Political Realism in International Theory

by Roger D. Spegele

Overview

The discipline of international relations is a fragmented one. In this book, Roger Spegele analyzes this fragmentation and suggests that the subject should be seen as engaged in a struggle among three competing conceptions: positivism-empiricism, emancipatory international relations, and political realism. He argues that scholars following these different conceptions have had different ways of understanding theory, practice and the relation between them. By focusing on this relation, Professor Spegele develops a new version of political realism, called "Evaluative Political Realism".

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521556354
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/22/1996
Series:	Cambridge Studies in International Relations , #47
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.10(d)

Table of Contents

Part I: 1. Theory and practice in international relations; 2. Positivist-empiricism and international relations; 3. Emancipatory international relations: a first cut; Part II. 4. Evaluative political realism: a beginning; 5. State and state-systems in evaluative political realism; 6. Evaluative political realism and human nature; 7. Evaluative political realism and historical realism; 8. Evaluative political realism as moral realism; 9. Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"...Spegele's ordering principles are useful, and persuasive, and his treatment of every perspective appropriately critical....this erudite and well-crafted study lives up to its advance billing as a coherent, viable, and attractive defense of realism." Robert M.A. Crawford, American Political Science Review

From the Publisher