As recommended by WVPU professors
Consolidated by Bridget Carter and Laleh Ashrafi
From classic texts written by Henry Kissinger and Francis Fukuyama to uncommon reads on subjects like neurobiology and the strategic dimensions of collective behavior, WVPU international relations professors share some of their favorite books. World Dip has your winter reading list covered. So kick back, relax, and take a dip.
A World Restored by Henry Kissinger is an “absolute must-read” for IR students.
Dr. Jozef Bátora tells why: Originally Henry Kissinger's Ph.D. dissertation at Harvard, this book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the formation of the modern international order, processes of its stability and change, the role of legitimacy in changing international orders, and how seemingly contrasting principles can co-exist and generate stability. Its level of analysis shifts between macro-level processes and micro-level personal details from the lives of actors involved. The sheer intellectual power and richness of almost every sentence here is amazing. For me, this is the best book Kissinger ever wrote.
Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics by James G. March and Johan P. Olsen has, according to Dr. Bátora, systematically launched the so-called 'new institutionalism' in political science. Bátora says: It introduces an organization theory-oriented approach to analyzing domestic and international political institutions and their change. Generations of IR scholars have drawn upon the concepts of 'logic of appropriateness' and 'logic of consequences' introduced here without actually reading this book. As someone said some two decades ago, "we are all institutionalists now". Well, yes, but only if you actually get down to the roots and become acquainted with the classics of institutionalist theory.
Identity, Interest and Action: A Cultural Explanation of Sweden's Intervention in the Thirty Years War by Erik Ringmar captures a fundamental truth about IR. Bátora tells why: There are numerous books dealing with identity and the ways it impacts foreign policy making. This book is different in that it captures some of the fundamental mechanisms of how efforts to achieve and maintain an identity prompt certain types of actions by states. Ringmar's narratological perspective on IR is somewhat radical and, as a positivist, I do not necessarily share it tout court. But the book captures a fundamental truth about IR: non-material factors are just as important as the material ones in shaping states' and other actors' actions in the international realm.
The Righteous Mind – Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt falls under the moral psychology category, but Professor Ralph Schoellhammer tells us why it’s an important IR book: Jonathan Haidt does a great job demonstrating how moral intuitions influence our decision making, which plays a fundamental role in the way politics are constructed domestically and internationally. Focusing on the role of emotions in political preference formation, the author convincingly shows that the idea of a purely rationalist and coolly detached world of politics is impossible.
The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama and The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington are dually recommended by Schoellhammer, because he says: they are often referred to, but just as often not thoroughly read. He goes on to say: Both books concern themselves with the question of liberal democracy and the question of its universality as well as its sustainability, so one can read them as a dialogue between the authors. While Fukuyama claims that liberal democracy has emerged in the West, it is based on universal principles that will allow its implementation everywhere regardless of existing traditional values. Huntington, on the other hand, sees liberal democracy as specifically Western, and warns that attempts of spreading it will cause more harm than good.
The Square and the Tower: Networks, Hierarchies, and the Struggle for Global Power by Niall Ferguson is the first attempt to use network analysis in a new approach to historical events, says Schoellhammer who describes Ferguson’s book as providing historical comparisons and fascinating insights. Schoellhammer says this book is not just dominated by visible hierarchies but also by sometimes invisible and hard-to-measure networks.
Dr. Elina Brutschin recommends: The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy exploring the politics and economics of the Great Powers from 1500 to 1980 and the reason for their decline. Because Brutschin says “every IR student should know about history.”
The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics is a book by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith discussing how politicians gain and retain political power. Brutschin recommends this book because “IR students should understand the strategic dimensions of collective behavior.”
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky is a text the New York Times dubs as a book “you’ll wish you had in college.” Sapolsky guides the reader through the complexities of neurobiology with “hipster humor,” as the New York Times puts it. Brutschin notes its importance because “IR students should understand what drives individual behavior.”
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