Barry S. Strauss

Bio: Barry S. Strauss is an academic researcher from Cornell University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Politics & Military operations other than war. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 24 publications receiving 254 citations.

Fathers and Sons in Athens: Ideology and Society in the Era of the Peloponnesian War

Abstract: Father-son conflict was for the Athenians a topic of widespread interest that touched the core of both family and political life, particularly during times of social upheaval. Barry Strauss explores the tensions experienced by a society that cherished both youthful independence and paternal authority. He examines father-son relationships within the Athenian family and the way these relations were presented in a wide variety of political and literary texts. In emphasizing the blurring of boundaries between family and state, or private and public, in Athens, Strauss encourages us to reflect anew on the distinction between these concepts and on the difficulties of putting that distinction into practice today."This work is exciting and important not only for its thesis but for the new and often exhilarating way in which we see language and history and texts combined and interpreted." Thomas M. Falkner, Bryn Mawr Classical Review"Particularly noteworthy is Strauss's lucid demonstration of how the rhetoric of familial breakdown informed political discourse in the wake of the disastrous Athenian defeat in Sicily.... One of the most original and interesting works on classical Athens to appear in years." Stanley M. Burstein, The Historian"The best study in print of father-son relations in Athens." James M. Williams, History: Reviews of New Books

Hegemonic rivalry : from Thucydides to the nuclear age

Abstract: Part 1 Thucydides and international relations - introduction, Richard Ned Lebow and Barry S. Strauss. Part 2 Basic themes: theory and practice, W.G. Forrest Thucydides and great power rivalry, W.R. Connor Peloponnesian War and Cold War, Robert Gilpin. Part 3 Bipolar or multipolar?: polarization in Thucydides, W.R. Connor bipolarity and war - what makes the difference?, Carlo M. Santoro scontro di blocchi e azione di terze forze nello scoppio della Guerra del Peloponneso, Marta Sordi. Part 4 Power transition and war: Contemporary international relations theory and the Peloponnesian War, Mark V. Kauppi Thucydides, power transition theory and the causes of war, Richard Ned Lebow. Part 5 Realism and its critics: Thucydides - a realist?, Michael W. Doyle of balances, bandwagons and Ancient Greeks, Barry S. Strauss. Part 6 Democracies and the lessons of war: democracies, authoritarian states and international conflict, Matthew Evangelista Athens, the United States and democratic "characteristics" in foreign policy, Philip A.G. Sabin national ideology and strategic defence of the population, from Athens to star wars, Josiah Ober hegemony and Arkhe in Greece - 4th-century BC views, Shalom Perlman.

War and Democracy: A Comparative Study of the Korean War and the Peloponnesian War

Abstract: I. Democracy: Bellicose, Imperial, or Idealistic? Democratic Warfare, Ancient and Modern, Victor Hanson The American Imperium, Ronald Steel The American Empire: A Case of Mistaken Identity, Robert Kagan II. Categorizing Wars: Civil or Hegemonic, Decisive or Cyclical? When Sparta Is Sparta but Athens Isn't Athens: Democracy and the Korean War, Bruce Cumings Stalin and the Decision for War in Korea, Kathryn Weathersby The Effects of the Peloponnesian (Athenian) War on Athenian and Spartan Societies, Paul Cartledge III. Third Forces, or Shrimps between Whales The Case of Plataea: Small States and the (Re-)Invention of Political Realism, Gregory Crane The Korean War and North Korean Politics, Dae-Suk Suh The Korean War and South Korean Politics, Kongdan Oh IV. Demagogues? or Domestic Politics in Democracies at War? McCarthyism and the Korean War, Ellen Schrecker Korea, the Cold War, and American Democracy, Stephen Whitfield Warfare, Democracy, and the Cult of Personality, Jennifer Roberts V. Realism, Militarism, and the Culture of Democracies at War Thucydides Theoretikos/Thucydides Histor: Realist Theory and the Challenge of History, Josiah Ober Father of All - Destroyer of All: War in Late Fifth-Century Athenian Discourse and Ideology, Kurt Raaflaub Characters and Characteristics of Korean War Novels, Dong-wook Shin

A Cultural Theory of International Relations

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Fear, interest and honor 3. The spirit and its expression 4. The ancient world 5. Medieval Europe 6. From Sun King to Revolution 7. Imperialism and World War I 8. World War II 9. Hitler to Bush and beyond 10. General findings and conclusions.

The Realist Paradigm and Degenerative versus Progressive Research Programs: An Appraisal of Neotraditional Research on Waltz's Balancing Proposition

Abstract: Several analysts argue that, despite anomalies, the realist paradigm is dominant because it is more fertile than its rivals. While the ability of the realist paradigm to reformulate its theories in light of criticism accounts for its persistence, it is argued that the proliferation of emendations exposes a degenerating tendency in the paradigm's research program. This article applies Lakatos's criterion that a series of related theories must produce problemshifts that are progressive rather than degenerating to appraise the adequacy of realist-based theories on the balancing of power advanced by neotraditionalists. This research program is seen as degenerating because of (1) the protean character of its theoretical development, (2) an unwillingness to specify what constitutes the true theory, which if falsified would lead to a rejection of the paradigm, (3) a continual adoption of auxiliary propositions to explain away flaws, and (4) a dearth of strong research findings.

The long peace, the end of the cold war, and the failure of realism

Abstract: Three of the more important international developments of the last half century are the “long peace” between the superpowers, the Soviet Union's renunciation of its empire and leading role as a superpower, and the post-cold war transformation of the international system. Realist theories at the international level address the first and third of these developments, and realist theories at the unit level have made an ex post facto attempt to account for the second. The conceptual and empirical weaknesses of these explanations raise serious problems for existing realist theories. Realists contend that the anarchy of the international system shapes interstate behavior. Postwar international relations indicates that international structure is not determining. Fear of anarchy and its consequences encouraged key international actors to modify their behavior with the avowed goal of changing that structure. The pluralist security community that has developed among the democratic industrial powers is in part the result of this process. This community and the end of the cold war provide evidence that states can escape from the security dilemma.