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Waltz and World History: The Paradox of Parsimony

Richard Little

This article provides a critique of Waltz’s work from the perspective of world history. It shows how Waltz’s commitment to a highly parsimonious theoretical approach paradoxically both sets up the possibility of his theory being universally applicable, and undermines its prospects as a viable approach to understanding world history. Using the key concepts from Waltz’s work — units, systems, structure, process — we show the detailed grounds on which his theory fails to apply to such large swathes of time and place, so that its claims to universality fall, even though it can usefully be applied to some times and places. We also show its shortcomings in relation to the essential historical task of periodization. We argue that international relations needs to engage more with world history, and that the task of doing so will fall to approaches other than Waltz’s.

Key Words: anarchy • differentiation • hierarchy • international systems • periodization • polarity • process • structure • units • world history

International Relations, Vol. 23, No. 3, 446-463 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0047117809340467


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