University of British Columbia Press
Action and Reaction in the World System
The Dynamics of Economic and Political Power
9780774824729
Distributed for University of British Columbia Press
Action and Reaction in the World System
The Dynamics of Economic and Political Power
This book occupies the same niche as Raymond Aron’s 1962 classic, Peace and War. While Aron wrote during the Cold War, Thierry de Montbrial writes about the post-Soviet international system, a system that is multipolar, ideologically heterogeneous, and thus highly unstable. In this book, he lays the foundation for a praxeology, or a “science of action,” to facilitate a better understanding of the dynamics of international problems and a more systematic approach to policy making. A major contribution to international relations theory and winner of the 2002 Georges Pompidou Prize, this book offers the necessary keys to decrypt the international system in the twenty-first century.
Table of Contents
Preface to the English Edition
Part 1: Theory
1 Active Units and Praxeological Problems: An Introduction
2 Potency
3 Conflicts and Their Resolution
4 The Concept of Strategy
5 The Stability of Systems of Active Units
6 International Relations Theory
7 The Object and Nature of Economics
Part 2: Aspects of Praxeology
8 Perspectives on the International System
9 Globalization, Market Economy, and Unemployment
10 Ideology, Culture, and Action
11 Ethics and Politics
12 State Sovereignty and the International Community
13 The Engineer and the Economist
14 Strategy, Forecasting, and Chance
Appendices
Notes
Index