Bounding Power

Reviews / Votes

Co-Winner of the 2010 ISA Book of the Decade Award in International Studies, International Studies Association Co-Winner of the 2008 Robert Jervis and Paul Schroeder Award for the Best Book on International History and Politics, International History and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association "A long-awaited and truly brilliant book, Bounding Power presents nothing less than a major new vision of world politics--while, along the way, reinterpreting the classic philosophical traditions in international relations, providing striking portraits of the evolving logic of order in major historical eras, and illuminating possible global futures... [F]ew books on world politics have ever looked so searchingly at the past to see the future."--G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs "Among books on international relations theory, this is one of the most important works to be published in recent years... Deudney synthesizes traditional IR theory with the logic of republican politics, producing a book that is as creative and original as it is erudite and sophisticated... Bounding Power is destined to become a classic work of IR theory."--Charles A. Kupchan, Perspectives on Politics "This expansive investigation into the history of international relations theory is as insightful as it is enlightening... [T]his book is a major achievement, and should become indispensable for graduate-level courses in IR theory."--Choice "This wide-ranging and ground-breaking book is packed with historical claims and theoretical concepts related to its central theme: the existence, configuration, and the continued relevance of republican security theory (RST) from ancient Greece to the present."--Casper Sylvest, Political Studies Review "Bounding Power is a rare book in that it combines a magisterial sweep of the history of political thought with provocative claims about the nature of political order. It is a testament to its power that establishing republican security theory as a serious competitor (as well as parent) to realism and liberalism is only one of Deudney's accomplishments in the book. Well written, thought provoking and sometimes startling in its insights, Bounding Power is destined to become a landmark in international political theory for years to come."--Michael J. Boyle, International Affairs "With Bounding Power, Daniel Deudney makes a masterly contribution to the renaissance of classical political theory in contemporary thought about world politics... Long in gestation, Bounding Power is a vigorously argued and sophisticated book, which contains a number of important strands of discussion that combine to make the case for what Deudney labels 'republican security theory.' ... Deudney has certainly opened new vistas of classical political theory to international relations scholars."--Takashi Inoguchi, Ethics and International Affairs "[T]he book ... provides a subtle and refreshing critique of Realist understanding of the relations of states as security seekers... This revisionist approach is particularly welcome in the disciplines of political theory--by broadening the international dimension of the history of political thinking--and of intellectual history--by bringing together arguments that have usually been treated as conceptually distinct. It also provides a conceptual framework for addressing our contemporary security concerns and thereby alleviates the anxieties that the future might hold."--Theodore Christov, European Legacy