Raymond Aron and International Relations
Raymond Aron and International Relations

Author: Olivier Schmitt

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-03-14

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1317215966

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At a time when the field of International Relations (IR) is diverting from grand theoretical debates, rediscovering the value of classical realism and exploring its own intellectual history, this book contributes to these debates by presenting a cohesive view of Raymond Aron’s theory of IR. It explores how a careful reading of Aron can contribute to important current debates, in particular what a theory of IR can be (and thus, what is within or outside the scope of this theory), how to bridge the gap that emerged in the 1970s between a "normative" and a "scientific" theory of IR, and finally how multidisciplinarity is possible (and desirable) in the study of IR. This edited collection offers a synthetic approach to Raymond Aron’s theory of International Relations by bringing together some of the most prominent specialists on Raymond Aron, thus filling an important gap in the current market of books devoted to IR theories and the historiography of the field. The volume is divided into three parts: the first part explores Aron’s intellectual contribution to the theoretical debates in IR, thus showing his originality and prescience; the second part traces Aron’s influence and explores his relations with other prominent scholars of his time, thus contributing to the historiography of the field; and the third part analyses Aron’s contemporary relevance. This comprehensive volume contributes to current debates in the field by showing the originality and breadth of Aron’s thought. This book will be of great interest to academics and students interested in IR theories, strategic studies and the historiography of the field.

Peace and War
Peace and War

Author: Raymond Aron

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-29

Total Pages: 850

ISBN-13: 1351500406

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Peace and War by Raymond Aron is one of the greatest books ever written on international relations. Aron's starting point is the state of nature that exists between nations, a condition that differs essentially from the civil state that holds within political communities. Ever keeping this brute fact about the life of nations in mind and ranging widely over political history and many disciplines, Aron develops the essential analytical tools to enable us to think clearly about the stakes and possibilities of international relations. In his first section, "Theory," Aron shows that, while international relations can be mapped, and probabilities discerned, no closed, global "science" of international relations is anything more than a mirage. In the second part, "Sociology," Aron studies the many ways various subpolitical forces influence foreign policy. He emphasizes that no rigorous determinism is at work: politics—and thus the need for prudent statesmanship—are inescapable in international relations. In part three, "History," Aron offers a magisterial survey of the twentieth century. He looks at key developments that have had an impact on foreign policy and the emergence of what he calls "universal history," which brings far-flung peoples into regular contact for the first time. In a final section, "Praxeology," Aron articulates a normative theory of international relations that rejects both the bleak vision of the Machiavellians, who hold that any means are legitimate, and the naivete of the idealists, who think foreign policy can be overcome. This new edition of Peace and War includes an informative introduction by Daniel J. Mahoney and Brian C. Anderson, situating Aron's thought in a new post-Cold War context, and evaluating his contribution to the study of politics and international relations.

A Politics of Understanding
A Politics of Understanding

Author: Reed M. Davis

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2009-12

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 080713659X

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Frequently hailed as one of the greatest defenders of democratic liberalism in postwar Europe, Raymond Aron left behind a staggering amount of published work on a remarkably wide range of topics, both scholarly and popular. While trained in philosophy, Aron nevertheless left his mark on such fields as economics, sociology, nuclear strategic thought, and international relations. A Politics of Understanding assesses the originality and consistency in Aron's corpus, especially in the areas of international relations theory and strategic thought, and provides a concise and clearly written explanation of the basic concepts at work in Aron's philosophy.

Clausewitz
Clausewitz

Author: Raymond Aron

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-02-16

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13: 1000549348

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In this edition, originally published in 1983, the late Professor Raymond Aron, one of France’s most distinguished social scientists, presented a major re-evaluation of Carl von Clausewitz, ‘the genius of war’. He sees in Clausewitz a political philosopher of major importance, whose impact and significance permeate many facets of modern society. Yet Clausewitz’s reputation was entirely posthumous, for his great work, On War, was published after his death, and in his lifetime he achieved only a limited reputation as a military thinker and planner. Even today he is more often quoted than closely read. Aron begins by elucidating the complexity of Clausewitz’s thought and by describing his main ideas. He gives an account of the successive phases in the development of On War, and traces the different interpretations of Clausewitz’s doctrine in Germany, in France and in Soviet Russia. Finally, Aron analyses many aspects of the present world using the concepts of Clausewitz, and is therefore able to examine such modern phenomena as the theory of the nuclear deterrent and ‘total war’ in Clausewitzian terms. This is a book of piercing insights by a writer of world-wide reputation, who used the Clausewitz world-view as a means of political analysis. It is thus still of great importance and interest to contemporary historians and to all who are concerned with military and political affairs.

