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The Second World War put an end to America's historical isolation from international power politics, and so also to the long-standing American defiance of the Realist ideology that shaped Old World affairs. The advent of transoceanic military technologies, now wielded by menacing states such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, made Americans more receptive to the Realist idea that international relations is about fear and survival. The American Realists Reinhold Niebuhr, Hans Morgenthau, and Kenneth Waltz developed a modern strategic framework that sought to introduce American leaders and th

Kenneth Waltz (1924-2013) is perhaps the most enduringly influential figure in international relations theory of the second half of the twentieth century. He is considered the father of the structural-realist or neorealist school, and his views on core questions, such as the causes of war and the structure of the international system, are foundational to the field today and likely will remain so for decades to come. Waltz's writings on both theoretical and policy-related topics, from the balance of power to the spread of nuclear weapons, continue to fuel debate. This book is a groundbreaking intellectual biography of Kenneth Waltz, shedding new light on the development and significance of his key contributions. Paul R. Viotti draws on extensive, candid interviews with Waltz as well as Waltz's personal files and archival research to provide a nuanced account of the great scholar's life and thought. He traces the intellectual sources and personal experiences that shaped Waltz's work, including an intense Lutheran upbringing; service in World War II and the Korean War; and the academic environments of Oberlin College, Columbia University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Viotti examines the key influences on Waltz's major works, Man, the State, and War and Theory of International Politics, and analyzes their distinctive insights. Engaging with the views of Waltz's critics and featuring reminiscences from his colleagues, this book is a compelling portrait of an intellectual titan.

Kenneth Waltz (1924–2013) is perhaps the most enduringly influential figure in international relations theory of the second half of the twentieth century. He is considered the father of the structural-realist or neorealist school, and his views on core questions, such as the causes of war and the structure of the international system, are foundational to the field today and likely will remain so for decades to come. Waltz's writings on both theoretical and policy-related topics, from the balance of power to the spread of nuclear weapons, continue to fuel debate.This book is a groundbreaking intellectual biography of Kenneth Waltz, shedding new light on the development and significance of his key contributions. Paul R. Viotti draws on extensive, candid interviews with Waltz as well as Waltz's personal files and archival research to provide a nuanced account of the great scholar's life and thought. He traces the intellectual sources and personal experiences that shaped Waltz's work, including an intense Lutheran upbringing; service in World War II and the Korean War; and the academic environments of Oberlin College, Columbia University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Viotti examines the key influences on Waltz's major works, Man, the State, and War and Theory of International Politics, and analyzes their distinctive insights. Engaging with the views of Waltz's critics and featuring reminiscences from his colleagues, this book is a compelling portrait of an intellectual titan

Kenneth Waltz's books and articles have definitively shaped the study of international relations over the past fifty years. He developed a version of "Realist" thinking on the subject that has structured research in the entire field, for critics and supporters alike. On March 11, 2011, at his home in New York, he was interviewed by James Fearon, a member of the Editorial Committee of the Annual Review of Political Science. The conversation ranged over some of his best-known arguments and the relationships between them, his thinking about contemporary international politics, and issues in the field that he thinks are understudied relative to their importance. What follows is an edited transcript of that conversation. A video of the entire conversation is available online.

Kenneth N. Waltz s Theory of International Politics and its precursor, Man, the State, and War, have shaped the perceptions that the discipline of International Relations has of realism and its revised form, structural realism. While both works have been criticized from various perspectives, this study offers a distinct reading: the works are read through a semiotically minded framework of Jean Baudrillard s post-structuralist theory of simulation. The three images of international relations presented in Man, the State, and War are equated with the three phases of the image in Baudrillard s Simulacra and Simulation. The level of human nature corresponds to counterfeit simulacra, the level of state to productive simulacra, and the level of the anarchical interstate system to simulacra of simulation. The third image, international anarchy, which Waltz formulates as a systemic theory of international relations in Theory of International Politics, is analyzed as a full-fledged simulation, while models and reductionist theories are treated as merely second-order simulacra. It is concluded that Waltz s theory is not in the order of representation, but a simulation theory that is unable to signify real-world referents. It is for this reason that structural realism has failed to develop a progressive research program particularly after the end of the Cold War. Tiivistelmä Kenneth N. Waltzin Theory of International Politics ja sen edeltäjä, Man, the State, and War, ovat muovanneet kansainvälisen politiikan tieteenalan näkemyksiä realismista ja sen uudistetusta muodosta, rakenteellisesta realismista. Siinä missä molempia teoksia on kritisoitu usealta näkökannalta, tämä tutkielma esittää erilaisen lukutavan: teoksia luetaan Jean Baudrillardin poststrukturalistisen simulaation teorian ja semioottisen viitekehyksen läpi. Man, the State, and War -teoksen kansainvälisten suhteiden kolme kuvaa vertautuvat Baudrillardin Simulacres et simulation -teoksessa esittämiin kuvan kolmeen vaiheeseen. Ihmisluonnon taso vastaa väärennöksen simulakrumeja, valtion taso produktiivisia simulakrumeja ja anarkisen kansainvälisen järjestelmän taso simulaation simulakrumeja. Kolma kuva, kansainvälinen anarkia, jonka Waltz kehittää kansainvälisen politiikan systeemiseksi teoriaksi teoksessaan Theory of International Politics, nähdään täysivaltaisena simulaationa, kun taas malleja ja reduktionistisia teorioita käsitellään toisen asteen simulakroina. Johtopäätöksenä on, että Waltzin teoria ei ole representaation piirissä, vaan simulaatioteoria, joka ei kykene merkitsemään tosimaailman referenttejä. Tämän takia rakenteellinen realismi on epäonnistunut progressiivisen tutkimusohjelman luomisessa erityisesti kylmän sodan päättymisen jälkeen.