Power, Interdependence, and Nonstate Actors in World Politics

by Helen V. Milner (Editor), Andrew Moravcsik (Editor)

Since they were pioneered in the 1970s by Robert Keohane and others, the broad range of neoliberal institutionalist theories of international relations have grown in importance. In an increasingly globalized world, the realist and neorealist focus on states, military power, conflict, and anarchy has more and more given way to a recognition of the importance of nonstate actors, nonmilitary forms of power, interdependence, international institutions, and cooperation. Drawing together a group of leading international relations theorists, this book explores the frontiers of new research on the role of such forces in world politics.


The topics explored in these chapters include the uneven role of peacekeepers in civil wars, the success of human rights treaties in promoting women's rights, the disproportionate power of developing countries in international environmental policy negotiations, and the prospects for Asian regional cooperation. While all of the chapters demonstrate the empirical and theoretical vitality of liberal and institutionalist theories, they also highlight weaknesses that should drive future research and influence the reform of foreign policy and international organizations.


In addition to the editors, the contributors are Vinod Aggarawal, Jonathan Aronson, Elizabeth DeSombre, Page Fortna, Michael Gilligan, Lisa Martin, Timothy McKeown, Ronald Mitchell, Layna Mosley, Beth Simmons, Randall Stone, and Ann Tickner.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Adrian Fanaca · Rating 3 out of 5]

What does it come to your mind when I say neoliberalism? If you're a Marxist, neoliberalism if the devil. However, for a political scientist who has heard of Robert Keohane, reading this book will reveal to you a neoliberalism opposed to the (neo)realist view of international relations spearheaded by Russia and other states. What I remember after reading this book is that even though Marxists do not like and blame neoliberalism for everything, it's counterpart, neorealism of Russia and others, which states that violence at interstate level is allowed, the peace loving neoliberalism if from this points of view a more human view of the world orders, especially now when we are in the mid of the Ukraine war.