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The Great Powers and the International System: Systemic Theory in Empirical Perspective

ISBN: 9781107659186 | 1107659183

Format: Paperback
Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr
Pub. Date: 2/28/2013

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Summary Table of Contents

"This is the first book to describe and test a fully systemic theory of international politics. Using statistics and diplomatic history, it traces statesmen's efforts to influence the power and ideas that form the broad contours of the international system within which they interact"--"In Thucudides' History of the Peloponnesian War, the author recounts an incident in which the Athenians sailed to the island of Melos, a Spartan colony, and two Athenian Generals, Cleomedes and Tisias, sent their representatives to negotiate with the Council of t... MOREhe Melians. What makes their dialogue especially noteworthy is the Athenians' bald statement at the onset that, in their negotiations, the Melians should not appeal to the Athenians' sense of justice, because, quite simply, "the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must." The sphere of power is independent of the sphere of justice, rendering the state an autonomous actor, able to pursue its own interests, limited only by its own capabilities. Millenia later, in an era in which Great Powers have given way to superpowers and nuclear weapons have magnified the disparity between strong and weak to a degree unimaginable to the Athenians, the aphorism remains familiar and seems more applicable than ever. It is surprising, therefore, to find some of the most adroit statesmen at the helm of some of the most powerful states of the past two centuries expressing near-helplessness in the face of the impersonal forces that shape world politics. No less effective a diplomat than Charles de Talleyrand-P�rigord famously said that "[t]he art of statesmanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence." Otto von Bismarck, architect of German unification, wrote that "[e]ven victorious wars can only be justified when they are forced upon a nation."1 Such quotes, indicating as they do that even Great Powers often have very little freedom of action amid the overwhelming pull of international events, seem puzzling coming from statesmen famous for their ability to produce the outcomes they desired"--

The environment within which people exist has an impact on their interactions. For this reason, people seek to alter their environment. These statements form a systemic argument - a form of argument common in economics, health, and sociology, but exceptionally rare in international relations. This book is the first to describe and test a fully systemic theory of international politics - one in which the actors and their environment influence each other. Using advanced time-series techniques on an original dataset triangulated with three in-depth historical case studies spanning two centuries, the book traces statesmen's efforts to influence the broad contours of the international system within which they interact. The results conclusively demonstrate the existence of systemic effects; moreover, they show that those effects are inherently complex - that is, they are not reducible to the impact of any one theoretical school or paradigm.

Introduction
System, state, and citizen
System, process, and evidence
Systems in historic perspective
Conclusions and implications
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

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