Evolutionary Interpretations of World Politics

Book excerpt: The field of international relations is often stagnated in realism and liberalism. Groundbreaking and guaranteed to stir debate, this work will move the field of international relations beyond its current, and often inadequate, assumptions. The contributors describe how states, ideologies, and other areas of analysis evolve, conquer others, or disappear entirely. Change and the fluid nature of history--though so clearly a part of historical reality--are not so deeply embedded in other paradigms as they are in the variation and selection model of evolutionary international relations. Some contributors lay out the various controversies inherent to the new theory, while others apply the paradigm to specific problems in IR theory. Regardless of the approach, the presentation of this entirely new perspective and method succeeds in forming a new paradigm of international relations. Contributors include: William R. Thompson, George Modelski, Vincent S. E. Falger, David P. Rapkin, Jennifer Sterling-Folker, Hendrik Spruyt, Stewart Patrick, Paul Hensel, Karen Rasler, Craig N. Murphy, Jeffrey A. Hart, Sangbae and Brian Pollins.