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Essentials of International Relations
Essentails of International Relations covers the field's core concepts and offers professors the freedom to supplement their courses with additional texts from the Norton Series in World Politics. This second edition features new chapters on globalizing issues, addressing scarcity of resources, growing populations and cross-cultural ethics. An accessible and authoritative coverage, this text should provide students with the analytical tools they need for study in this dynamic field.
352 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
March 3, 2009
I have serious issues with this text book; highly biased.
September 17, 2019
very clear and concise
February 9, 2024
definitely written by a karen
August 23, 2021
Recommend edition 8 - very concise review of IR theory in the modern world.
September 19, 2008
This book was a textbook for an International Studies course I took. It makes an excellent primer for someone looking to learn the fundamentals of international relations theory. I found it to be very informative, but also easy to read, unlike many textbooks. The author also makes a point to show how international relations can be relevant to the reader's daily life, which is a nice touch.
This book is not one to read if you're looking for detailed analysis of specific events. It uses case studies to serve as an example of the theory that it's presenting, certainly, but that's really all they're there for: to take an event that the reader is likely to be familiar with and briefly show how the theories being discussed apply to it.
An excellent book for someone considering studying international relations or who's new to the field and wants an easily accessable introduction.
This book is not one to read if you're looking for detailed analysis of specific events. It uses case studies to serve as an example of the theory that it's presenting, certainly, but that's really all they're there for: to take an event that the reader is likely to be familiar with and briefly show how the theories being discussed apply to it.
An excellent book for someone considering studying international relations or who's new to the field and wants an easily accessable introduction.
July 23, 2021
First 5 Chapters were so interesting for me. Especially the third on theories, that is perfect. But I lost interest in the later chapters as they were more statistical in nature. Particularly the chapter on political economy, that passed over my head.
January 17, 2026
Mission 2026: Binge reviewing all previous Reads, I was too slothful to review back when I read them
Karen A. Mingst’s 'Essentials of International Relations' is one of those books I initially approached as a tool and only later recognised as a quiet shaper of how I think. On the surface, it presents itself modestly, a clean, organised introduction to a crowded field, careful not to intimidate or overwhelm. Yet what stayed with me, especially in hindsight, is how effectively it normalises complexity without dramatising it.
Mingst does not sell international relations as a battlefield of grand theories shouting past one another; instead, she frames it as a discipline of competing lenses, each incomplete, each necessary.
Reading it felt like being trained to resist intellectual impatience. Realism, liberalism, constructivism, global political economy, and security studies, all are presented not as dogmas to adopt but as habits of attention. What impressed me was the book’s disciplined refusal of cynicism. Power matters, yes, but so do norms, institutions, identities, and unintended consequences. The prose is deliberately plain, almost austere, but that restraint is ethical as much as pedagogical. It teaches without seducing.
I found myself appreciating how the book insists that global politics is not driven by villains and heroes but by systems, incentives, misperceptions, and historical inertia. There is a quiet seriousness in how war, cooperation, inequality, and globalisation are handled, stripped of melodrama yet never trivialised.
Over time, I realised that this book had given me something more durable than information: a posture. It trained me to read headlines with scepticism, to ask which framework was being smuggled in as common sense, and to notice what was being left unsaid. 'Essentials of International Relations' may not provoke emotional intensity in the moment, but it leaves behind an intellectual discipline that lingers.
It is the kind of book that does not demand admiration, yet steadily earns trust, shaping how one thinks long after its definitions and diagrams have faded.
Most recommended.
Karen A. Mingst’s 'Essentials of International Relations' is one of those books I initially approached as a tool and only later recognised as a quiet shaper of how I think. On the surface, it presents itself modestly, a clean, organised introduction to a crowded field, careful not to intimidate or overwhelm. Yet what stayed with me, especially in hindsight, is how effectively it normalises complexity without dramatising it.
Mingst does not sell international relations as a battlefield of grand theories shouting past one another; instead, she frames it as a discipline of competing lenses, each incomplete, each necessary.
Reading it felt like being trained to resist intellectual impatience. Realism, liberalism, constructivism, global political economy, and security studies, all are presented not as dogmas to adopt but as habits of attention. What impressed me was the book’s disciplined refusal of cynicism. Power matters, yes, but so do norms, institutions, identities, and unintended consequences. The prose is deliberately plain, almost austere, but that restraint is ethical as much as pedagogical. It teaches without seducing.
