New Systems Theories of World Politics [Hardcover]

New Systems Theories of World Politics uses systems theoretical approaches to analyze the structure and dynamics of the international system. Drawing from different systems theoretical traditions, it argues that the system of world politics can be analyzed in a comprehensive fashion by continuing the pioneering work of theorists like Karl Deutsch.PART I: CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW Introduction: Systems Theorizing in IR; M.Albert & L-E.Cederman Systems Theory beyond Explaining and Understanding; O.Kessler & F.Kratochwil PART II: 'MODERN' SYSTEMS THEORY Modern Systems Theory and World Politics; M.Albert Modern Systems Theory and/as Historical Discourse Analysis; H-M.Jaeger PART III: PROCESS-THEORETICAL APPROACHES Relationism and New Systems Theory; D.Nexon Complexity and Change in World Politics; L-E.Cederman Understanding System Dynamics; B.F.Braumoeller PART IV: ANALYSES OF MACROHISTORICAL PROCESSES English School as New Systems Theory; B.Buzan Differention, Rationalization and Actorhood; G.M.Thomas War and the Global Spread of the Nation-State; A.Wimmer & B.Min PART V: FINAL REFLECTIONS AND OUTLOOK Flatland: Quantum Mind and International System; A.Wendt

'This outstanding collection of superb essays offers a tour horizon of a new generation of systems theory, sociologically inspired for the most part, and different from the garden varieties of the 1960s and 1980s. One of the book's many virtues is to bring to the attention of a North American audience the important work of the German sociologist Nikolas Luhmann whose thoughts pervade several of the essays. Read against the recently ascendant rational choice research program, this collection instills confidence in the range and vitality of analytical complements and alternatives to reductionist forms of theory. Apart from informing scholars about a broad range of theoretical developments they may not have followed closely, this volume will also be an excellent teaching tool especially in graduate seminals,