Handbook of International Relations
Published on 27. June 2025
Book
Hardback
688 pages
978-1-78536-612-3 (ISBN)
Description
This comprehensive Handbook provides an assessment of recent scholarship in the field of International Relations (IR). Cameron G. Thies brings together leading scholars to explore its contested disciplinary foundations, as well as the major theoretical and methodological approaches used to explain and understand IR.
Taking an inclusive approach, this Handbook assesses both mainstream and radical approaches to IR. Chapters examine key aspects of international security, with discussions of terrorism, cybersecurity, diplomatic and intelligence studies, alongside an analysis of the differences, origins and evolution of peace science and conflict processes. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical debates and diverse case studies, authors explore issues relating to comparative foreign policy, critical international political economy and trade. They investigate the legalization of world politics, with a focus on international organizations, law and human rights, and the world environment. Expanding on an individual's role in IR, they also explore themes such as ethnicity and nationalism, global health and religion.
Broad in scope, this Handbook advances both academic and policy knowledge, theorising and empirically apprehending the current state of IR for students, scholars and researchers of International Relations, politics and foreign policy. Global think tanks and foreign policymakers will additionally find the insights presented here beneficial.
Taking an inclusive approach, this Handbook assesses both mainstream and radical approaches to IR. Chapters examine key aspects of international security, with discussions of terrorism, cybersecurity, diplomatic and intelligence studies, alongside an analysis of the differences, origins and evolution of peace science and conflict processes. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical debates and diverse case studies, authors explore issues relating to comparative foreign policy, critical international political economy and trade. They investigate the legalization of world politics, with a focus on international organizations, law and human rights, and the world environment. Expanding on an individual's role in IR, they also explore themes such as ethnicity and nationalism, global health and religion.
Broad in scope, this Handbook advances both academic and policy knowledge, theorising and empirically apprehending the current state of IR for students, scholars and researchers of International Relations, politics and foreign policy. Global think tanks and foreign policymakers will additionally find the insights presented here beneficial.
Reviews / Votes
'This new Handbook provides a fantastic and concise discussion of a broad set of core topics in International Relations. Rarely can a reader turn to one resource for such a comprehensive, diverse, and modern blend of topics, but the Thies volume accomplishes this goal admirably.' -- Mark J.C. Crescenzi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA 'Cameron G. Thies has done a remarkable job of assembling a rich collection of contributions to the Handbook of International Relations. Both broad and deep, the diversity of coverage provides an excellent anthology for students of international relations whether early in career or further on in the profession. Well done all around!' -- Mark A. Boyer, University of Connecticut, USAMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-78536-612-3 (9781785366123)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Edited by Cameron G. Thies, MSU Foundation Professor and Dean, James Madison College, Michigan State University, USA
Content
Contents
1 Introduction to the Handbook of International Relations 1
Cameron G. Thies
PART I INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AS A DISCIPLINE: HISTORY,
PHILOSOPHY, AND APPROACHES
2 The origins and evolution of a discipline 7
Brian Schmidt
3 Race and International Relations 22
Oumar Ba
4 Philosophy of science and international studies: a chronicle of a fraught
relationship 38
Patrick Thaddeus Jackson
5 Ethics and International Relations 56
Brent J. Steele and Eric A. Heinze
6 Landscapes of critical International Relations 73
Laura Sjoberg
7 Contested essential concepts in International Relations 88
Felix Berenskoetter and Stefano Guzzini
PART II METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
8 Quantitative analyses and formal modeling in International Relations 106
Kelly M. Kadera and Willow Kreutzer
9 Experimental and survey research in International Relations 125
Katja B. Kleinberg
10 Computational methods in International Relations 141
Babak Rezaee Daryakenari
11 Network analysis in International Relations 156
Olga Chyzh
12 Methods for critical International Relations 169
Xymena Kurowska and Freya Cumberlidge
PART III INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
13 Security studies 185
Edward Newman
14 Critical approaches to security studies 200
Keith Krause
15 Diplomatic studies 218
Rebecca Adler-Nissen and Halvard Leira
16 Intelligence studies 236
Loch K. Johnson
17 Regional powers and comparative regionalism 252
Leslie Wehner
PART IV PEACE SCIENCE AND CONFLICT PROCESSES
18 Peace science and conflict processes 269
Idean Salehyan
