Social Theory of International Politics: 67 (Cambridge Studies in International Relations, Series Number 67)

International Relations theory is certainly not an easy field and most theorists shy away from creating anything truly new-- they will tweak old theories to create another -ism resembling "pluralist neo-structuralist neo-institutionalism". Wendt has put himself on the line, and has created something new.His main point that "anarchy is what we make of it", is revolutionary in IR theory, and stands against centuries of political philosophy. While still remaining state-centric in his approach, Wendt is also looking beyond the state by including perspectives from other social sciences.This is a bold opening of a debate, which should continue. The state-centric approaches that have been used (and that Wendt certainly continues to use here), do not correspond with the reality we see in many war-torn countries. We need new approaches, but where case studies and conflict studies have gone forward full steam ahead, theory lags behind. Lack of theoretical advancement is making theoretical IR increasingly irrelevant to actual practice of International Politics. A true shame, as a theoretical foundation would give guidance of how an agent should behave.Certainly, I wish that Wendt would have developed his argument even further. Such a wish is easy to voice now, but when this book was published it was revolutionary and opened a whole new world in IR. Wendt also showed immense academic bravery for putting himself on the line, as he did.I recommend this book to everyone and anyone doing IR theory.