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42nd out of 180 books
—
109 voters
Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis
What are the causes of war? To answer this question, Professor Waltz examines the ideas of major thinkers throughout the history of Western civilization. He explores works both by classic political philosophers, such as St. Augustine, Hobbes, Kant, and Rousseau, and by modern psychologists and anthropologists to discover ideas intended to explain war among states and relat...more
Paperback, 263 pages
Published
September 26th 2001
by Columbia University Press
(first published 1959)
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If you are a student of International Relations, the reputation of this book should precede it. I personally picked it up and read it for pleasure after it kept being mentioned in my university courses. Let's just say that although I picked it up for pleasure, I got very little pleasureful reading from it. This is a very dry piece of academic work; some academics have a gift for making their writing engaging, but Waltz does not. He is fairly accessible and I think anybody interested in politics...more
This book has legs! I read it first in graduate school in 1969. I was impressed with the argument then, and still appreciate its power now. He identifies a key problem as (page 12) "identifying and achieving the conditions of peace. . ." He notes that, over time, three separate views have dominated discourse on the causes of war (and how to achieve peace): (a) human nature is the root cause; (b) the structure of states is the key factor; (c) the international system itself is the major variable....more
Waltz categorizes three "images," or perhaps perspectives is a better term, that can be used to view the problem of war. Some analyses blame human nature as the cause of war; and so one can either be optimistic or pessimistic about the perfectibility of humanity. Others blame the nature of the state; that is, whether certain political systems are more prone toward peace than others (e.g., democratic, socialist). Finally, the blame can be attributed to international anarchy and what we would toda...more
conflict is shown to lie less in the nature of men or of states and more in the nature of social activity.6 Conflict is a by-product of competition and of efforts to cooperate.
Conflict is shown to lie less in the nature of men or of states and more in the nature of men of states ad more in the nature of social activity. What Kenneth Waltz is saying is that when we Socialize we tend to compete more which also creates conflict? Conflict is aby product of competition and of efforts to cooperate......more
Conflict is shown to lie less in the nature of men or of states and more in the nature of men of states ad more in the nature of social activity. What Kenneth Waltz is saying is that when we Socialize we tend to compete more which also creates conflict? Conflict is aby product of competition and of efforts to cooperate......more
Argues that there are three images under which one can analyze warfare and its cause - only though acknowledgement of the anarchic system of international relations (image 3) as permissive cause and nature of man and structure of states (1 & 2) as immediate causes can one begin to understand true nature of war. Does not pay to try to improve man or state (even if you could). One will miss the point and, ultimately, fail anyway. Instead, recognize anarchy of system as cause and arrange intera...more
As with many such classics, this book requires a substantial background in the social contract tradition to properly engage with its core arguments. (I could write a similar review of various other works - reviews of Leviathan that take no account of the destabilizing effects of the English civil wars, or reviews of Paradise Lost or Faust that completely ignore how pretty much the entire Western canon is wrapped up in the narrative, for example) A 'four star' review doesn't mean that I agree wit...more
A very impressive book which has still held up over the past few decades. Analyzes the relations between human nature and war, the structure and nature of political states, and also the structure of the international diplomatic system. A very systematic and solid introduction to neo-realist analysis of modern politics, and one that still is very much worth reading.
F you Kenneth Waltz. How your baloney circular logic and total non-falsifiability, all in the name of "parsimony", became the leading IR paradigm I'll never know.
I found this book a bit abstract and dated. However, it may interest someone who studies international relations and the Cold War.
Of all the books that I read from my graduate studies at George Washington University, this will always be my favorite.
I gave it four stars because this is high quality material. Basic argument, More than moderately academic
Not exactly my view of the world, but a very important contribution to IR Theory.
a classic for those studying international politics, but a dry read...
this is an excellent primer for those interested in international relations.
An excellent book on Realism. Very objective writing and very informative.
Buckle up kiddies this is a deep one. I'd imagine this is a book that one would read when forced to by some angry poli-sci teacher. Well I read it without prompting so fuck you i'm awesome. Great ideas based on where conflict comes from, while i haven't read it recently (and most of it was too dense for my waek mind) i can summize it like this: War comes from either, man's nature, the nature of states, or the lack of supervisory control over states. In the end we get a cop out answer stating it...more
A simple and crucial insight is at the heart of this book: states relating to each other create a structure -- a structure that then determines the actions of states. A must read for anyone with pretensions to studying International Relations.
This is how someone either untrained in dialectics, or someone who refuses to engage in such language, talks about dialectics. How can we know that he might not know his dialectics? Because at crucial stages of the argument he fails to apply dialectics. His...more
This is how someone either untrained in dialectics, or someone who refuses to engage in such language, talks about dialectics. How can we know that he might not know his dialectics? Because at crucial stages of the argument he fails to apply dialectics. His...more
Jul 17, 2012
Edna
marked it as to-read
Planning a re-read of this book by the master Waltz
Good book that takes a look at the causes of war from the theoretical perspective.
I don't think I can put this book as read - I have read ANOTHER book (International Relations Theories by Cynthia Weber) who describes the book and gives analyses as well - but I did not finish this book because it was an utterly dry, dry, DRY book.
One of the most important books in IR.
Sep 12, 2012
Veronica
is currently reading it
Not finished yet.
Oh neorealism.... this is the third, yes third time I've had to read this book. It's pretty standard for IR theory as Waltz does a good job of structuring his argument and coined the term levels of anaysis. But come on. It's all based on an extended metaphor that is confused for a foundational analogy.
Well, you probably wouldn't read this unless you had to and if you're lucky your prof will assign some of the better criticism out there of Waltz's theories.
Well, you probably wouldn't read this unless you had to and if you're lucky your prof will assign some of the better criticism out there of Waltz's theories.
A splendid work of political philosophy. A modern masterpiece.
I read this book for my Theory of International Relations class and it was a bit of a dry read. Also the references were sometimes old, but that is expected from a book from the 50's. The theories were good though and it was well written. I liked the organizational structure of the book, it made it easy to follow.
I was impressed by a quote in the beginning that noted that "figuring out who won a nuclear war was like trying to figure out who won the San Francisco earthquake."
Waltz's doctoral thesis, it's obviously not as good as his Theory of IR, but it is a good analysis of the three-image model for IR.
Have to read this for my international politics class. So far: SNOOZ-A-ROO!!!!
The premier book in international relations theory. A must read.
A classic in neo-realist thought.
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