International Relations Theory: Competing Empirical Paradigms

(Hardback)

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While many texts on international relations deal only with ideologies, this book goes beyond discussion of ideology to provide an understanding of how global economics, politics, and society operate. The book begins with a history of the International Studies Association, which was founded to develop empirically-based knowledge and was opposed to ideological isms as biased guides to policy. The book focuses on four major paradigmsMarxian, Mass Society, Community Building, and Rational Choicewith diagrams indicating their empirical predictions over time. The Marxian paradigm focuses on scientific claims of Marx and Engels. The Mass Society paradigm explains why democracies become dysfunctional. The Community Building paradigm explains how communities can be and are built at the local, national, regional, and international levels. The Rational Choice paradigm assembles proposed explanations of reason-based economic, political, and social life to demonstrate what they have in common. Other candidates for paradigms are reviewed, with a focus on why they need further development to become major paradigms at the decision-making, dyadic, societal, national, and international system levels of analysis.

Reviews

Haas's wonderfully provocative, thoughtful and compelling book may be just the medicine that young, up-and-coming international relations scholars need. He has done no less than to expose the extent to which ideology has come to substitute for careful theory building and paradigmatic reasoning. It is a tour d' force. I hope everyone will read it and take its strong message to heart. None of us will agree with everything, but none of us should dare to ignore the powerful analysis. This is a fundamental book! -- Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, New York University

Author Bio

Michael Haas, whotaught political science at the University of Hawaii for 35 years, now lives in Los Angeles, where he teaches at localcolleges and universities.