Frequently hailed as one of the greatest defenders of democratic liberalism in postwar Europe, Raymond Aron left behind a staggering amount of published work on a remarkably wide range of topics, both scholarly and popular. While trained in philosophy, Aron nevertheless left his mark on such fields as economics, sociology, nuclear strategic thought, and international relations. A Politics of Understanding assesses the originality and consistency in Aron's corpus, especially in the areas of international relations theory and strategic thought, and provides a concise and clearly written explanation of the basic concepts at work in Aron's philosophy.

Reed M. Davis is professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at Seattle Pacific University. He lives in Maple Valley, Washington.