International Affairs

Long recognized as one of the main branches of political science, political theory has in recent years burgeoned in many different directions. Close textual analysis of historical texts sits alongside more analytical work on the nature and normative grounds of political values. Continental and post-modern influences jostle with ones from economics, history, sociology, and the law. Feminist concerns with embodiment make us look at old problems in new ways, and challenges of new technologies open whole new vistas for political theory. This Handbook provides comprehensive and critical coverage of the lively and contested field of political theory, and will help set the agenda for the field for years to come. Forty-five chapters by distinguished political theorists look at the state of the field, where it has been in the recent past, and where it is likely to go in future. They examine political theory's edges as well as its core, the globalizing context of the field, and the challenges presented by social, economic, and technological changes.

This volume presents the idea that great power carries with it great moral obligation to reform the international system. It is centrally concerned with the nature and operation of international moral norms. It shows that great secular power correlates to an increased moral responsibility for the just conduct of the world. This work also emphasizes the often overlooked fact that important normative constraints on power exist already, so that even Great powers must act with a degree of restraint and prudence. Highlights a timely debate about the goals and ambitions of liberal Great Powers, no longer constrained from intervention by the balance of terror of the Cold War. Features cross-cultural issues, essays, and contributors from Europe, North America, and Asia. Arguments are concerned with pragmatic international ethics, not theory, and are written in a clear and concise manner.