Raymond Aron's Philosophy of Political Responsibility
Raymond Aron's Philosophy of Political Responsibility

Author: Adair-Toteff Christopher Adair-Toteff

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2019-02-20

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1474447112

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Raymond Aron made major investigations into the dialectic between war and peace, and also developed a sophisticated theory of international relations. Despite this, his body of work has been overlooked compared to that of his more famous contemporaries. This book shines a light on both the man and his work on ideological critique, the philosophy of history, international relations and political economy. The book also discusses Aron's political legacy and argues that a number of his critiques and theories can help us address many of the problems and conflicts of the 21st century.

The Anthem Companion to Raymond Aron
The Anthem Companion to Raymond Aron

Author: Joachim Stark

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2021-12-07

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1839980044

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Raymond Aron is an exceptional figure among twentieth-century sociological and political thinkers. The book focuses on the sociological work of this author of the century, who analyzed his age both in its grand-scale political and socio-economic traits and in the complex social ramifications of its day-to-day life. Aron experts from a total of seven countries examine Aron’s sociology in detail starting with his road from philosophy to sociology not least under the impression of the Great Depression and its aftermath, especially the rise of National Socialism in Germany. His epistemological studies on the limits of objective knowledge in history and the social sciences in which he moves away from Durkheim's approach and instead adopts Max Weber's sociology of understanding are analysed. This acknowledgment of the limits of knowledge laid the foundations for Aron’s liberalism and humanism. His sociology of industrial society as an economy of economic growth in its market economy and planned economy versions, its social stratification, his criticism of the Marxist concept of social class, the structure of the ruling elites and the pluralistic and one-party, totalitarian political regimes are presented, as is Aron's analysis of the dialectic of modern society between the idea of equality and the authority structures in the state and the economic process. This is accompanied by Aron's lifelong criticism of those intellectuals above all in the pluralist and liberal democracies who hope that a messianic ideology will abolish all social contradictions. Aron’s sociology of international relations in the age of industrial society and globalization, which for Aron brought about the dawn of universal history, complete the overview of Raymond Aron's sociological work.

Cultural Relativism and International Politics
Cultural Relativism and International Politics

Author: Derek Robbins

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2014-12-11

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1473910951

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"The political and academic worlds are fractured by two competing discourses: the universalism of human rights and cultural relativism. This fracture is represented by the deep separation of cultural analysis and theories of international politics. Derek Robbins in a brilliant interrogation of European thinkers from Montesquieu to Pierre Bourdieu seeks to replace cultural relativism with cultural relationism as a step towards reconciling Enlightenment universalism and anthropological insistence on cultural difference. Inter alia he reflects on the tensions between political and social science and takes up the challenge from Raymond Aron to construct a sociology of international relations. A dazzling achievement." - Bryan S. Turner, The Graduate Center, CUNY Through historical studies of some of the work of Montesquieu, Comte, Durkheim, Boas, Morgenthau, Aron and Bourdieu, Derek Robbins examines the changing and competing conceptualisations of the political and the social in the Western European intellectual tradition. He suggests that we are now experiencing a new ‘dissociation of sensibility’ in which political thought and its consequences in action have become divorced from social and cultural experience. Developing further the ideas of Bourdieu which he has presented in books and articles over the last twenty years, Robbins argues that we need to integrate the recognition of cultural difference with the practice of international politics by accepting that the ‘field’ of international political discourse is a social construct which is contingent on encounters between diverse cultures. ‘Everything is relative’ (Comte) and ‘everything is social’ (Bourdieu), not least international politics.

Janus And Minerva
Janus And Minerva

Author: Stanley Hoffmann

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-06

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 0429718144

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In these essays, one of the most eminent political scientists of our time examines international relations from a variety of perspectives connected by timeless and common themes: the conflict between die ever-present risk of violence and the quest for international order, the tensions between the imperatives of power and those of morality, the ties that bind domestic and foreign policy, the ambiguities of the nuclear revolution, the break between prenuclear and post-1945 politics, and the dangers created by the competition between the nuclear superpowers. Assessing the development of the discipline of international relations, the author presents both a summary of the field's significant findings and a critical discussion of its most representative traditions of realism and liberalism. Written between 1960 and 1985, many of these essays have not been previously published in English. They reflect the author's own intellectual evolution and represent a complete picture of his approach to the study of world politics.