The world of states or the state of the world

Extract

In the publisher's blurb George Liska's The Ways of Power is described as ‘the culmination of the life's work of one of the most distinguished scholars of international relations’. The same might be said of Turbulence in World Politics, except that I suspect that James Rosenau, still young in mind and spirit at 67, may yet have more to contribute. That two such outstanding scholars could write two such totally contrasting books, in method, in epistemology, in content, in focus (and in style) is a daunting indicator of the continuing lack of an agreed core in the study of international relations. The obvious point should be made at the outset that in so fundamental a contrast a reviewer's own predilections must affect his perception of what he reads, and my own bias towards Rosenau must therefore be explicitly stated.