The book starts with the two views of the anarchic politics ( Realism & Liberalism ) and a very wise explanation for both of them, and I liked the way the writer analyzed the two world wars and their reasons and I agree with him about the inevitability part as I believe that the war wasn't inevitable but I quote him by saying "Ironically the belief that war is inevitable played a major role in causing it", and also the part about ethics and morality is very interesting and I liked what the French diplomat said when he was asked about what's moral and his answer was "what's moral is whatever is good for France", and also the part about counterfactuals was very exciting.
I don't agree with the writer about some points concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict but the book as a whole is a very good one.
I agree with the "back to the future" theory in some points as all I see now is "the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accepts what they have to accept".
I'll quote him again to end my review by saying "Has global society made war socially and morally unthinkable? We have to hope so, because the next hegemonic war would probably be the last".
First, it is vital for prospective buyers to understand that the existing reviews are three years out of date--this is a five-star tutorial on international relations that has been most recently updated after 9-11. If I were to recommend only two books on international relations, for any adult including nominally sophisticated world travelers, this would be the first book; the second would be Shultz, Godson, & Quester's wonderful edited work, "Security Studies for the 21st Century."
I really want to stress the utility of this work to adults, including those like myself who earned a couple of graduate degrees in the last century (smile). I was surprised to find no mention of the author's stellar service as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council--not only has he had full access to everything that can be known by secret as well as non-secret means, but he has kept current, and this undergraduate and affordable paperback was a great way for me--despite the 400+ books I've read (most of them reviewed on Amazon.com) in the past four plus years--to come up to speed on the rigorous methodical scholarly understanding of both historical and current theories and practices in international relations. This book is worth anyone's time, no matter how experienced or educated.
Each chapter has a very satisfactory mix of figures, maps, chronologies, and photos--a special value is a block chart showing the causes for major wars or periods of conflict at the three levels of analysis--international system, national, and key individual personalities, and I found these quite original and helpful.
Excellent reference and orientation work. Took five hours to read, with annotation--this is not a mind-glazer, it's a mind-exerciser.
I found the book very interesting, and full of examples taken from history that made the concepts easier to grasp. Moreover, it takes into account the three levels of causation: the individual, the state and the international system. It also includes suggested reading material, that allows the reader to delve deeper in those subjects she/he finds more interesting...
The book is very well organized. It was a foreword, a preface, 9 chapters and an index. Each chapter deals with a main theme, and some related topics. The themes of the chapters are:
chapter 1:"Is there an enduring logic of conflict in world politics?"; chapter 2: "Origins of the great 20th century conflicts";chapter 3: "Balance of power and World War I"; chapter 4: "The failure of collective security and World War II"; chapter 5: "The Cold War"; chapter 6: "Intervention, institutions and regional and ethnic conflicts"; chapter 7: "Globalization and interdependence"; chapter 8: "The information revolution, transnational actors, and the diffusion of power"; chapter 9: "A new world order?".
All in all, I strongly recommend this book to those interested in international relations... I think the author was successful in doing what he set out to do: he didn't want to give all the answers, he merely tried to help the readers to look for them. In his own words: "provide our students with conceptual tools that will help them shape their own answers as the future unfolds".
On the whole, a keeper :) Enjoy it !!!
Written by renowned scholar and former policymaker Joseph Nye, Understanding International Conflicts is a brief and penetrating introduction to the study of world politics. The text deftly applies a combination of history and theory to evaluate conflict and cooperation among international actors, thus providing students a framework for understanding contemporary issues. From World War I to modern terrorism and information revolutions to global governance, Understanding International Conflicts is a highly readable survey that answers as well as raises compelling questions about the future of international relations.
?Sometimes original scholars sound pedantic when addressing central issues of world politics; often policymakers speak in code or platitudes. Not so Professor Nye. As any reader will see, the work in your hands is lucid, direct, and concise. Reading Nye?s writing on world politics is like watching Joe DiMaggio play center field or Yo-Yo Ma play the cello: he makes the difficult look easy.??from Robert Keohane?s Foreword to Understanding International Conflicts, 7/e.
