Examples are drawn from different parts of the world. Despite these efforts, there remains much scope for further diversity: even as case illustrations from the Global South are present, Western examples still form the majority.
The book could have also strived for—and consequently benefitted from—greater diversity among the chapter authors, who are overwhelmingly from the West. The book is currently the sole open-access textbook in the field of IR, and promises to expose significant numbers of prospective students of IR to an informed, academic introduction to and assessment of the field.
While no basic textbook could possibly cover the vast and diverse landscape that is IR, this text makes a sincere attempt to balance breadth and depth. Future editions of the book would benefit from further diversifying the set of authors; including more contemporary, pressing global issues such as, for example, the rise of China ; and streamlining the structure of individual chapters to follow a common, pedagogically effective standard.
I would not classify this as a comprehensive text of introductory international relations. It misses some key components, the most obvious being interstate and intrastate war. My sense is that this omission emerges from its European perspective Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less. My sense is that this omission emerges from its European perspective. In the United States, we still include segments on the causes, conduct, and consequences of both interstate between states and intrastate within state wars in our introductory IR courses.
These text's underlying theme obvious though never explicitly stated is that of globalization as a cause of peace. I did not identify any factual inaccuracies, although I would have liked more frequent citations. Since I use introductory courses to introduce students to basic research and citations procedures, I like texts that are very good at this.
The authors make a concentrated effort to make this text relevant to twenty-first century politics. Unfortunately, its relevance like the relevance of so many political science textbooks will take a hit due to the global pandemic.
Its underlying, yet subtle, theme is that of globalization, and globalization has taken a hit with the pandemic. The authors are clear in their presentation but they have watered down their approach so much that the text lacks conceptual clarity. Many key terms anarchy, balance of power, collective action are introduced but in an ad-hoc fashion. I imagine that it would be difficult for students to figure out what points were important to focus on.
It's easy to read, however. In general, the text is consistent in terms of terminology and framework, although inevitably multiple authors get repetitive. The text is quite self-referential at first. That being said, I think that the chapters on international organizations and the environment would be two excellent standalone chapters that I could assign in any of my classes.
The first chapters were too interconnected. The editor himself argues that the text should be read in order in the "Getting Started Section. I could not understand the organization of the chapters. I believe it is because the editor did not set out a clear organizing theme for the test. As I mentioned earlier, the underlying theme seems to be that of globalization. However, this concept does not explicitly organize the text, making it difficult to grasp the main points.
I worry that assigning this text might teach bad writing habits. There was nothing at all offensive about this book, but people should be aware that it is a European-worldview IR text. Overall, this is a basic introductory text that to my mind holds promise. I will, unfortunately, not be adopting this text as I had hoped. The book is very comprehensive. It clearly covers all of the major themes, theories, concepts and trends in an extremely dynamic subject matters. It does well in covering traditional, enduring, and emerging issues and problems in international It does well in covering traditional, enduring, and emerging issues and problems in international relations.
For the most part, the book is accurate and error free. However, it addresses early in the book the historical existence of pre-state areas in a European context only. Some scholars might prefer to also understand the nature of government in lands, territories and empires prior to the emergence of "the state" in the context of other non-European pre-states.
The content is extremely up to date. I believe this is because book is more of a reader with many scholars focusing on a specific area of IR.
Sometimes with one or two writers the content can be limited by the writers knowledge and interest. Each write in this book obviously bring considerable in depth, current knowledge about the special subject in IR. The basics Of IR are covered and most modern global Issues are addressed.
The book is written clearly and at a level that undergraduate college students should have no problems There is no assumption that the reader has been exposed to the field of IR. Every major facet of IR is covered in clearly written terms. The jargon and technical terminology used is clearly defined in language accessible to our students.
The text has a strong internal consistency. I begins with basics of defining key terms and the historical context of IR. It then focuses on helping the reader to understand the various principle and theories, structure, key actors, and international organizations both state and nonstate.
Most of the historical and contemporary issues, challenges, and problems then flow in the ensuing chapters addressing major issues one at a time. The division of the text into smaller readings sections is fairly good. However, headings are good but most students are aided by vignettes, tables, graphs are other pictures that bridge the gap between words and pictures that help to further help to absorb the context of the readings.
