International Relations and Political Philosophy

Description

This book collects works by the late Professor Martin Wight (1913-1972), an historian and scholar of international relations. He conducted research on many topics, including British colonial history, European studies, international institutions, and the history and sociology of states-systems. He is nonetheless best known for his teaching about the political philosophy of international relations at the London School of Economics (1949-1961) and the University of Sussex (1961-1972). He is widely regarded as an intellectual ancestor and path-breaker of the 'English School' of international relations, even though this term only gained currency nine years after his death. While there is no generally accepted definition of the 'English School', it is usually construed as signifying an approach to the study of international relations more rooted in historical and humanistic learning than in the social sciences. Wight's achievements are consistent with this broad definition. This volume includes works in four categories: (a) traditions of thinking about international relations since the sixteenth century; (b) the causes and functions of war; (c) international and regime legitimacy; and (d) fortune and irony in international politics. In addition to classic essays such as 'Why Is There No International Theory?' and 'Western Values in International Relations' that complement his posthumous 1991 book International Theory: The Three Traditions, this volume includes previously unpublished works on international legitimacy and the causes of war. Wight's analysis of legitimacy examines the evolution of thinking from dynastic to popular approaches, while his work on the causes of war builds on Thucydides and Hobbes. Cover Title_Pages Dedication Foreword Preface: Martin Wight’s Scholarly Stature Acknowledgements Contents Introduction: Martin Wight and the Political Philosophy of International Relations 1. Why Is There No International Theory? 2. An Anatomy of International Thought 3. Western Values in International Relations 4. Three Questions of Methodology 5. Machiavellian Temptations: Methodological Warning 6. The Balance of Power in The World in March 1939 7. Kaplan’s System and Process 8. Is There a Philosophy of Statesmanship? 9. The Communist Theory of International Relations 10. The Idea of Just War 11. The Causes of War: An Historian’s View 12. Gain, Fear and Glory: Reflections on the Nature of International Politics 13. Correspondence about war in The Listener, October–November 1955 14. On the Abolition of War: Observations on a Memorandum by Walter Millis 15. International Legitimacy 16. Reflections on International Legitimacy 17. Dynastic Legitimacy 18. Popular Legitimacy 19. What Confers Political Legitimacy in a Modern Society? 20. Note on Conquest and Cession 21. Fortune’s Banter 22. Review of Hugh Ross Williamson, Charles and Cromwell 23. Review of E. H. Carr, The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919–1939 24. Review of Friedrich Meinecke, Machiavellism 25. Review of Richard W. Sterling, Ethics in a World of Power 26. Review of Hans J. Morgenthau, Dilemmas of Politics, and Correspondence 27. Review of Kenneth W. Thompson, Political Realism and the Crisis of World Politics 28. Review of J. L. Talmon, Political Messianism: The Romantic Phase 29. Review of Raymond Aron, Peace and War Bibliography Index