The concepts of agency and structure are of increasing and defining importance to international relations and politics as fields of enquiry and knowledge. This is the first book to explore the two concepts in depth in that context.
The agent-structure problem refers to questions concerning the interrelationship of agency and structure, and to the ways in which explanations of social phenomena integrate and account for them. This is an important contribution to the study of international relations and politics.

Part I 1 INTRODUCTION: AGENCY, STRUCTURE, AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS EXPLANATION 2 THE ONTOLOGICAL AGENT-STRUCTURE PROBLEM 3 A CRITIQUE OF NEOREALISM AND ITS CRITICS 4 THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL AGENT-STRUCTURE PROBLEM Part II 5 SOME THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS OF A METHODOLOGICAL INDIVIDUALIST APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL POLITICS 6 TOWARD A THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS VALUES 7 CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION OF VALUES UNDERLYING INTERNATIONAL POLITICS 8 CONCLUSION

Harvey Starr, Dag Hammarskjold Professor in International Affairs at the University of South Carolina, is a widely experienced and respected academic in the field. Gil Friedman is pursuing his Ph.D. in Political Science, also at the University of South Carolina.