I found myself appreciating how the book insists that global politics is not driven by villains and heroes but by systems, incentives, misperceptions, and historical inertia. There is a quiet seriousness in how war, cooperation, inequality, and globalisation are handled, stripped of melodrama yet never trivialised.
Over time, I realised that this book had given me something more durable than information: a posture. It trained me to read headlines with scepticism, to ask which framework was being smuggled in as common sense, and to notice what was being left unsaid. 'Essentials of International Relations' may not provoke emotional intensity in the moment, but it leaves behind an intellectual discipline that lingers.
It is the kind of book that does not demand admiration, yet steadily earns trust, shaping how one thinks long after its definitions and diagrams have faded.
Most recommended.
May 10, 2011
Definitely covers the basics of international relations, so it's a good introduction if you've never had any experience. My main problem is that my professor pointed out several things that the book got wrong and presented as fact, so it's misleading. It also is organized in a weird way: it splits the topics into less related sections and introduces theory without any basis for the theory and analyzes from there, where it is really the other way around in political science.
June 29, 2017
Un libro que va al punto, los temas están bien explicados. Lo único es que es un poco general, como un vistazo al mundo de las relaciones internacionales, que debe complementarse con otras lecturas si se quiere llegar a un entendimiento completo del tópico.
November 18, 2017
Sums things up prtty well, especially with Proff Toft teachin the course.
December 10, 2022
One cannot review a textbook in quite the same way as one would review a work of fiction, a volume of poetry, or even a memoir. By their nature, textbooks are designed to be dense, specialized texts on particular subjects. So unless one is an expert on the material in question, how can one offer a critique? I have to approach this as a student, considering what other learners might find valuable.
To that purpose though, Essentials of International Relations succeeds admirably. I know little to nothing about theories of IR, and this textbook (along with its accompanying resource of readings) proved useful and extremely accessible. The books introduces four primary IR theories, realism, liberalism, radicalism, and constructivism, along with their variants (e.g. neorealism, neoliberalism) and then uses those frameworks to explore topics such as economics, war, the nature of the state, climate change, etc.
Given the subject matter, I was surprised at how easy to read and understand this was. Mingst draws from recent events to illustrate the application of IR theory, and writes in clear prose, mostly free of jargon. When forced to introduce a new term, she is quick to define it. The book is also concise, weighing in at just over 400 pages rather than the more typical 800 or 1000 of some textbooks. I felt that this was clean, clear, and concise.
To that purpose though, Essentials of International Relations succeeds admirably. I know little to nothing about theories of IR, and this textbook (along with its accompanying resource of readings) proved useful and extremely accessible. The books introduces four primary IR theories, realism, liberalism, radicalism, and constructivism, along with their variants (e.g. neorealism, neoliberalism) and then uses those frameworks to explore topics such as economics, war, the nature of the state, climate change, etc.
Given the subject matter, I was surprised at how easy to read and understand this was. Mingst draws from recent events to illustrate the application of IR theory, and writes in clear prose, mostly free of jargon. When forced to introduce a new term, she is quick to define it. The book is also concise, weighing in at just over 400 pages rather than the more typical 800 or 1000 of some textbooks. I felt that this was clean, clear, and concise.
April 13, 2025
3.5/5 stars
Oh how the mighty have fallen, you may say. I've gone from 150+ books last year to having to use a textbook towards my Goodreads goal. In my defense, having a job is like...hard, okay!
Counting this one (even though I think I read another edition) because I actually read the whole thing for my international relations class, which I feel like is rare for me and textbooks. Although this whole book could essentially be summarized as "the realists say this, the liberals say that, and the constructivists say..." I still found it to be really informative and a great intro book to a topic I would have had a difficult time understanding otherwise. The examples used were interesting and I truly do feel like I learned something from the book, even if it got repetitive at times. Sometimes when I'm reading the news I catch myself thinking about concepts I learned in this textbook, like sovereignty, so I'm legitimately better informed now.
The lengths of certain sections, though, were horribly long. Please, please, just make another section! It was excruciating.
Cheers to (almost) being done with the semester. Hopefully I can keep putting my knowledge to use.
Oh how the mighty have fallen, you may say. I've gone from 150+ books last year to having to use a textbook towards my Goodreads goal. In my defense, having a job is like...hard, okay!
