1st Edition

Roots of Realism

Edited By Benjamin Frankel Copyright 1996

    Political realism sees politics as a permanent struggle for power and security. The essays in this volume examine the tradition of realist political analysis of international relations from the Sophists and Thucydides to the modern era.

    Foreign Affairs- " An excellent overview of the development of realist theory."



    NOD & Conversion - "Taken together, the two volumes edited by Benjamin Frankel (with their around 900 pages) provide almost everything that anyone might want to know about Realism."



    "CHOICE- "The material in both volumes is well written despite being prepared by many authors...the two volumes are worth the price for their bibliographies alone."



    The Journal of Strategic Studies -"The essays are well-written and solid pieces of scholarship. However, the value of these books may be questioned on two grounds. First, they reproduce exactly material already published in Security Studies. The sole difference is that the books include not very thoughtfully compiled indexes. Moreover, the contents of the book are determined more by the interests of individual authors tha any systematic plan..........In that sense, the material is arguably better suited toa special issue of a journal than a book ......Ultimately if you remain convinved of the relevance of realist and Neo-realist theory to contemporary international politics, then you will view these books as a valuable addition to the literature."



    Survival -"Nearly all of the papers are solid, engaging and accessible, and they contain a rich resource of arguments and references. They do not try to present any single coherent view of Realism, but nearly all of them suggest that it remains an interesting and powerful way of looking at the human condition."



    Political Studies - "This work shows how Realism is vital and robust, despite what many of its critics have been saying (especially since the end of the Cold War).



    Review of International Studies - "These two volumes, filled with essays of an unusually consistent high quality...."

    "....those of us with a fundamentally non-realist orientation are likely to face a more interesting, and challenging, opponent.

    Biography

    Benjamin Frankel