Understanding International Relations

The purpose of this book is to sharpen students’ ability to think about international relations. Understanding International Relations consciously and deliberately anchors on four points. 1) Intellectual pluralism—the self-conscious use of multiple and competing conceptual lenses—is the best approach for studying international relations. 2) This is a theoretical text. Theory gives the student an aid in understanding by building models that simplify reality. 3) The text’s theoretical approach takes on the important task of imparting the scientific method to students 4) The structured approach of studying the world through alternative lenses, using theory and the scientific method, gives students a systematic way of studying a very chaotic, ambiguity-filled international environment.