Review: International Relations: Expanding Realism
| Published date | 01 December 1998 |
| Date | 01 December 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300420 |
| Author | Fen Osier Hampson |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
To
a
non-theorist
the book is
interesting
in
that
it
shows
how
far
we
have
come
from
the
'classical'
doctrines
of
legitimacy
and
recognition, the
latter
first
enunciated
by
British
Foreign
Secretary
George
Canning
in
1822.
Intended
to
justify
Britain's
decision
(much
reviled
by
Spain
as
a
betrayal
of
monarchist
solidarity)
to
recognize
the
rebellious colonies
of
Latin
America
as
independent
states,
Canning's doctrine
stressed
recognition
as
the
accep-
tance
of
certain
key
facts
rather
than
the
granting
of
a
stamp
of
approval.
It
has
since
provided the rationale
for
recognizing
and
establishing
diplomatic
relations
with
governments
irrespective
of
their
values.
This
is
no
longer
seen
as
adequate in
assessing
legitimacy.
Williams'
book
is
also
generally
sensible
in
the
ways
it
relates
theoretical
constructs to the
practical
situation
of
Yugoslav
disintegration.
INTERNATIONAL
experience.
Sentences
have
to
be
RELATIONS
read
and
reread
to
fathom their
by
Fen
Osler
Hampson,
Carleton
meaning.
Unfair
as
it
is
to
say,
University
Liska's
ideas
have
to
be
extracted
from
the
page
with
the
energy
of
a
EXPANDING
REALISM
Welsh
coal
miner. This,
his
most
The
historical
dimension
of
world
recent
treatise,
is
no
exception.
politics
Nonetheless,
it
is
an
extremely
George
Liska
worthwhile
book
because
it
tries
to
Lanham
MD:
Rowman
&
Littlefield,
recast realist
theories
of
internation-
1998,
x, 307
pp, US$68.00
cloth,
al
politics
into what
Liska
refers
to
US$24.95
paper
as
a
'geohistorical'
approach,
that
is,
one which
is
sensitive to
the
chang-
G
eorge
Liska
is
one
of
the
lead-
ing
modalities
of
the
international
ing theorists
in
the
field
of
system,
particularly
as
this
century
international
politics.
Many
of
his
draws to
a
close.
Liska's
argument
works,
including
Alliances
and
the
that
world
history is
cyclical
and
Third
World,
Beyond
Kissinger:
The
that,
even
as
the
international
sys-
Ways
of
Conservative
Statecrafi,
and
tem
expands
to
include
a
wider
Nations in
Alliance:
The
Limits
of
range
of
regional
and
subsystemic
Interdependence,
are
widely
recog- actors,
its
underpinnings
continue
nized
classics.
Yet
for
all
the profun-
to
lie
in
a
balance-of-power
dynam-
dity and
insight
that
characterize
his
ic
will
provoke
liberals
and
realists
writings,
reading
any one
of
his alike.
His
book
should
be
read
books
is
at
best
a
teeth-grinding
alongside
James Rosenau's
Turbu-
796
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Autumn
1998
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