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Polities: Authority, Identities, and Change. By Yale H. Ferguson and Richard W. Mansbach. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996. 476p. $49.95 cloth, $24.95 paper
- Source :
- American Political Science Review. 95:253-254
- Publication Year :
- 2001
- Publisher :
- Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2001.
-
Abstract
- This complex, ambitious, and large book seeks to question, reformulate, and enhance the scope (and methods) of inter- national relations theories, particularly those formulated within a realist framework. The authors question that frame- work, the Westphalian model of putatively unitary nation- states, quantitative methods of empirical investigation, and the levels-of-analysis paradigm. The breadth of their critique is extensive and, consequently, highly ambitious. Rather than approach international relations as a system of unitary nation-states inspired by realist principles, which is arguably a partial and simplified portrayal of contemporary research, the authors favor a complex system of "overlapping, layered, and linked polities" that have both horizontal and vertical dimensions. The latter dimension is particularly important, as it concerns patterns of authority, identity (including ethnic- ity), and institutions that compete for the loyalty of individ- uals.
- Subjects :
- International relations
Sociology and Political Science
Horizontal and vertical
media_common.quotation_subject
Ethnic group
Identity (social science)
Unitary state
Westphalian sovereignty
Political Science and International Relations
Loyalty
Frame (artificial intelligence)
Sociology
Theology
Law and economics
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15375943 and 00030554
- Volume :
- 95
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- American Political Science Review
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........a9f3752db04303268463abc5963ee1ed