Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Tragedy of Great Power Politics by John J. Mearsheimer ISBN: 0-393-32396-X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: January, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.23 (26 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Holes In Theory
Comment: The tragedy of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics is that it doesn't explain the post 9-11 world very well, at least to me. Mearsheimer's thesis is that states with strong latent economic power can project military power and exert "hegemony" (control) over other nations. The theory doesn't seem to explain how states with meager economic resources such as North Korea, or shadowy terrorist groups (al quaida), with relatively small economic resources and low tech weapons, acting as rogues or proxies for states, can destablize the balance of power. But Mearsheimer writes well and his list of power strategies ("baiting," "pass the buck," etc.) is revealing as to the operational calculus of many events we see on the international level. I recommend the book despite the holes in the theory.
Rating: 4
Summary: Clearly written realism
Comment: Mearsheimer's argument is well developed and thought out. Besides being a definitive realist's work, this book does a good job of explaining a number of grand strategies and educating the reader to the effective use of force to supplement statesmanship. The best part about this book, however, is that you can just as easily disagree with it as agree with it - you can think whatever you want of the argument, but one thing is that Mearsheimer's argument is clear. His ideas of what is to come in the next quarter century are especially interesting, and written exactly as the Chicago Professor speaks, which is relatively entertaining in its own right.
Rating: 1
Summary: For Graduate students
Comment: Read this comment if you are a graduate student, faculty, or any other serious intellectual.
I have three concerns:
1) This BOOK is wrong in the EMPIRICAL cases: European States did not balance against united states in the 19th century. Mearshimer has a lot of awfull empirical mistakes in his analysis. Those who are graduate students in International Relations will notice this coming up in their resepctive seminar discussions.
2)The theory he advances is UNFALSIFIABLE: hence unscientific, though it wishes to be. e.g. Why did not the united states nuke the soviet union or any other country when it had the monopoly over nuclear weapons immediate afterwards of 1945? It could have been the global sovereign/hegemon? : His answer is that States sometimes Do bid for power and hegemony sometimes do not (BUT WHY AND WHEN?). So Mearsheimer is arguing for an empty theory, IN EVERY case he presents he wins- because it is unfalsifiable- like a religious or ideological doctrine.
3) Every intelligent graduate student would recognize the POLITICAL voice in Mearsheimer's theory, although it cries to be 'objective' and scientific. Mearsheimer is clearly a political conservative and isolationist, which one can find in any current 'fascist' debate in politics. The underlying argument is clear in the favor of "Shoot first ask questions later"/"since we're in the security dilemma: Kill Em All" redneck fascist rhetoric. If one really wants to know what the causes of war are, just CONSIDER thinking about the publication of this book and those who believe in it because it is "objective, scientific and real". It is for such understandings of world politics that a foreign policy is shaped for war-mongering, hence the causes of war.
THESE COMMENTS ARE FORTHCOMING IN AN ACADEMIC JOURNAL-PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE WITHOUT PERMISSION
(I can already imagine the negative votes to be given to this review, since all who are reading Tradegy of Great Power Politics is under an idelogical restraint: meaning the inability to see beyond the state system. I accept that most negative reviews would come from the 'heroic students' of Mearsheimer and fellow 'realist' blinded conservatives. Hence the theory is pure political as all realist doctrines are: THEY ARE unable to see beyond the state system that is supposed to reflect the 'reality'.
The problem is : They can not see beyond the state system: what about houndreds of thousands, millions of people who are refugees throughout the world? A good realist answer: Ignore them they do not exist because they do not have enough power= this means realism as a whole, is a POLITICAL theory rather than a 'pathological' all explanotory theory that 'explains most'. But then again the question stands what about the millions of people: and here comes the political nature of Realist scholars: "THEY ARE NOT IMPORTANT". This last remark was actually an exhange between me and a scholar at the International Studies Association Conference last year)
 |
Title: The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone by Joseph S. Nye Jr. ISBN: 0195150880 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
 |
Title: Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order by Robert Kagan ISBN: 1400040930 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
 |
Title: The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century by Charles Kupchan ISBN: 0375412158 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 29 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
 |
Title: The CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS AND THE REMAKING OF WORLD ORDER by Samuel P. Huntington ISBN: 0684844419 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 28 January, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Man, the State, and War by Kenneth N. Waltz ISBN: 0231125372 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
