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Papers by Alexander Wendt

Review of International Studies, 2000

Can the study of ideas in international politics be made scientifically respectable? The question... more Can the study of ideas in international politics be made scientifically respectable? The question is central to the Third Debate, yet the dominant voices in the ‘debate’ seem oddly to agree. ‘Positivists’ are sceptical because ideas seem ephemeral, difficult to measure, and generally resistant to hard science. As a result, positivist theories of international politics tend to favour seemingly more objective material factors like military and economic capabilities, and only bring in ideas as a last resort. In this way positivist epistemology shapes international ontology. Against this tendency, ‘post-positivists’ argue that it is simply a mistake to think that ideas can or should be studied in the same way we study physical objects. Ontology should determine epistemology, not vice versa. However, in developing this important insight many post-positivists have gone further, to efface any connection between their subsequent work and science—Understanding versus Explanation. The ironic result is to echo the positivist feeling that the study of ideas cannot be made scientifically respectable.

Lynne Rienner Publishers eBooks, Dec 1, 2000

Cambridge University Press eBooks, May 2, 1996

The contemporary states system embodies a tension between juridical equality and de facto inequal... more The contemporary states system embodies a tension between juridical equality and de facto inequality. On the one hand, the institution of sovereignty constitutes all states in the system with equal rights of exclusive territorial authority, which most states observe most of the time. On the other, the distribution of power remains highly unequal, with powerful states pushing others around as suits their purposes. Fairly well-developed theories, like dependency and world systems theory, deal with this tension in international political economy. But less attention has been paid to political-military inequality, our concern here, where the tension between de jure and de facto is more salient because of the centrality of sovereignty in such cases. The scholarship that exists, especially on spheres of influence, intervention, and great power management, has much to offer, and we draw on it freely below. 1 However, with some exceptions it has tended to focus more on implications for international order than on great power-small power interaction and to remain at the level of middle-range rather than general theory. As such, we believe that the relationship between formal equality and de facto inequality in the states system is still not well understood.

Review of International Studies, Oct 1, 1991

International Organization, 2001

American Political Science Review, Jun 1, 1994

Oxford University Press eBooks, May 5, 2022

Undertaking a collaborative inquiry into a convergence of quantum theory, science, and technology... more Undertaking a collaborative inquiry into a convergence of quantum theory, science, and technology, the chapter makes the case for a new human science for International Relations (IR). As new scientific discoveries and technological applications suggest large-scale quantum phenomena, near-simultaneous interconnectivity creates global entanglements, and ubiquitous media produce profound observer effects of uncertainty, IR theory needs to “quantize” if it is to retain relevancy in the twenty-first century. The central concepts of quantum mechanics that inform a quantized IR are introduced, and the heuristic advantages of quantum over traditional approaches are presented.

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Apr 9, 2007

Lynne Rienner Publishers eBooks, Dec 31, 1992

Taylor & Francis eBooks, Feb 16, 2010

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 1995

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Aug 19, 1999

In his thought-provoking chapter David Held argues that we need to rethink our traditional, state... more In his thought-provoking chapter David Held argues that we need to rethink our traditional, state-centric understanding of democracy in a more cosmopolitan direction because the forces of globalization are gradually eroding the territorial, Westphalian conceptualization of political community upon which it is based. I agree with Held on both counts. However, I think he does not emphasize sufficiently the role that the institution of sovereignty will play in channeling the impact of globalization, creating path-dependencies which raise both empirical and normative questions about the possibility of cosmopolitan democracy. If a non-territorial democracy does evolve, for the forseeable future it seems much more likely to be a democracy of states than of individuals, an “international” rather than “cosmopolitan” democracy, and this might even be normatively acceptable in a way that an analogous democracy at the domestic level based on groups is not. I have divided my remarks into two parts, focusing first on how we get from the here of a world of sovereign states to the there of a nonterritorial democracy, and then on some normative issues that arise when we get there. From here to there Held's chapter, and the book on which it builds (Held 1995), offers a strong and nuanced account of the many forces in the late twentieth century that are eroding purely territorial conceptions of political community and creating transnational “communities of fate.” However, saying that national conceptions of community are being eroded by globalization is not the same thing as saying that transnational ones are being created.

Politics & Society, Jun 1, 1992

There is an underlying assumption in the social sciences that consciousness and social life are u... more There is an underlying assumption in the social sciences that consciousness and social life are ultimately classical physical/material phenomena. In this groundbreaking book, Alexander Wendt challenges this assumption by proposing that consciousness is, in fact, a macroscopic quantum mechanical phenomenon. In the first half of the book, Wendt justifies the insertion of quantum theory into social scientific debates, introduces social scientists to quantum theory and the philosophical controversy about its interpretation, and then defends the quantum consciousness hypothesis against the orthodox, classical approach to the mind-body problem. In the second half, he develops the implications of this metaphysical perspective for the nature of language and the agent-structure problem in social ontology. Wendt's argument is a revolutionary development which raises fundamental questions about the nature of social life and the work of those who study it.

Review of International Studies, Apr 1, 1992

The Return of Culture and Identity in IR Theory