Drawing upon philosophy and social theory, Social Theory of International Politics develops a theory of the international system as a social construction. Alexander Wendt clarifies the central claims of the constructivist approach, presenting a structural and idealist worldview which contrasts with the individualism and materialism which underpins much mainstream international relations theory. He builds a cultural theory of international politics, which takes whether states view each other as enemies, rivals or friends as a fundamental determinant. Wendt characterises these roles as 'cultures of anarchy', described as Hobbesian, Lockean and Kantian respectively. These cultures are shared ideas which help shape state interests and capabilities, and generate tendencies in the international system. The book describes four factors which can drive structural change from one culture to another - interdependence, common fate, homogenization, and self-restraint - and examines the effects of capitalism and democracy in the emergence of a Kantian culture in the West.

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Social Theory of International Politics

The four Visegrad states — Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia (until 1993 Czechoslovakia) and Hungary — form a compact area between Germany and Austria in the west and the states of the former USSR in the east. They are bounded by the Baltic in the north and the Danube river in the south. They are cut by the Sudeten and Carpathian mountain ranges, which divide Poland off from the other states. Poland is an extension of the North European plain and like the latter is drained by rivers that flow from south to north west — the Oder, the Vlatava and the Elbe, the Vistula and the Bug. The Danube is the great exception, flowing from its source eastward, turning through two 90-degree turns to end up in the Black Sea, forming the barrier and often the political frontier between central Europe and the Balkans. Hungary to the east of the Danube is also an open plain. The region is historically and culturally part of western Europe, but its eastern Marches now represents a vital strategic zone between Germany and the core of the European Union to the west and the Russian zone to the east.

Economy and Society

Climate change, human security and violent conflict

1. Introduction: institutions and ethnic politics Part I. Accounting for the Ethnic Cleavage Structure: 2. Accounting for Zambia's ethnic cleavage structure I: the emergence of tribal identities in colonial Northern Rhodesia 3. Accounting for Zambia's ethnic cleavage structure II: the emergence of language identities in colonial Northern Rhodesia Part II. Accounting for Ethnic Coalition-Building Choices: 4. Ethnicity and ethnic politics in post-independence Zambia 5. Explaining changing patterns of ethnic politics Part III. Testing the Model: 6. Competing explanations 7. Ethnic campaigning: testing the observable implications of the model for elite behavior 8. Ethnic voting: testing the observable implications of the model for mass behavior Part IV. Beyond Zambia: 9. Regime change and ethnic politics in Africa 10. Beyond regime change, beyond Africa Appendix A. Native authorities and tribal identifications Appendix B. Survey and focus group methodologies Appendix C. Tribal affiliations of parliamentary candidates Appendix D. Tribal demographies of electoral constituencies.

/pdf/institutions-and-ethnic-politics-in-africa-43ag877dp2.pdf

Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa

Praise for The Handbook of Conflict Resolution

	"This handbook is a classic. It helps connect the research of academia to the practical realities of peacemaking and peacebuilding like no other. It is both comprehensive and deeply informed on topics vital to the field like power, gender, cooperation, emotion, and trust. It now sits prominently on my bookshelf."
	—Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

	"The Handbook of Conflict Resolution offers an astonishing array of insightful articles on theory and practice by leading scholars and practitioners. Students, professors, and professionals alike can learn a great deal from studying this Handbook."
	—William Ury, Director, Global Negotiation Project, Harvard University; coauthor, Getting to Yes and author, The Third Side

	"Morton Deutsch, Peter Coleman, and Eric Marcus put together a handbook that will be helpful to many. I hope the book will reach well beyond North America to contribute to the growing worldwide interest in the constructive resolution of conflict. This book offers instructive ways to make this commitment a reality."
	—George J. Mitchell, Former majority leader of the United States Senate; former chairman of the Peace Negotiations in Northern Ireland and the International Fact-Finding Committee on Violence in the Middle East; chairman of the board, Walt Disney Company; senior fellow at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

