from their defenders. Given understandable constraints on the length

of this volume, it is impossible to cover every topic as extensively as we might like,

much less reprint every article suggested by colleagues, students, and reviewers.

Nevertheless, we hope that this book remains a useful starting point and reference

in helping readers not only to understand current trends in a still very dynamic field,

but also to gain an appreciation for the extent to which current theoretical work

and debates rest so heavily upon the rich conceptual foundation of earlier years and

across the millennia.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We gratefully acknowledge the review and critique of earlier drafts of the manu￾script for this edition by Carina Solmirano, University of Denver, who also combed

the literature extensively to find representative titles we have included in the lists

of Suggested Readings that append each chapter. Paul R. Viotti, Jr., then at the

University of California, Santa Cruz, and now at California State University, Chico,

contributed to our discussion of interpretive understandings and recommended

readings. As always, we thank both Emily and Natalie Kauppi for their willingness

to contribute valuable time and skills to improve the quality of the final manuscript.

Reviewers who went through the manuscript line by line and offered most helpful

suggestions on this and the fourth edition include Andrew Cortell, Lewis and Clark

Preface xiii

College; Zaryab Iqbal, Penn State University; Lee Metcalf, Florida State University;

and Celine Jaquemin, St. Mary’s University. Finally, we are grateful for substantial

discussions with our editors at Pearson Longman—Vikram Mukhija and, earlier,

Eric Stano. We also appreciate early inputs from Jack Donnelly, University of

Denver, and Joyce Kaufman, Whittier College.

Paul R. Viotti,

University of Denver, Josef Korbel School of International Studies

Mark V. Kauppi,

Georgetown University