Political Realism in International Theory [Hardcover]

In this 1996 book, Roger Spegele develops a new version of realism which stresses links between ethics and international politics.The discipline of international relations is a fragmented one. Arguing that scholars following different conceptions of the field have had different ways of understanding theory, practice and the relation between them, this text develops a new version of political realism, by focusing on the relation.The discipline of international relations is a fragmented one. Arguing that scholars following different conceptions of the field have had different ways of understanding theory, practice and the relation between them, this text develops a new version of political realism, by focusing on the relation.The discipline of international relations is a fragmented one. In this book, Roger Spegele analyzes this fragmentation and suggests that the subject should be seen as engaged in a struggle among three competing conceptions: positivism-empiricism, emancipatory international relations, and political realism. He argues that scholars following these different conceptions have had different ways of understanding theory, practice and the relation between them. By focusing on this relation, Professor Spegele develops a new version of political realism, called Evaluative Political Realism .Part I: 1. Theory and practice in international relations; 2. Positivist-empiricism and international relations; 3. Emancipatory international relations: a first cut; Part II. 4. Evaluative political realism: a beginning; 5. State and state-systems in evaluative political realism; 6. Evaluative political realism and human nature; 7. Evaluative political realism and historical realism; 8. Evaluative political realism as moral realism; 9. Conclusion. ...Spegele's ordering principles are useful, and persuasive, and his treatment of every perspective appropriately critical....this erudite and well-crafted study lives up to its advance billing as a coherent, viable, and atl³#