Customer Reviews

Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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First, it is vital for prospective buyers to understand that the existing reviews are three years out of date--this is a five-star tutorial on international relations that has been most recently updated after 9-11.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.

One of the few textbooks I truly enjoyed, Nye's Understanding International Conflicts was a clear, easy-to-read, and yet insightful book. Its focus is on the three levels of influence on a state's behavior: the interstate system, intrastate politics, and individual. It is one of the few entry-level IA books to discuss the effect of personality on the actions of a state. Even in my graduate-level seminars and papers, I found it to be useful.

The basis for "Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History" is, as the author explains in the preface, a course on international conflicts in the modern world he taught for a long time in Harvard. Nye says that the aim of the book is "to introduce students to the complexities of international politics by giving them a good grounding in the traditional realist theory before turning to liberal and constructivist approaches that became more prominent after the Cold War". I believe he excels at doing exactly that...

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 !!!

An interesting book indeed, written by an excellent writer who took me in a journey through history beginning with the Peloponnesian war and passing through world war one and two and the cold war after that, and ending with the new world order.

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".

I had to purchase this book as a second book for a class I had taken. This book helped cover many of the topics I had to study and this book did a better job of describing several topics relating to nationalism, imperialism history of international politics, foreign policies, international law and organization and human factors in international politics. I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to learn the basics or even get more indepth details on certain topics of international politics.

International Relations study without history is like cold cereal without milk; course, dry and empty. Nye does not present a history lesson outright but does give the reader a good sense of theory in context; theory from context. The first parts of the book demonstrate the dynamic approaches to the balance of power, the levels of IR analysis and the suggestions of inter-war idealism. Eventually Nye takes you to the bi-polar world, post WWII and with a little faith in his own work, promotes the effects of soft power.

Just because Nye comes across as presenting history in terms of power and the balance of power the book isn't a billboard for realism. Nye describes the logic behind IR's three different moral views: amoral, international law, cosmopolitan morality. He explains why the state is the focus of the 'top' paradigms while not discounting the role of society and the individual. History is not pre-determined and neither was WWII. Individuals can shape history's trajectory as can the global economy, technology and population dynamics.

Nye is not the only scholar to suggest that strategies like appeasement should be re-considered. There are positive examples of appeasement in history, Hitler's Germany is the outlier for many IR staples... and also the rule. As a result, the balance of power will not leave the IR lexicon. Finally, Nye examines ethnic conflict, international law and the claims of liberal internationalism. What role does the UN have and what role can it have? Nationalism and the sporadic bursts of self-determination continue to affect the world system. In the end, what is international law besides being a steering wheel for the powerful?

One thing the world cannot avoid is global interdependency. Nye is not calling it a cure-all by any means but a force to be recognized. It contains within its expanse the potential for soft power approaches. Every theory has its legitimate points. But there will always be something to be said for power. I liked the book for its contextual reading of IR theory. It is descriptive, so don't look too hard for prescriptive analysis.

A good basic look at IR theory.

I am reading Professor Joseph Nye's Understanding Internaitonal Conflicts and it is a fascinating book.
First of all, I like its succintness and clarity. Second, I beleive this book is well-balanced in presenting history and theory of international politics. I am sure that anyone who wants to know more about the dynamics of international conflicts can get a huge benefit by reading this book.

Joseph Nye does a great job representing the liberal internationalist point of view of global conflict. It's important to understand that there are other opinions on causes and cures for global conflict. one should not read this book and think you have a complete road map to create a strategic plan for global conflicts. you'll need to seek other opinions from other sources to ensure you have a broader knowledge base.

This book helped with my International class so much, has alot information to use on different topics.