Counting this one (even though I think I read another edition) because I actually read the whole thing for my international relations class, which I feel like is rare for me and textbooks. Although this whole book could essentially be summarized as "the realists say this, the liberals say that, and the constructivists say..." I still found it to be really informative and a great intro book to a topic I would have had a difficult time understanding otherwise. The examples used were interesting and I truly do feel like I learned something from the book, even if it got repetitive at times. Sometimes when I'm reading the news I catch myself thinking about concepts I learned in this textbook, like sovereignty, so I'm legitimately better informed now.
The lengths of certain sections, though, were horribly long. Please, please, just make another section! It was excruciating.
Cheers to (almost) being done with the semester. Hopefully I can keep putting my knowledge to use.
October 24, 2023
Overall a good introduction to International Relations and a very readable book. Only 3 out of 5 stars because the author presents her own bias as fact throughout the textbook, with no citations. I found Chapter 10 to be particularly egregious since there was not a single mention of Christianity in the historical discussion of human rights.
February 6, 2017
For the Seventh Edition. Great intro to IR and some theories. Small typo though - Jack Donnelly (not Jack Donnelley) from DU.
Read
March 11, 2022Read for school
April 23, 2023
A good introduction to the field of International Relations. Very informative.
September 3, 2024
I love the book. Give us essentials point to analyze the events of international relations. This books also provides us with the theory in order to approach an international relations phenomenon
June 17, 2025
Muchos se quejan de la parcialidad de Karen Mingst ante diferentes sucesos, pero creo q en general es un buen libro introductorio para alguien que desconoce de rrii.
July 24, 2012
This book covers every main point of International politics and uses real world examples to explain the concepts covered in the book. This book provides a balanced view of international politics, criticizing the flaws in the international system and commending its achievements equally throughout the book. The Essentials of International Politics focuses mainly on the four schools of thought: Realism, Liberalism, Radicalism, and Constructivism. The author shows how the different schools of thought view something like state sovereignty or the size of the roles different international actors play. The author covers everything from the world economy and war to humanitarian intervention and how the individual is viewed in the international system. It is a good source for learning the basics of international politics in the world today.
As I have said, this is a great book for learning the basics of international relations, however it is not recommended that you read whole chapters in under two hours. When reading this you should take time to understand the full concepts before moving onto the next chapter or paragraph because every concept and acronym comes back at some point in the book. This books has great basic knowledge but it is also helpful to do simulations or have discussions with others in order to experience how these principals can be used in real life. This book encourages forming your own opinions and the author does an excellent job of making it as unbiased as possible. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in international relations.
As I have said, this is a great book for learning the basics of international relations, however it is not recommended that you read whole chapters in under two hours. When reading this you should take time to understand the full concepts before moving onto the next chapter or paragraph because every concept and acronym comes back at some point in the book. This books has great basic knowledge but it is also helpful to do simulations or have discussions with others in order to experience how these principals can be used in real life. This book encourages forming your own opinions and the author does an excellent job of making it as unbiased as possible. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in international relations.
December 8, 2022
edit: karen you might be an imperialist through and through but you singlehandedly explained international relations better to me than anyone else in the entirety of my uni career and have a feeling that might actually save my degree
would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that it mainly contained american imperialist takes
would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that it mainly contained american imperialist takes
November 21, 2011
My International Relations teacher is not really good, in fact she's ranked in my Worst Teachers I've had EVER. So, I'll be eternally gratefull to this book, 'cause know and theach more than my actual teacher.
July 27, 2014
The book was a primer through and through. It was written in such a way that beginners would understand the basic things in IR, if you're looking for a descriptive and elaborate book this one's not for you.
December 17, 2007
Very cut-dry writing. textbook material indeed, but at least its easy to read and understand for those with no prior knowledge in this area of study.
June 30, 2008
Easy to read and great supplement to my studies.
January 13, 2009
For all your basic political theory needs, this book has it all.
April 19, 2011
I actually read the second edition; couldn't find it here. It was ok; it had some interesting parts. I skimmed/read it.
September 15, 2018
PLS 211: Intro to International Relations
January 3, 2019
I bought this as a core reader for my last IR unit at university and it was absolutely brilliant. A critically important book to have and an invaluable source of information.
For any student that wants to tackle IR as a minor or a major, then this is the book for you.
For any student that wants to tackle IR as a minor or a major, then this is the book for you.
April 13, 2019
I liked this textbook a lot as far as textbooks go! Lots of helpful charts/visuals, written at an easy to understand level, and great for comparing realist, liberal, and constructivist views (they mention more radical lenses only briefly). I haven’t taken an IR class for 15 years and it was enlightening just to read what has happened since! Great primer.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews