Thinking about World Peace A Reappraisal of Kenneth Waltz’s Man,
the State and War
Edited by Cornelia Beyer
Cornelia Beyer is Lecturer of Politics at the University of Hull. Her previous publications include: Violent Globalisms: Conflict in Response to Empire, Effectively Countering Terrorism: The Challenges of Prevention, Preparedness and Response (with Michael Bauer) and Counterterrorism and International Power Relations: The EU, ASEAN and Hegemonic Global Governance.
Professor
Kenneth Waltz is one of the most prominent figures in the academic
discipline of International Relations (IR). With Theory of International
Politics he established Neo-realism as a major school of thought
in IR, which still remains a dominant approach within the discipline
in the Anglo-American world and beyond. … Man, the State and War – his first contribution
to the debate in IR and the predecessor to the Theory of International
Politics – received praise for its ingenuity in presenting a discussion
of the causes of international warfare as well as the possibilities
of its prevention on three different levels of analysis: the individual,
the state and the international system. Thinking about World
Peace reflects on the arguments presented by Man, the State
and War from a contemporary perspective. Do Waltz’s ideas still
hold firm ground in the discipline? … Cornelia Beyer provides a contemporary overview
on the issue of world peace, alerting to the perceived necessity
of combining conceptions of governance and authority with considerations
on the reduction of inequality at the individual, state and international
level. She addresses Waltz’s rejection of supranationalism – a view
that has been challenged since he wrote the book. One theme stands
out: From today’s perspective, the establishment and maintenance
of ‘good global governance’ can be considered the most important
aspect for the prevention of war.
