Worldviews and theories of international relations

by Jürg Martin Gabriel

The purpose of this book is to review classical and contemporary theories of international relations against the background of four worldviews. Worldviews are simple devices, more general and sweeping in nature than theories, but their very simplicity permits the isolation of concepts central to describing and analyzing international relations. Worldviews are defined along two dimensions only - the duality of war and peace, and the duality of anarchy and hierarchy. Taken together, the four worldviews constitute a logically interrelated framework which helps the student of international relations gain an overview of the mass of concepts typical of the field. Also, worldviews categorize both classical and contemporary theories more successfully than the three approaches so often mentioned - the billiard-ball, the cobweb and the layer-cake approaches.