Theories of War and Peace (International Security Readers)

By Sean M. Lynn-Jones and Owen R. Coté Jr.

Book Overview

New approaches to understanding war and peace in the changing international system.

What causes war? How can wars be prevented? Scholars and policymakers have sought the answers to these questions for centuries. Although wars continue to occur, recent scholarship has made progress toward developing more sophisticated and perhaps more useful theories on the causes and prevention of war. This volume includes essays by leading scholars on contemporary approaches to understanding war and peace. The essays include expositions, analyses, and critiques of some of the more prominent and enduring explanations of war. Several authors discuss realist theories of war, which focus on the distribution of power and the potential for offensive war. Others examine the prominent hypothesis that the spread of democracy will usher in an era of peace. In light of the apparent increase in nationalism and ethnic conflict, several authors present hypotheses on how nationalism causes war and how such wars can be controlled. Contributors also engage in a vigorous debate on whether international institutions can promote peace. In a section on war and peace in the changing international system, several authors consider whether rising levels of international economic independence and environmental scarcity will influence the likelihood of war.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262522527
• ISBN13: 9780262522526
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 604 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

All You Need to Know about International Relations?

"Theories of War and Peace" edited by Brown, et. al. gives the reader of International Relations a "one stop shop" of various theories of International Relations. The list of contributors to this volume is impressive and the editors arrange the essays in such a way as to naturally follow and even (at times) rebut that which came before.