In this case, the book can benefit from an interface with images, charts and other displays that would further the readers understanding of the key concepts, structures, and institutions and there role in IR.
Also, most books also provide a multiplicity of weblinks and other online sources throughout each chapter. Overall, the book is not culturally insensitive. As mentioned previously, the inclusion pre-state history that focus on Europe only, makes one wonder about areas outside of Europe. Beyond that introduction of the advent of sovereign state, the book goes on to address the international global condition satisfactorily encompassing all regions and peoples.
Obviously, I am excited about using this book to teach my class in International Relations. The writers of each chapter appear to cover all of the themes that have been traditionally a part of IR and frankly have made major steps in incorporating today's issues as such connectivity, technology and cyberissues, terrorism, religion and culture factors, climate and environmental and the emergence of new power bases in Asia and the Mideast.
Of course, I have already begun researching supplemental material in the form of pictures, graphs, weblinks to supplement this outstanding reading. See review pasted into the text window below. International Relations, Stephen McGlinchy, ed. McNeal, Ph. Stephen McGlinchy, et. McGlinchy has organized the chapter contributions in a sensible and accessible manner that succeeds in covering all of the major subjects and themes of the discipline.
The content is accurate and given the general relevance of the text to the subjects covered the text should enjoy a fair degree of longevity. In the first chapter, The Making of the Modern World, by Eric Ringmar, the emergence of the norm of sovereignty is examined as a foundational development toward the Westphalian system of nation-states that emerged in Europe.
Ringmar then focuses upon how this system was universalized over centuries via European imperialist conquests and colonialism. He then explicates how the resulting international system that is with us today operates and persists according to the post-war institutional framework for cooperation and conflict resolution. McGlinchy himself authors chapter two, taking up the issue of diplomacy through a number of illustrative cases.
In the first case he examines efforts to regulate and prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, including the recent case of Iran. The second case he focuses on is that of the — Iranian hostage crisis, the transformation of U.
Carmen Gebhard provides an introduction to the levels of analysis method of international relations theorizing. This chapter covers the individual, group, state, and systems levels of analysis and the implication of it for comprehending international relations. She also explicates the ways in which the levels of analysis framework determines the findings of researchers working in IR, as well as how it affects and is effected by the evolving ambitions of the discipline.
The fourth chapter, which introduces international relations theory, is co-authored by Dana Gold and Stephen McGlitchy. The chapter then employs each theoretical framework to assess by the lights of each theory, respectively, the United Nations. This is an effective exercise, but ultimately does not compensate, as it were, for what are rather insubstantial explications of the IR theories themselves. Chapter five, written by Knut Traisbach, introduces public international law.
It covers the UN system, legal treaties, intergovernmental and the global organizations that since the Second World War have provided for the international legal regime we now enjoy. It begins with the contents of international law, including the aim of preserving international order and providing for greater justice in foreign affairs between states.
The chapter also contends with the laws of peace, and international humanitarian law, including the related laws of war.
Traisbach traces the development of international law from its complete absence, to the patchwork of laws characterizing the nascent regime, to the semblance of global governance provided by international law today. Shazelina Z. Abidin contributes the sixth chapter, on International Organizations. The differences between and respective functions of inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations is explicated. The author begins with the UN and moves through a clear description of the forms governmental organizations take, their geographical limitations, and their various aims are examined.
The purpose and function of non-governmental organizations are similarly examined. The chapter then takes up hybrid organizations examining the ways in which certain agencies cooperate with formally collaborate with governments throughout the world. Finally, the chapter concludes by illuminating the ways in which international organizations shape the world. While it employs British spelling and phrasing in places, this should enhance the experience of American students for whom it is unfamiliar.
The respective sections of the text can also be assigned separately. The organization, structure, and flow of the text are effective, and assigning the sections in a different order would not be detrimental to this.
Finally, the text is sufficiently sensitive in cultural terms, and should present no issues to educators who assign it. Overall, very comprehensive for an introductory textbook. In my introductory course, I tend to delve a bit deeper into a number of issues, but this textbook overall provides a good framework to build those discussions off of. Still, I'd have liked The updates should be fairly straightforward to implement.
