Book Reco

Understanding International Conflicts by Joseph S. Nye (where have I heard his name before??) is nothing short of brilliant.

Modern international relations depend on an anarchic system - states interact among themselves with no superior authority they need to defer to. There are different philosophies which try to model this sort of behaviour: the skeptics, who believe that might is right in the world of today; the state moralists, who talk about diplomatic relations and treaties as serving roughly the same purpose as higher authorities; and the cosmopolitans, who believe international relations are shaped by decisions made on an individual level (large personalities as well as the collective beliefs of a society). Nye goes on to analyse the World Wars, the Cold War and modern day conflicts in the light of these theories, stressing the inaccuracies and usefulness of each of them. He examines the extent to which these theories can be deterministic, and comes to the conclusion that the wars were not inevitable, only extremely likely. It is also not inevitable that you'll thoroughly enjoy Nye's book - only extremely likely.