International Politics: Readings and Links

Suggested Reading

Arendt, Hannah. On Revolution. New York: Penguin Classics, 1991.

Arendt’s philosophical descriptions of some of history’s greatest revolutions are dramatic and profound.

Aron, Raymond. The Century of Total War. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1985.

Aron, an extremely influential thinker in political science, explores the causes and consequences of war in the bloodiest century in history.

Axelrod, Robert. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books, 1984.

Axelrod ran an experiment in which computer programs competed with one another by cooperating or defecting. He found that cooperation could arise in an anarchic environment because programs that cooperated often benefited more than those that did not.

Kegley, Charles W., Jr., ed. International Terrorism: Characteristics, Causes, Controls. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990.

Numerous scholars tackle the thorny problem of terrorism.

Keohane, Robert, and Joseph S. Nye. Power and Interdependence. 2nd ed. Glencoe, Ill.: Scott Foresman, 1989.

The founding book of complex interdependence theory.

Morgenthau, Hans J. Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992.

A very influential American realist’s major work. Morgenthau argues that states must pursue power in order to protect their national interests.

Rosecrance, Richard. Rise of the Trading State. New York: Basic Books, 1986.

A historical approach to the complex interdependence theory.

Skocpol, Theda. States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979.

Skocpol is one of the key figures in the “return to the state” movement. In this classic of comparative politics, she looks at why some revolutions succeed and others fail.

Waltz, Kenneth. Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press, 1965.

What causes war? Waltz examines three possibilities and settles on the international system as the root cause.

Walzer, Michael. Just and Unjust War: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations. 3rd ed. New York: Basic Books, 2000.

A leading contemporary philosopher takes up the question of the morality of war.

Useful Websites

http://nsi.org/terrorism.html

Sponsored by the National Security Institute, this website contains facts about terrorism, as well as gives tips about how to avoid and prevent it.

www.cscs.umich.edu/Software/CC/ECHome.html

A website devoted to Robert Axelrod’s cooperation project and book The Evolution of Cooperation.

www.iiss.org

The website of the Institute for Strategic Studies, a watchdog organization for political-military conflicts around the world.

www.isn.ethz.ch

The International Relations and Security Network website contains a great deal of information and many links to information about international security issues.

www.terrorism.net