This book moves scholarly debates beyond the old question of whether or not international institutions matter in order to examine how they matter, even in a world of power politics. Power politics and international institutions are often studied as two separate domains, but this is in need of rethinking because today most states strategically use institutions to further their interests. Anders Wivel, T.V. Paul, and the international group of contributing authors update our understanding of how institutions are viewed among the major theoretical paradigms in international relations, and they seek to bridge the divides. Empirical chapters examine specific institutions in practice, including the United Nations, International Atomic Energy Agency, and the European Union. The book also points the way to future research. International Institutions and Power Politics provides insights for both international relations theory and practical matters of foreign affairs, and it will be essential reading for all international relations scholars and advanced students.
Table of Contents
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1: Exploring International Institutions and Power Politics
Anders Wivel and T.V. Paul
Part II: Theorizing Power Politics and International Institutions
Chapter 2: Realist Institutionalism and the Institutional Mechanisms of Power Politics
J. Samuel Barkin and Patricia A. Weitsman
Chapter 3: A Neoclassical Realist Explanation of International Institutions
Norrin M. Ripsman
Chapter 4: Pyrrhic Victory: A World of Liberal Institutions, Teeming with Tensions
Georg Sørensen
Chapter 5: Making Power Politics Great Again? Discursive Institutionalism and the Political Economy of World Politics after Globalization
Ben Rosamond
Part III: The Processes of Power Politics and International Institutions
Chapter 6: Maximizing Security through International Institutions: Soft-Balancing Strategies Reconsidered
Anders Wivel and T.V. Paul
Chapter 7: The Power in Opacity: Rethinking Information in International Organizations
Austin Carson and Alexander Thompson
Chapter 8: Revisionists, Networks, and the Liberal Institutional Order
Stacie Goddard
Part IV: The Power Politics of Global and Regional Institutions
Chapter 9: Structural Modifiers, the Non-Proliferation Treaty Regime, and Fostering a Less Competitive International Environment
Steven E. Lobell and Brad Nicholson
Chapter 10: The Power Politics of United Nations Peace Operations
Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé, Lou Pingeot, and Vincent Pouliot
Chapter 11: Variable Geometry: Power and Institutions in the European Union
John A. Hall and Frédéric Mérand
Part V: Conclusions
Chapter 12: The Dynamic Relations between Power Politics and Institutionalization: A Neo-Gramscian Intervention
Annette Freyberg-Inan
Chapter 13: International Order and Power Politics
Daniel H. Nexon
References
List of Contributors
Index
Reviews
"This volume engages in an urgently needed effort to bridge the divide between realism and institutionalism. Re-reading, expanding, and re-conceptualizing realist conceptions of power, the contributions challenge our preconceptions about state power and international organizations. Thus, they make an important contribution towards a renewed inter-paradigmatic dialogue in International Relations."—Thomas Diez, Professor of political science and international relations, Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen
Contributors
J. Samuel Barkin Austin Carson Annette Freyberg-Inan Stacie Goddard John A. Hall Steven E. Lobell Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé Frédéric Mérand Daniel H. Nexon Brad Nicholson T.V. Paul Vincent Pouliot Norrin M. Ripsman Ben Rosamond Georg Sørensen Alexander Thompson Patricia A. Weitsman Anders Wivel
About the Author
Anders Wivel is a professor in the Department of Political Science at University of Copenhagen. He is author, co-author or editor of eleven books including Security Strategies and American World Order: Lost Power and Explaining Foreign Policy: International Diplomacy and the Russo-Georgian War.
T.V. Paul is the James McGill Professor of International Relations at McGill University; former president of the International Studies Association; and author, co-author, or editor of twenty books including Restraining Great Powers: Soft Balancing from Empires to the Global Era and The China-India Rivalry in the Globalization Era.
