International Relations Theory and Regional Transformation

Regional transformation has emerged as a major topic of research during the past few decades, much of it seeking to understand how a region changes into a zone of conflict or cooperation and how and why some regions remain in perpetual conflict. Although the leading theoretical paradigms of internat...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author Paul, T. V.
Format eBook Book
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Cambridge University Press 23.02.2012
Edition1
Subjects
International relations
Organization
Political change
Regionalism
Regionalism (International organization)
World order
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Table of Contents:
  • Cover -- International Relations Theory and Regional Transformation -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures and tables -- About the contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Part 1: Introduction -- 1: Regional transformation in international relations -- What are regions? -- International Relations theory and regional order -- Realism -- Liberalism -- Constructivism -- Eclectic perspectives -- Significance of this volume -- Research questions -- The chapters -- 2: How regions were made, and the legacies for world politics: an English School reconnaissance -- Introduction -- The formative processes of modern regions -- Unbroken creation -- Repopulation -- Colonization/decolonization -- Encounter/reform -- The postcolonial development and differentiation of modern regions -- Conclusions -- Part 2: Realist perspectives -- 3: Realism and Neorealism in the study of regional conflict -- Regional subsystems and realist theories of war -- Dynamic differentials theory and regional stability -- Great powers within regions -- Conclusion -- 4: Neoclassical realism and the study of regional order -- Introduction -- Identifying extra-regional hegemons and pivotal states -- Systemic constraints on extra-regional hegemons -- Systemic and regional constraints on pivotal states: Western Europe and East Asia -- Linking the levels: a few words on external threats and state power -- Conclusions: implications for other regions -- Part 3: Liberal perspectives -- 5: Economic interdependence and regional peace -- An old thesis -- Does interdependence correlate to cooperation and peace? -- It depends? -- Does interdependence cause cooperation and peace? -- Can commerce pacify dangerous regions? -- From dyads to regions -- What causes regional interdependence? -- Domestic explanations -- International-structural explanations -- Would regional interdependence work?
  • Conclusion -- 6: Regional organizations à la carte: the effects of institutional elasticity -- Why Europe? -- Institutionalism and regional formation and maintenance -- Neoliberal institutionalism: the state and the institutions it creates -- Liberal intergovernmentalism: societal actors, governments, bargaining -- Neofunctionalism: transnational actors and incremental change -- Institutional elasticity: institutional strength and flexibility -- Institutional strength and dependable expectations -- Institutional flexibility and peaceful change -- Elastic Europe in an inelastic world -- Conclusion: the scope of institutionalism -- 7: Transforming regional security through liberal reforms -- Developing a science of interstate conflict -- Progress through the analysis of dyadic time series -- Analyses of fatal militarized disputes, 1885-2001 -- Transforming regional security through liberal reforms -- Alternative theories of regional transformation: hegemonic stability theory and the clash of civilizations -- Does a hegemon create stability? -- Do civilizations clash? -- Conclusion -- Part 4: Constructivist perspectives -- 8: Ideas, norms, and regional orders -- How do ideas make regional orders? Regions as imagined communities -- Localization and subsidiarity: two pathways to norm diffusion -- 9: Regional security practices and Russian-Atlantic relations -- Beyond "geography versus identity": regionness in practice -- Contentious patterns of security practices in the Russian-Atlantic region -- Conclusion -- Part 5: Eclectic perspectives -- 10: The transformation of modern Europe: banalities of success -- Present at the creation -- Change and continuity within Europe -- A neuralgic Europe trails petulantly in America's wake -- Concluding with Montesquieu -- 11: Top-down peacemaking: why peace begins with states and not societies
  • Contending theoretical approaches to regional peacemaking -- Bottom-up theories (liberal and constructivist) -- Top-down theories (realist and statist) -- Overview of the Western European case -- Middle Eastern case studies -- Case overviews -- Analysis: international relations theory and the origins of the peace treaties -- Bottom-up approaches -- Top-down approaches -- Analysis: international relations theory and the entrenchment of the peace treaties -- Conclusion -- Part 6: Conclusions -- 12: Strategies and mechanisms of regional change -- Key concepts: regions, regionalism, regionalization -- Strategies for theoretical innovation -- Mechanisms of regional change -- Great powers and regional stability -- Conclusion -- Index