	"Let's be honest. This book is just too big to carry around in your hand. But that's because it is loaded with the most critical essays linking the theory and practice of conflict resolution. The Handbook of Conflict Resolution is heavy on content and should be a well-referenced resource on the desk of every mediator—as it is on mine."
	—Johnston Barkat, Assistant Secretary-General, Ombudsman and Mediation Services, United Nations

The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. In April 1994, the Rwandan government called upon everyone in the Hutu majority to kill each member of the Tutsi minority, and over the next three months 800,000 Tutsis perished in the most unambiguous case of genocide since Hitler's war against the Jews. Philip Gourevitch's haunting work is an anatomy of the war in Rwanda, a vivid history of the tragedy's background, and an unforgettable account of its aftermath. One of the most acclaimed books of the year, this account will endure as a chilling document of our time.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda

Recently released data from the 2016 American National Election Study allow us to offer a multifaceted profile of white voters who voted for Donald J. Trump in the 2016 presidential election. We fi...

The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?:

In April 1994, the small east African nation of Rwanda became the site of one of the most violent episodes of the 20th century. Over the course of just 100 days, an embattled authoritarian state organized the slaughter of at least 850,000 Rwandans. Briefly, worldwide attention was riveted. But cliches about "age-old tribal hatreds" soon dominated discussion, conveying the impression that this was simply the latest episode in an unending cycle of violence. The truth, however, is quite different. The April genocide was in many ways unique. It was neither tribal nor age-old, and it is hardly fated to recur. Indeed, the author's premise is that if this genocide is grasped in all its psychocultural novelty and complexity, a point of Archimedean leverage can be found for interventions to avert tragedies in the future. Language: en

The psychocultural roots of genocide. Legitimacy and crisis in Rwanda.

Charismatic authority has been central to twentieth-century politics and theory, yet confusion about charisma is rife. Max Weber's classic texts on this subject have been a major source of insight, yet key features of his analysis remain obscure–so much so that many scholars who call themselves Weber's disciples defend views opposed to his. For Weber, charisma is a social status; for many “Weberians,” charisma is a personal quality. For Weber, charisma is a quicksilver, unstable form of authority; for his errant followers, it is an existential limit to democracy. One reason for this contradiction is that, influenced by the theologian Rudolf Sohm, Weber used the vocabulary of the theology of grace. Many readers, unfamiliar with the nature of Weber's debt to theology, have thought that Weber, like Rudolf Sohm, viewed charisma as a divinely given personal quality. In fact, however, Max Weber's sociology of charisma is radically opposed to Sohm's theology.

Faith, Reason, and Charisma: Rudolf Sohm, Max Weber, and the Theology of Grace

Fifty years after the Holocaust, anti-Jewish myths and sentiments are gaining momentum in Europe, the Islamic world, the Americas, and even in Japan. Why ? Does hate spring eternal ? Seeking an answer to this question, the author develops a seven-part argument. His aim is to advance what can reasonably be called a social constructionist perspective on the kind of antisemitic demonology that is now gaining worldwide currency. His method is to seek clarity by evaluating varying kinds of constructionist claims. Both the strengths and weaknesses of these claims are illuminating for my purposes, as he tries to show in connection with writers including Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Daniel Goldhagen, and Pierre-Andre Taguieff. His conclusion is that we can best understand antisemitism as an instance of what historian Gavin Langmuir calls chimeria. Interpreted in the spirit of certain classic texts (by Sartre, Adorno, and Samuel), this notion offers a powerful starting point for further inquiry. To illustrate the promise of this approach, he closes with an interpretation of the current, global antisemitic revival as an expression of anti-Jewish chimeria

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3045387.pdf

David Norman Smith

Papers

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda

The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?:

The psychocultural roots of genocide. Legitimacy and crisis in Rwanda.

Faith, Reason, and Charisma: Rudolf Sohm, Max Weber, and the Theology of Grace

The social construction of enemies: Jews and the representation of evil