Figures, Tables, Contributors, Foreword, Series editor's preface, 1 Figures of international thought: introducing persons instead of paradigms, 2 John Vincent and the English School of International Relations, 3 Kenneth Waltz: a critical rationalist between international politics and foreign policy, 4 Robert O.Keohane: a contemporary classic, 5 Robert Gilpin: the realist quest for the dynamics of power, 6 Bertrand Badie: cultural diversity changing International Relations?, 7 John G.Ruggie: transformation and institutionalization, 8 Hayward Alker: an exemplary voyage from quantitative peace research to humanistic, late-modern globalism, 9 Nicholas G.Onuf: the rules of anarchy, 10 Alexander Wendt: a social scientist struggling with history, 11 Jean Bethke Elshtain: traversing the terrain between, 12 R.B.J.Walker and International Relations: deconstructing a discipline, 13 James Der Derian: the unbearable lightness of theory, 14 Conclusion, Index

This book presents the state of the art of international relations theory through an analysis of the work of twelve key contemporary thinkers; John Vincent, Kenneth Waltz, Robert O. Keohane, Robert Gilpin, Bertrand Badie, John Ruggie, Hayward Alker, Nicholas G. Onuf, Alexander Wendt, Jean Bethke Elshtain, R.B.J. Walker and James Der Derian. The authors aim to break with the usual procedure in the field which juxtaposes aspects of the work of contemporary theorists with others, presenting them as part of a desembodied school of thought or paradigm. A more individual focus can demonstrate instead, the well-rounded character of some of the leading oeuvres and can thus offer a more representative view of the discipline.
This book is designed to cover the work of theorists whom students of international relations will read and sometimes stuggle with. The essays can be read either as introductions to the work of these theorists or as companions to it. Each chapter attempts to place the thinker in the landscape of the discipine, to identify how they go about studying International Relations, and to discuss what others can learn from them.