This third out of four volumes by Richard Ned Lebow in this book series includes texts on psychology and international relations, causation, counterfactual analysis. The political psychology contributions draw on richer, ancient Greek understandings of the psyche and offer novel insights into strategies of conflict management, the role of emotions in international relations, and the modern fixation on identity.
This is the first of four volumes to be published as part of this book series, on the life and work of Richard Ned Lebow. In a career spanning six decades, Richard Ned Lebow has made important contributions to the study of international relations, political and intellectual history, motivational and social psychology, philosophy of science, and classics. He has authored, coauthored or edited 30 books and almost 250 peer-reviewed articles. These four volumes are excerpts from this corpus. The first volume includes an intellectual autobiography, bibliography, and assessments of Lebow's contributions to diverse fields by respected authorities. It shows how a scholar's agenda evolves in response to world events and his efforts to grapple with them theoretically and substantively. It elaborates pathways for addressing these events and their consequences in an interdisciplinary manner, and offers new concepts and methods for doing so. Richard Lebow's research bridges international relations, psychology, history, classics, political theory and philosophy of science. He is author, coauthor, or editor of 34 books and almost 250 peer reviewed articles. Contributors to the book are: Simon Reich – Mervyn Frost - Janice Gross Stein - Stefano Guzzini – Markus Kornprobst - Harald Müller - Christian Wendt - Robert English.
Robert Jervis has been a pioneering leader in the study of the psychology of international politics for more than four decades. How Statesmen Think presents his most important ideas on the subject from across his career. This collection of revised and updated essays applies, elaborates, and modifies his pathbreaking work. The result is an indispensable book for students and scholars of international relations. How Statesmen Think demonstrates that expectations and political and psychological needs are the major drivers of perceptions in international politics, as well as in other arenas. Drawing on the increasing attention psychology is paying to emotions, the book discusses how emotional needs help structure beliefs. It also shows how decision-makers use multiple shortcuts to seek and process information when making foreign policy and national security judgments. For example, the desire to conserve cognitive resources can cause decision-makers to look at misleading indicators of military strength, and psychological pressures can lead them to run particularly high risks. The book also looks at how deterrent threats and counterpart promises often fail because they are misperceived. How Statesmen Think examines how these processes play out in many situations that arise in foreign and security policy, including the threat of inadvertent war, the development of domino beliefs, the formation and role of national identities, and conflicts between intelligence organizations and policymakers.
This comprehensive, user-friendly introductory textbook to political psychology explores the psychological origins of political behavior. The authors introduce readers to a broad range of theories, concepts, and case studies of political activity to illustrate that behavior. The book examines many patterns of political behaviors, including leadership, group behavior, voting, race, ethnicity, nationalism, terrorism, war, and genocide. It explores some of the most horrific things people do to one another for political purposes, as well as how to prevent and resolve conflict -- and how to recover from it. The goal is to help the reader understand the enormous complexity of human behavior and the significant role political psychology can play in improving the human condition. The book contains numerous pedagogical features, including text boxes highlighting current and historical events to help students see the connection between the world around them and the concepts they are learning. Different research methodologies used in the discipline are employed, such as experimentation and content analysis. The "Political Being" is used throughout to remind the reader of the psychological theories and concepts to be explored in each chapter. New to the second edition is coverage of recent political events, including the 2008 US presidential election, Darfur, Iraq, and Afghanistan. There are now separate chapters on race, ethnic conflicts, terrorism, and conflict resolution. In addition, instructor resources are available online. This accessible and engaging introductory textbook is suitable as a primary text on a range of upper-level courses in political psychology, political behavior, and related fields, including policymaking.
This last one out of four volumes by Richard Ned Lebow in this book series focuses on various fields of social sciences and their connection to international politics. The author writes about topics in psychology, tragedy, and ethics. All of these fields are being put into relation with political aspects, especially international relations.
This comprehensive, user-friendly introductory textbook to political psychology explores the psychological origins of political behavior. The authors introduce readers to a broad range of theories, concepts, and case studies of political activity to illustrate that behavior. The book examines many patterns of political behaviors, including leadership, group behavior, voting, media effects, race, ethnicity, nationalism, social movements, terrorism, war, and genocide. It explores some of the most horrific things people do to each other, as well as how to prevent and resolve conflict – and how to recover from it. The book contains numerous features to enhance understanding, including text boxes highlighting current and historical events to help students see the connection between the world around them and the concepts they are learning. Different research methodologies used in the discipline are employed, such as experimentation and content analysis. The third edition of the book has two new chapters, one on the media, and one on social movements. This accessible and engaging introductory textbook is suitable as a primary text on a range of upper-level courses in political psychology, political behavior, and related fields, including policymaking.
What do we mean by theory in international relations? What kinds of knowledge do theories seek? How do they stipulate it is found? How should we evaluate any resulting knowledge claims? What do answers to these questions tell us about the theory project in IR, and in the social sciences more generally? Lebow explores these questions in a critical evaluation of the positivist and interpretivist epistemologies. He identifies tensions and problems specific to each epistemology, and some shared by both, and suggests possible responses. By exploring the relationship between the foundations of theories and the empirical assumptions they encode, Lebow's analysis enables readers to examine in greater depth the different approaches to theory and their related research strategies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations theory and philosophy of social science.
