PART ONE: MAINSTREAM DEBATES: NORMATIVE INTERNATIONAL THEORY
Idealism and Realism
The Ethics of International Politics
PART TWO: CRITICAL CHALLENGES: RETHINKING INTERNATIONAL THEORY
Theorizing International Politics
The Politics of International Theory
PART THREE: FUTURE DIRECTIONS: DOING INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL THEORY
Self-Determination
Political Cosmopolitanism
Conclusion
International Politics as Ethical Life
Kimberly Hutchings is in the Department of Politics at the University of Edinburgh
Providing an invaluable overview of the competing schools of thought in traditional and contemporary international theory, this book outlines new ways of thinking about international political morality. The author defines the role of normative theory in the study of international politics and introduces students to the central debates between realists and idealists, cosmopolitans and communitarians. She explores the conceptual challenges of contemporary approaches in critical theory, and applies each approach to the study of two key topics in contemporary theoretical debate: the right to self-determination, and the idea of cosmopolitan democracy.