Elements of International political theory

In Elements of International Political Theory Michael Donelan provides a general theory of world politics by displaying five approaches to the subject and showing how these lead to distinct attitudes on critical issues.

In the first part of the book, five imaginary spokesmen outline their case: a Natural Law theorist, for whom the world is one political community; a Realist, who sees world affairs as an ordered anarchy; a Fideist, for whom the true believer eternally confronts the infidel; a Rationalist, who holds that the clashing interests of countries can be brought into harmony by following reasonable procedures; and a Historicist, who advocates, in debate with nationalists and Marxists, continuity with tradition.

These positions are then debated by their exponents, each point of view being confronted with the best objections the opposition can muster. The discussion covers five main aspects of world politics: conflict, alliances, intervention, war, and commerce.

Throughout, Mr Donelan marshals the arguments in such a way as to enlist the reader's sympathy for the competing claims, while finally leaving him free to make his own judgement on their relative merits. His book will aid our understanding of the basic philosophical ideas that underlie our opinions and decisions on world problems.