Communitarian International Relations : The Epistemic Foundations of International Relations

ISBN-13: 9780415335911 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 334 str.

Emanuel Adler

Opis

In Emanuel Adler's distinctive 'middle-ground' constructivist approach to international relations (IR) theory, international practices evolve in tandem with collective knowledge of the material and social worlds. His new book points IR constructivism in a novel direction, which he characterizes as 'communitarian'. His communitarian synthesis, which complements normative IR approaches, does not herald the end of the nation-state; nor does it suggest that agency is unimportant in international life. Rather, it maintains that 'communities of practice' are the wellspring and repositories of collective understandings and social practices in IR. The concept of communities of practice casts new light on epistemic communities and security communities (as well as transnational advocacy networks) and suggests a new dimension of transnational life that helps explain social and political change. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in international relations theory and particularly those interested in constructivism.

Spis treści

PART I Introduction 1 Communities of practice in International Relations PART II Cognitive evolution 2 From being to becoming: cognitive evolution and a theory of non-equilibrium in International Relations 3 Cognitive evolution: a dynamic approach for the study of International Relations and their progress 4 Seizing the middle ground: constructivism in world politics PART III Epistemic communities 5 Ideological ‘guerrillas’ and the quest for technological autonomy: Brazil’s domestic computer industry 6 The emergence of cooperation: national epistemic communities and the international evolution of the idea of nuclear arms control PART IV Security communities 7 Imagined (security) communities: cognitive regions in International Relations 8 Condition(s) of peace PART V Identity and peace in the Middle East 9 A Mediterranean canon and an Israeli prelude to long-term Peace 10 Changing identities: the road to peace

O autorze

Emanuel Adler is Professor and Chair of Israeli Studies, University of Toronto and Associate Professor at the Hebrew University Israel. He has served as a research fellow at U.C. Berkeley and Harvard University, and has taught at U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis, and the University of Wisconsin. His area of expertise is the theory of International Relations and the relationship between knowledge and international change. In this context he has explored the development of epistemic communities and learning, the development of security communities, and the constructivist approach to the study of international relations.