World Politics: The Menu for Choice

A person who enters a restaurant will be confronted by a menu. Not only does the menu provide a number of behavioral opportunities,but also affects the probability of the dinner’s choice through price,portion size,etc. When analyzing  the world  politics, the authors of this book bring all the international factors together and summarize them through the analogy of a menu. The menu, which contains opportunity, willingness and the relationships between the decision-making entity and its environment, does facilitate the understanding of the world politics for an initial learner.

This book is a basic introduction of the world politics, providing a substantial component of theory,  social scientific methods, and a great deal of factual materials. In attempts to uncover significant events, the authors have found it quite useful to distinguish between six levels of analysis: world system, interstate relations, society, government, roles and the individual. As Matin Hollis and Steve Smith put it, “Whatever the unit, its activities can be explained from without or understood from within.”Undoubtedly, a unit can stand for a complex international event. Through those levels of analysis, readers can learn what goes on inside each unit as well as the ways in which its behavior is constrained by the environment. As a whole, this book has discussed the different levels at which world politics is analyzed and the variety of interactions and interdependencies that constitute both challenges and opportunities for the new millennium.

Generally speaking, this book gives readers an explicit overview of politics in more ways than one. Firstly, it proves to be an effective tool for an initial learner to get a sound grasp of some ambiguous or even unknown theories and concepts. For example, the concepts of “opportunity and willingness” are illustrated using a simple but clear diagram and an assumption about why a state leader would use military force to seize a piece of territory. Secondly, the authors incorporate a boxed feature called “In Greater Depth”. The use of those analytical boxes allows readers to have an introductory mini-course in the application of rational choices concepts to issues in world politics. Thirdly, several maps and the use of extended captions help readers attain better mastery of the intricate relationships among states. Map 3.1 in the book outlines the volatile situation during Thirty Years’ War which laid the foundations for the rules that continue to shape international relations today. In addition, Guided by some thought-provoking questions ,readers are inspired to further reflection on political affairs and therefore develop a way of critical thinking. The authors also refer often to historical examples,trying to show how current behavior is conditioned by the past experience of world history and how decision makers interpret that experience. Moreover, three theoretical perspectives have surfaced throughout this book—realism, liberalism, and radicalism which motivate the policies and interstate relationship.

As Hans Morgenthau once mentioned in Politics Among Nations, “International Politics as a Struggle for Power.” When it comes to relationships between states, people cannot have failed to refer to power rivalry. The authors regard power as an integration of a set of national capabilities and a process of exercising influence. There is no doubt that the use of military capabilities is generally a coercive or punishment-oriented means of influence. Examples of military influence are abundant, from the use of military aid to forging alliances, from stationing one’s force abroad to merely threatening to use force. But any discussion of military influence cannot neglect the economic resources of states which can be used across the whole range of influence mechanisms. The objective of economic influence is to affect some aspects of the state’s society—its wealth, production, or well-being. Indirect as it may be considered, its effect is taken into account by the state’s leaders and thus influences their behavior. This concrete case shows that neither international politics nor economics can be understood in isolation, which the students of the world affairs must be attentive to.

In the last chapter, the authors draw to a close by presenting three different visions of the future offered by scholars over the past several years. Although all three are in some ways controversial, they leave traces of those global future. What we need to do is focus on observing contemporary world affairs and base the judgement on our own understanding of world politics. Only in this way can we adopt a good position to evaluate the whole political situation for ourselves.

Politics is the art of the possible. We live in a period of drastic change and every action of both the individual and the government  may make a substantial difference and have an impact on the future. However, we are supposed to enhance the understanding of what the world looks like and how it works and hence come away from the changeable surface and capture the very essence of the world politics.