The Art of the Feud: Reconceptualizing International Relations

Poised between the end of the Cold War and the start of a new millennium, international relations theory finds itself at a major intellectual crossroads. Globalizing phenomena, emerging non-state actors, revolutionizing technologies, and a self-redefining fluidity in power relations are just a few of the challenges that international relations theorists must find ways to take into account. It is increasingly apparent that traditional paradigms alone are not up to the task. The time is right for a new set of explorations; based, ironically, on one of the field's greatest traditions--its willingness to apply an interdisciplinary approach to asking new questions and finding newer answers.

The outstanding contributors to this landmark volume offer a fundamental reexamination of the basic assumptions and theoretical tools of traditional international relations theory. Ciprut draws on a wide range of concepts, from the hidden dimensions of mindset and language to the societal implications of evolutionary ecology. Unabashedly creative and iconoclastic in its willingness to search for new insights, The Art of the Feud is a substantiated call to seek more inclusive, dynamic, and interactive forms of theory attuned to the new and evolving realities of the global scene.