Textbooks are never the most gripping reading, but even with advanced knowledge of the material in the book I found it fairly compelling, particularly because of the focus in the second half of the book on global issues. The second half takes the book from "good" to "fantastic". The book is well put together and I found no issues in regards to consistency in terminology or framework.
Overall, each chapter is well written, and each chapter and section has a number of natural breaks. However, the book is written, as it says in the intro, not to be broken up or only have selections assigned. Students should use the book to progress through, which limits the ability of the instructor to structure the course prioritizing different information.
Same as above comment in "modularity". Overall, well done, but not much freedom to use a chapter here or there or rearrange chapters to fit the desired flow of the course.
There were no navigation problems the table of contents was accurate. There were no images or charts or other display features, however. The book was written by a large number of individuals with different backgrounds and identities, and it shows: I found no examples that were culturally insensitive or offensive, and found the inclusiveness of the viewpoints brought by the variety of authors to be refreshing.
I look forward to adopting this book in the Spring- while there are some issues with the ability to design a course around it ie the text itself isn't flexible to starting from a different point than the text does , I believe it is worth the effort. We'll see exactly how much effort is required when I begin developing the syllabus for next semester.
While the preface indicates that there are "no boxes, charts, pictures, or exercises" because "these things can be a distraction", I find that in particular to be counterproductive. The overall narrative is engaging, but including visualizations only helps to keep that engagement, particularly with undergraduates.
Additionally, visualizations offer an opportunity to discuss how data is used, often erroneously, by the media or government.
Being able to point to good visualizations charts, in particular in the textbook would be much more of a strength than a distraction. In all, I like this book, but it could have been made better with a few tweaks. For my purposes, the book is probably about 4. A wide range of topics are covered. However, there is no index or glossary. Several chapters reference current events heavily, which will need updates soon. However, updates should be relatively easy. The frameworks used by the contributors clearly vary a lot.
It would be great if at least the issue chapters in the second part are written under the same framework. Helpful subheadings throughout. Easy to be divided into smaller reading sections that can be moved around as the instructor sees fit. Contributors in Part One tried to present the logic behind the flow from one chapter to another, but it is still odd to put a chapter on Diplomacy right after chapter 1 and before the chapter introducing the main actors of IR.
It would help if each chapter is followed with its own references, rather than putting all the references at the end of the book. Many perspectives are included when issues are being examined. I can see myself including some chapters as supplemental reading material to my intro to IR course. However, using it as the primary text for college students in the United States would require a lot of extra work developing a glossary,discussion questions, finding the images,charts, figures going along with the text, etc.
The first section of the book, "The Basics," did not cover the basics in as much detail as I would have liked to see. The first 4 chapters are really foundational for the rest of IR and the rest of the topics in the book, but the information is The first 4 chapters are really foundational for the rest of IR and the rest of the topics in the book, but the information is very cursory.
For example, the IR theories are not covered in as much depth as they should be, and the author of that chapter seems to be somewhat dismissive of them. Also, there is no glossary. Each chapter should really end with its own list of sources cited, rather than having one long references section at the end of the book.
I would also like to have seen each chapter end with a brief Further Reading list for students interested in the topic of the chapter, particularly since the main chapters in the first section are quite short.
IR is a discipline that is always changing. Perhaps old information does not become obsolete, but new developments are always happening.
The authors of this book did well writing about the topics in a way that it will not become obsolete within a short period of time. Obviously, with any edited volume, the tone of the book will change from chapter to chapter based on each author's writing style.
I found some of the chapters to be written in an incredibly simple way, beneficial for introductory students. Other chapters were not as accessible. Again, it is difficult with an edited volume to make sure everyone is on the same page in terms of terminology, but the editor did a great job of ensuring that the terms and ideas were used consistently across the chapters. This was particularly true since a key theme of the book is that the ideas of IR being international and focused on states is somewhat outdated, shifting to adopt terms such as global, globalisation, and non-state actors.
