Agents Structures Intntl Relations

Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-0-521-67416-4
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 101, 360 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 522 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in International Relations

The agent-structure problem is a much discussed issue in the field of international relations. In his comprehensive analysis of this problem, Colin Wight deconstructs the accounts of structure and agency embedded within differing IR theories and, on the basis of this analysis, explores the implications of ontology - the metaphysical study of existence and reality. Wight argues that there are many gaps in IR theory that can only be understood by focusing on the ontological differences that construct the theoretical landscape. By integrating the treatment of the agent-structure problem in IR theory with that in social theory, Wight makes a positive contribution to the problem as an issue of concern to the wider human sciences. At the most fundamental level politics is concerned with competing visions of how the world is and how it should be, thus politics is ontology.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wight, Colin

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; 1. IR: a science without positivism?; 2. The agent-structure problem: from social theory to IR theory; 3. The agent-structure problem in IR theory; 4. Structure; 5. Agency; 6. The agent-structure problem: epistemology; 7. The agent-structure problem: methodology; Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Wight, Colin
Colin Wight is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics at the University of Sheffield.