State Learning and International Change. Andrew Farkas. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998. 208p. $50.00.

Extract

Learning would seem to be a natural topic for the academic study of international politics. Interest in dynamic processes, however, and in learning, in particular, has been uneven, while the impact of contributions to date has been mixed. State Learning and International Change provides a thorough, thoughtful application of a complex biological learning model to international politics. The text is engaging and well written. Modeling and philosophy of science issues are addressed with aplomb and humor. For example, the author refers to the residue from social Darwinist applications of biological models to social science as “pesky,” discusses stocasticity and pleiotropy with reference to striped and spotted cross-eyed bandersnatches, and mentions “deranged mutant-killer-monster snow goons” as a possible method of biological selection, all in the space of a few pages (pp. 59–67).