International Relations Theory

This book examines Japan’s relationship with Myanmar from the passage of its constitution in May 2008 to the February 2021 coup d’état that finished its transition to a ‘disciplined democracy.’ It develops a unique Area Studies approach that critiques how Japan’s foreign policy elites perceive Japan’s role in the liberal international order.

Drawing on an extensive range of Chinese-language debates and discussions, this book explains the roles of different actors and interests in Chinese international interactions, and how they influence the nature of Chinese strategies for global change.

Exploring Confucian and socialist principles, this book examines the relationship between citizens and leaders in Chinese autocracy, challenging the binary of authoritarianism and democracy.

Exploring the significance of Norbert Elias’s reflections on civilization for international relations, this book explains the working principles of an Eliasian approach to civilization and demonstrates how the interdependencies between state-formation, colonialism and an emergent international society shaped the European 'civilizing process.'

Moving beyond the limits of parochialism, this book develops a truly global perspective on social change. It brings together renowned scholars from across disciplines and provides a range of promising theoretical approaches, analytical takes and substantive research areas that offer new vistas for understanding change on a global scale.

Realism and constructivism are often viewed as competing paradigms for understanding International Relations, but this innovative and cutting-edge volume provides an exposition of the realist constructivist approach and uses a series of international case studies to show what realist constructivist research can look like in practice.

Bringing together leading figures in the study of international relations, this collection explores praxis as a perspective on international politics and law. It builds on the transdisciplinary work of Friedrich Kratochwil to reveal the scope, limits and blind spots of praxis theorizing.

This book explores how race, sexuality and gender are employed in political projects of belonging, whilst examining the implications for individual identity formation, in the context of Sweden.

This book develops a concept and a theory of reluctance in world politics. Applying it to regional crisis management by leading powers, it finds that reluctance emerges when governments fail to devise clear foreign policy preferences and face competing international pressures.

Written by a leading expert in the field, this book analyses the complex relations between the European Union (EU) as a regional organization and the United Nations (UN) as an international, global governance institution.

This volume analyses the impact of globalization on civil service systems across the Middle East and North Africa. It presents an analytical model to assess how globalization influences civil servants and traces the shifting patterns of power and accountability between civil servants, politicians and other actors.

Bringing together an international team of contributors, this volume draws on international political theory and intellectual history to rethink the problem of a pluralistic world order.