19 Civil conflict 286
Jessica Maves Braithwaite
20 Terrorism: competition, mimicry and claims of responsibility 307
Mia Bloom
21 Cybersecurity and technological innovations: linking debates on
deterrence, human rights, and the future 326
Aaron Brantly
22 Political demography 342
Jennifer D. Sciubba
PART V FOREIGN POLICY
23 Comparative foreign policy 356
Cristian Cantir and Juliet Kaarbo
24 Bridging the gap in International Relations 371
Susanna P. Campbell and Jordan Tama
25 Foreign policy decision-making: a practical guide for the FPDM-curious 384
Ryan Beasley
26 Overcoming the agent-structure problem in International Relations 401
Marijke Breuning
27 Foreign policy as public policy 417
Kai Oppermann and Sebastian Harnisch
28 Analyses of foreign policy Beyond FPA 432
Halvard Leira
PART VI INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
29 The politics of international money and finance 450
Andrew Rys and David A. Steinberg
30 International trade 469
Michael Plouffe
31 Critical international political economy: critical theory and its critique of
liberalism 487
J. P. Singh
PART VII THE LEGALIZATION OF WORLD POLITICS
32 International organizations: frontiers at the international and domestic
levels in the study of international cooperation 505
Julia Gray
33 International law 528
Dana Zartner
34 Human rights and state repression 545
Jacqueline Rubin DeMeritt
35 International Relations and the global environment 562
Kate O'Neill
PART VIII THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF PEOPLE
36 Nationalism and ethnicity in the study of International Relations 584
Erin K. Jenne and Harris Mylonas
37 Global health and International Relations 604
Sara E. Davies
38 International communication and International Relations 619
Kenneth Rogerson
39 The complex and increasingly understood interplay between religion,
peace, and violence in 635
Monica Duffy Toft
1 Introduction to the Handbook of International Relations 1
Cameron G. Thies
PART I INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AS A DISCIPLINE: HISTORY,
PHILOSOPHY, AND APPROACHES
2 The origins and evolution of a discipline 7
Brian Schmidt
3 Race and International Relations 22
Oumar Ba
4 Philosophy of science and international studies: a chronicle of a fraught
relationship 38
Patrick Thaddeus Jackson
5 Ethics and International Relations 56
Brent J. Steele and Eric A. Heinze
6 Landscapes of critical International Relations 73
Laura Sjoberg
7 Contested essential concepts in International Relations 88
Felix Berenskoetter and Stefano Guzzini
PART II METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
8 Quantitative analyses and formal modeling in International Relations 106
Kelly M. Kadera and Willow Kreutzer
9 Experimental and survey research in International Relations 125
Katja B. Kleinberg
10 Computational methods in International Relations 141
Babak Rezaee Daryakenari
11 Network analysis in International Relations 156
Olga Chyzh
12 Methods for critical International Relations 169
Xymena Kurowska and Freya Cumberlidge
PART III INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
13 Security studies 185
Edward Newman
14 Critical approaches to security studies 200
Keith Krause
15 Diplomatic studies 218
Rebecca Adler-Nissen and Halvard Leira
16 Intelligence studies 236
Loch K. Johnson
17 Regional powers and comparative regionalism 252
Leslie Wehner
PART IV PEACE SCIENCE AND CONFLICT PROCESSES
18 Peace science and conflict processes 269
Idean Salehyan
19 Civil conflict 286
Jessica Maves Braithwaite
20 Terrorism: competition, mimicry and claims of responsibility 307
Mia Bloom
21 Cybersecurity and technological innovations: linking debates on
deterrence, human rights, and the future 326
Aaron Brantly
22 Political demography 342
Jennifer D. Sciubba
PART V FOREIGN POLICY
23 Comparative foreign policy 356
Cristian Cantir and Juliet Kaarbo
24 Bridging the gap in International Relations 371
Susanna P. Campbell and Jordan Tama
25 Foreign policy decision-making: a practical guide for the FPDM-curious 384
Ryan Beasley
26 Overcoming the agent-structure problem in International Relations 401
Marijke Breuning
27 Foreign policy as public policy 417
Kai Oppermann and Sebastian Harnisch
28 Analyses of foreign policy Beyond FPA 432
Halvard Leira
PART VI INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
29 The politics of international money and finance 450
Andrew Rys and David A. Steinberg
30 International trade 469
Michael Plouffe
31 Critical international political economy: critical theory and its critique of
liberalism 487
J. P. Singh
PART VII THE LEGALIZATION OF WORLD POLITICS
32 International organizations: frontiers at the international and domestic
levels in the study of international cooperation 505
Julia Gray
33 International law 528
Dana Zartner
34 Human rights and state repression 545
Jacqueline Rubin DeMeritt
35 International Relations and the global environment 562
Kate O'Neill
PART VIII THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF PEOPLE
36 Nationalism and ethnicity in the study of International Relations 584
Erin K. Jenne and Harris Mylonas
37 Global health and International Relations 604
Sara E. Davies
38 International communication and International Relations 619
Kenneth Rogerson
39 The complex and increasingly understood interplay between religion,
peace, and violence in 635
Monica Duffy Toft