[ A Student's Guide to International Relations ] By Codevilla, Angelo M ( Author ) [ 2010 ) [ Paperback ]

by Angelo M. Codevilla

""These slim volumes come close to constituting mini-great books in themselves."-Wall Street Journal" "Terrorist attacks, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the rise of China, and the decline of Europe have underscored the necessity of understanding the world around us. But how should we approach this crucial but often misunderstood topic? What do we need to know about the international order and America's role in it?" "A Student's Guide to International Relations provides a vital introduction to the geography, culture, and politics that make up the global environment. Angelo Codevilla, who has taught international relations at some of America's most prestitious universities, explains the history of the international system, the dominant schools of American statecraft, the instruments of power, contemporary geopolitics, and more. The content of international relations, he demonstrates, flows from the differences between our global village's peculiar neighborhoods." "This Witty and wise book helps make sense of a complex world." "The ISI Guides to the Major Disciplines are reader-friendly introductions to the most important fields of knowledge in the liberal arts. Written by leading scholars for both students and the general public, they will be appreciated by anyone desiring a reliable and informative tour of important subject matter. Each title offers a historical overview of a particular discipline, explains the central ideas of the subject, and evaluates the works of thinkers whose ideas have shaped our world. These guides will aid students seeking to make better decisions about their course of study as well as general readers who wish to supplement their education. All who treasure the world of ideas and liberal learning will be motivated by these original and stimulating presentations."--BOOK JACKET.

Genres: Politics

Paperback

First published August 2, 2011

About the author

Angelo M. Codevilla is professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University. Educated at Rutgers (1965) Notre Dame (1968), and the Claremont graduate university (1973), Codevilla served in the US Navy, the US Foreign Service, and on the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He taught philosophy at Georgetown, classified intelligence matters at the US Naval Post graduate School. During a decade at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, he wrote books on war, intelligence, and the character of nations. At Boston University, he taught international relations from the perspectives of history and character.

Reviews

[Brendan Steinhauser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of professor Angelo Codevilla, both in terms of his writing, and his ideas. I have read a number of his books on statecraft, and enjoyed reading this one as well. His book "War: Ends and Means" is fantastic and should be required reading for anyone who works in Congress, the administration, or the Pentagon.

"A Student's Guide to International Relations" is part of the ISI series called "Guides to the Major Disciplines." The short booklet is a great introduction to world affairs, and the back contains an excellent bibliography. I will definitely be making this book available to my students of political science and global studies.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first of fifteen books in this series that I happened to acquire, and it made for an interesting and short read of about 100 pages.  Indeed, I do not think I have ever formally studied IR as a field, but diplomatic history has long been a personal interest of mine and it forms a substantial part of the field as a whole.  I have had philosophical debates with friends of mine who were students in the field about viewpoints and have from time to time read books about the field [1] and written about topics relating to the field.  Perhaps I am not the ideal reader for this book or even this series, but although I am not, I am someone whose approach is certainly amenable to what this book (and presumably the series) is trying to accomplish in encouraging self-education on the part of its readers.  The goal is a noble one and the book serves as a short and rather pointed discussion about the importance of international relations to the history of the United States as well as to our current political situation.

The contents of the book take less than 100 pages to cover an introduction to the field.  The author begins, after a somewhat lengthy introduction to why an American (the presumed audience) would care about International relations, looking at the stage and the characters on it in the post-Westphalian world.  The author writes at some length about regional geography before discussing the international system in history as well as the instruments of power at the hand of players on the international stage.  After this the author talks about contemporary geopolitics region by region, showing a great deal of empathy and insight into the problems faced by various states, before discussing what it means to America at some length.  Particularly interesting are the author's insights about the relationship between isolationism, neoconservatism, and progressivism when it comes to International Relations, and the ambivalent relationship that the United States has with Europe.  The book ends with some recommended reading that is pretty varied and impressive, including some books that influenced the founding fathers, classics in the field going back to Hugo Grotius' work, the writings of the founders themselves as well as looks at regional studies and various IR perspectives, and even some classics on non-Western statecraft.

Suffice it to say that someone who takes this book seriously and reads the books recommended will be very versed in the field, and will be able to converse intelligently and thoughtfully with those involved in a wide variety of concerns relating to International Relations, including the history of the field, the historical and contemporary geopolitical issues faced by the United States and other nations (and stateless nations) around the world, and the cultural and political assumptions that sit underneath debates about foreign policy attitudes and choices.  To be sure, the course of action recommended in this book is a rigorous one, more rigorous and broader-minded than that required of undergraduates or even graduates in the field, most of whom appear to have a very narrow base of study that is focused on the perspectives of their professors.  For those who do not have a background in IR but want to be knowledgeable in the field, this book is a good look at what is necessary to become a knowledgeable expert in the field in terms of self-education, allowing one to talk with ease and confidence with others from other worldviews and even other cultural backgrounds.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

[Bradford Schiebel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for politics, rhetoric, and a brief overview of contemporary history

[Dennis Geoffroy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent introduction, though very elementary I am a very novice student of international relations and I can't say I got more than a review from this book. The information on the middle east and on the different strategies of diplomacy was fairly interesting.