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Beginner's Guide (Oneworld Publications)
International Relations: A Beginner's Guide
Today, more than ever, we live in a global world. Whether it’s war, economics, politics, or law, our lives are influenced by a complex web of cross-border transactions.
Dr Charles Jones ably provides the building blocks to understand these interactions, outlining the competing theories that attempt to explain them. Arguing that the strength of International Relations lies in its contradictions – it’s not a single discipline but a fascinating mess of history, politics, economics, sociology, law, anthropology, and cultural studies – he provides a lively discussion of the limitations of the field, but also why it is so essential.
Covering conflict, history, and theory, and with a major focus on the global economy, this is the perfect primer for aspiring students of International Relations, workers in an international context, and citizens across the globe.
Dr Charles Jones ably provides the building blocks to understand these interactions, outlining the competing theories that attempt to explain them. Arguing that the strength of International Relations lies in its contradictions – it’s not a single discipline but a fascinating mess of history, politics, economics, sociology, law, anthropology, and cultural studies – he provides a lively discussion of the limitations of the field, but also why it is so essential.
Covering conflict, history, and theory, and with a major focus on the global economy, this is the perfect primer for aspiring students of International Relations, workers in an international context, and citizens across the globe.
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2014
11 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Charles Jones
3 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
Charles Jones is Emeritus Reader in International Relations at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of American Civilization and E. H. Carr and International Relations.
Charles Jones is Emeritus Reader in International Relations at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of American Civilization and E. H. Carr and International Relations.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 2, 2017
The subject matter of the book is interesting.
However, the writing style is not engaging. Rather than giving a systematic overview of IR, the book seems to follow a thread of its own, and sometimes one wonders where the text is really going. In other words, I found the book lacking a clear direction and a clearly outlined "map" of IR, which is what I was expecting from an introductory text on this complex topic. Moreover, verbose paragraphs and long chapters make for a more difficult read.
However, the writing style is not engaging. Rather than giving a systematic overview of IR, the book seems to follow a thread of its own, and sometimes one wonders where the text is really going. In other words, I found the book lacking a clear direction and a clearly outlined "map" of IR, which is what I was expecting from an introductory text on this complex topic. Moreover, verbose paragraphs and long chapters make for a more difficult read.
April 1, 2021
*Have I just missed something or does the author not know how to count?
-On page 55: “Europe was now dominated by five great powers: Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.”
-On page 55: “Europe was now dominated by five great powers: Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.”
January 9, 2016
The book starts with an introductory chapter defining IR, before explaining history, economics and the concept of war viewed through the lens of the discipline, before finally giving an overview of all the -isms that dominate the discourse of IR. In explaining what the discipline is, and its relationships with other fields of studies like philosophy, history, polsci etc, one truly begins to understand why the discipline requires a field of its own as opposed to being a subset of other similar areas of study (e.g polsci). My initial impression was that the book merely talks about *what* IR is, but the last chapter, and commentaries throughout the middle 3 chapters are also illuminating regarding how IR, and dominant camps of realists/liberals and their more contemporary counterparts have influenced foreign policy.
February 25, 2020
Rudimentary prologue to the IR sphere
A judicious introduction to the world of International Relations, with interesting examples to explain the basic theories and policies.
However, so much summarization and condensation of concepts and important historical events results in a confusing and not-so-pedagogical approach, as the book sometimes tries to tackle rather complex problems in mere sentences. The World Globalization of World Politics by Baylis, Smith and Owens does a significantly better job at introducing to the core principles of International Relations and Development.
~3.3/5~
A judicious introduction to the world of International Relations, with interesting examples to explain the basic theories and policies.
However, so much summarization and condensation of concepts and important historical events results in a confusing and not-so-pedagogical approach, as the book sometimes tries to tackle rather complex problems in mere sentences. The World Globalization of World Politics by Baylis, Smith and Owens does a significantly better job at introducing to the core principles of International Relations and Development.
~3.3/5~
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews