Why Nations Cooperate: Circumstance and Choice in International Relations

This book reviews and assesses realist and liberal theories of international politics. The former stress the conflictual nature of international politics; the latter emphasize cooperation. Both schools of thought, however, derive their conclusions from a shared set of core assumptions. This book takes particular strands of realist and liberal thought and evaluates their implications for international cooperation and conflict. Many of the typically proffered assumptions of realism are inadequate to sustain an expectation of conflict, while many liberal views of the possibilities for cooperation in an anarchic world are sustained but require significant modification. Why Nations Cooperate concludes by transcending the liberal-realist debate and analyzing the circumstances which underlie international interdependence.