Some of the topics are presented in an odd order and appeared repetitive across chapters. For example, chapter 2 was really the first substantive chapter in the work, and it was on diplomacy. It would have been nice to get some more introductory concepts from some of the later chapters such as levels of analysis and actors before addressing one particular foreign policy tool. Additionally, the the subject of diplomacy itself was not explained very well or in much depth before the chapter went into quite a bit of detail covering nuclear proliferation, which seems to me to be something that should be discussed after basic concepts are covered.
The interface was fine. There were no interface issues or distractions. Very simple text and outline. I saw no problems with cultural insensitivity or exclusion of any group. To the contrary, most chapters went out of their way to acknowledge that the traditional conceptions governing IR arose out of the Western tradition. I wish the first four chapters of the basics section were covered much better.
It seems that the editor chose breath over depth. In many ways, this is appropriate for an introductory class, but not when the basic themes and concepts are covered in less detail than the issues. The chapters in Part 2, "Global Issues," were covered in much greater detail. I don't find many of the chapters to be particularly useful for my purposes, but some other instructors might. I did particularly like Chapter 12, "Connectivity, Communications, and Technology," because it discusses things like the internet and internet commerce that relate directly to students' lives.
Some of the other chapters did not seem as relevant and might have been better left to a textbook for a higher level IR course. This book covers an impressive range of topics. However, there is not much on IR theory.
I did not see any factual errors. There is some non-standard use of concepts. For example, the chapter on diplomacy calls the reaction of common alarm in response to the development of nuclear weapons in a previously non-nuclear state a norm p. The more common but contested interpretation is that this is interest in security. This is an important and fruitful area of debate but the chapter does not go into it and there is not enough theory in the book for students to recognize and make sense of it.
It is mostly up to date and relevant. This is a strong point. Because of the topical focus, instructors can easily integrate the various chapters into their course. It would be nice if clicking on a chapter title or page number in the table of contents took you to the chapter. The book tries admirably to include many perspectives and address issues of global relevance. I agree that it reflects views more common among European scholars than in the USA.
I will certainly include some of these chapters as supplements to my intro to IR course. However, there is not enough theory to be my main text.
While comprehensiveness is not achievable, this edited volume covers main areas of the field. This is of course always depends on one's perspective but from what I could tell, it seems accurate. Seems mostly fine although some chapters reference current events, which will be outdated at some point. There is some referring back to other chapters and topics but there could be more given that it is a textbook. Dozen of ways to do it but it follows a somewhat standard approach.
Ideal for anyone new to the study of international relations or looking for a refresher, this Course Companion includes a comprehensive introduction to the competing theories at the heart of the discipline as well as hints and tips on how to apply them when tackling coursework or examinations. Written in a straightforward and clear style, it is designed to augment, rather than replace, existing textbooks for the course and provides: o pointers to success in course exams and written assessment exercises; o easy access to the key theories in international relations; o guidance on the essential study skills required to pass the course; o help with developing critical thinking; o 'taking it further' sections that suggest how readers can extend their thinking beyond the received wisdom.
Author : Joyce P. Kaufman explains the traditional theories, but also makes a place for understanding the areas that lie outside of or cannot be explained by those approaches.
Although levels of analysis are the primary unifying force, the book also assesses what this approach does not explain about the contemporary international system. Virtually all of the testable terms, concepts, persons, places, and events from the textbook are included. This item is printed on demand.
Based on many years of active research and teaching it takes the discipline's most difficult aspects and makes them accessible and interesting. Each chapter builds up an understanding of the different ways of looking at the world. The clarity of presentation allows students to rapidly develop a theoretical framework and to apply this knowledge widely as a way of understanding both more advanced theoretical texts and events in world politics.
Suitable for first and second year undergraduates studying international relations and international relations theory. Search within Abstract Introduction to International Relations provides a concise introduction to the principal international relations theories, and explores how theory can be used to analyse contemporary issues. Keywords: international relations , realism , liberalism , International Society , International Political Economy , social constructivism , post-positivism , foreign policy.
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Why Study IR? Realism 4. Liberalism 5. International Society 6. International Political Economy: Contemporary Debates 8. Social Constructivism 9. Foreign Policy
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