World Politics: The Menu for Choice [Paperback]

Bruce Russett (Author), Harvey Starr (Author), David Kinsella (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0534604129 | ISBN-13: 978-0534604127 | Edition: 8

Get the tools you need to understand the vast and complex subject of international relations with WORLD POLITICS: THE MENU FOR CHOICE. This textbook incorporates current scholarship and insightful analysis and provides an introduction to game theory as a model for analyzing international relations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It fits quite nicely with my approach to the course, has very good coverage of all the big topics, is written in a very accessible style, and seems to appeal to the students."

"This is an ideal textbook for introducing international politics to undergraduate students. It is well organized and its writing style is accessible."

"These are, taken together, the best set of tables and figures I have seen in an intro IR text." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Bruce Russett is Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations and Director of United Nations Studies at Yale University. Since 1972 he has edited the Journal of Conflict Resolution and has been president of the International Studies Association and the Peace Science Society (International). He has also taught at Columbia University, M.I.T., and the Free University of Brussels, and was Visiting Professor of International Capital Markets Law at the University of Tokyo. He has held research appointments at the University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, the Richardson Institute in London, the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, and the University of Tel Aviv.

Harvey Starr is the Dag Hammarskjold Professor in International Affairs and Chair of the Department of Government and International Studies at the University of South Carolina. He is the former president of the Conflict Processes Section of the American Political Science Association, APSA Vice President, and President of the Peace Science Society. He served as editor of International Interactions and associate editor of Journal of Politics. He has also taught at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and the Australian National University.

David Kinsella is Associate Professor of Political Science in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. He is editor of International Studies Perspectives and former president of the International Studies Association's Midwest Region. He has also taught at American University, the University of Missouri, and Yale University, and was a Mershon postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State University. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 570 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 8 edition (June 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534604129
• ISBN-13: 978-0534604127
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Meant to be Used Alone, March 13, 2005

By 

Shann Yu "Go Rice Owls!!!" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: World Politics: The Menu for Choice (with InfoTrac) (Paperback)

This is one of two texts used in Rice's International Relations class. While the bulk of our reading comes from this text, after a month, I figured out this book was definitely not meant to be a stand-alone. Thus, the second text (Case Histories in International Politics by Kendall W. Stiles). Allow me to explain.

This book essentially talks extensively about various key concepts in international politics. Let's use power as an example. This book devotes an entire chapter to a discussion of power in international politics. It goes on to discuss how, for example, various elements of a state leads to the perception of the state's relative power. Then it talks about how the state uses its image in the world (based on this perception of power) to get what it wants. Bottom line, the book is mostly conceptual. It is true that it has included countless examples from the real world to illustrate its points, but this is the reason why it cannot be a stand-alone.

Case Histories in International Politics by Kendall W. Stiles makes a great complement to this book in that it involves more extensive case studies of various international conflicts in a more or less unbiased tone (the author's intention, as stated in the foreword, is to remain as unbiased as humanly possible). At the end of each case study is a list of exploration/discussion questions. This is where the concepts from Russett, Starr, and Kinsella come in handy. The idea is that you learn about concepts in international relations from World Politics, and apply them to international conflicts to try and explore why certain conflicts took place.

I believe the whole point of this book is to remain as conceptually-minded as possible, which is also its weakness. If you are looking for a way to appreciate international politics better, this is probably not the best book for you. But if you are looking to find a way to run a more extensive study on international politics and are willing to go for a supplemental text to achieve that goal, this book can be helpful in strengthening the conceptual side of international politics.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Companion Website Should Be Your Best Friend, December 11, 2009

By 

J. Boyes, Jr. (Columbia, SC) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: World Politics: The Menu for Choice (Paperback)

I had the misfortune of taking International Relations taught by one of the writers of this book, Harvey Starr. Normally, I get a textbook and may never even have to open, since most teachers only test on material from the lectures. However, since the author was my teacher, I read this book and am thankful that I did.

The book does a good job of explaining many concepts related to international relations. At times the material is pretty boring, but what can you expect from a textbook? One thing that I didn't like about the book was that there isn't really a chapter summary at the end of each chapter. Also, the terms that are presented in bold face throughout the book, aren't all found in either the glossary or the ends of the chapters. You have to read every page of every chapter if you want to find all of the important terms. Unless you check out the companion website. This is where both chapter summaries and key terms can be found without all the extra verbiage that the chapters contain. The companion website basically made the textbook pointless.

Overall, I would give the textbook a rating of two and the companion website a rating of four, so I'll go with the middle ground and give this product a three. Before you buy the book you might want to do a web search for the companion website, since you don't need any key to access it. You could probably just save your hundred (or more) dollars and still get all of the important information that this book presents.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Higher menu, December 8, 2006

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: World Politics: The Menu for Choice (Paperback)

I have used this book in the World Politics class that I have been teaching at the local community college. In many ways, it seems more in line with an advanced undergraduate or even graduate level introductory text on various conceptual issues and frameworks possible for the analysis of international relations.

The idea of the `menu' of choices is introduced early, and this menu draws upon the different levels of analysis available from schemes such as that by James Rosenau (which identifies six levels: individual decisionmakers, decisionmaker roles, government structures, society, relations between state and international actors, and world system). These are options within the menu, but then there are elements of opportunity and willingness that are coupled with other elements for a more complex analysis.

From this beginning, different paradigms are given, including realist (realpolitick), idealist/liberal (idealpolitick), and radical (Marxist and other) paradigms. The same events, actors and issues can be explored in each of these paradigms, yielding different results. There are a few other paradigms referenced, but these are not generally used through the text.

The overall structure of the book then goes to looking at world politics and international relations both from a world systems view to comparative and foreign policy standpoints. Following this is a section on international conflict and cooperation, including international law and issues of war and peace. Next is a section on international political economy, which looks at issues of defense, resources, developmental gaps, integration and globalization issues. The final section address future possibilities in three modes, as well as pressing problems facing the world on a major scale at present.

The authors use game theory quite extensively throughout the text (which was sometimes confusing for my first-year and second-year undergraduate students - this is where the idea that this should be a graduate student text arises for me). As the authors state, this book uses game theory `more, indeed, than most other books of this sort. Rational choice analysis is an increasingly common approach to the study of world politics.' Game theory is an effective way of doing this, but presupposes a certain level of comfort with the concepts (often mathematically or logically based) that some of my students did not have.

I do appreciate the extra resources available for students via their website. There is also a good number of maps, charts, graphs and other pieces beyond the simple narrative text that are helpful to students. However, this book does presume some level of familiarity with the international system, governments in general, and some degree of history that many beginning undergraduates do not possess. I would gladly use this text again for an advanced undergraduate text, possibly for a course that follows a comparative politics course.