Power and the International System – Our Next Area of Focus at the ISN

Dear ISN community member: Late last fall and early this winter we spent fourteen successive weeks looking at how, in recent history, the international system has undergone fundamental structural change. In prism-like fashion we looked at eight different areas where this overarching change has played itself out. We then took a five week break to regroup and look at a potpourri of subjects that interested us. Well, now it is time for systematic analysis again. For the next fourteen weeks we will build on our initial efforts. The theme we will pursue this time, however, goes as follows –

Because of the structural changes that have occurred and continue to occur in the international system, general attitudes towards power are also significantly changing, and because of these changes, what we are seeing today is the diffusion, democratization and individualizing of power on a global scale.

To explore this basic theme, we will once again take a prism-like approach. Our subjects over the coming weeks will be:

Theories and Views of Power;

Transnational Institutions and Organizations: Their Evolving Power and Influence;

Major Powers’ Strategic Cultures and Grand Strategies: Their Role on the World Stage;

And finally, Multiple Regional Perspectives on Power.

In following this Editorial Plan, we hope to provide up-to-date analyses and insights for our readership in a coherent and mutually reinforcing way.

With all this now said, let’s begin this week by asking ourselves whether traditional theories of power still have sufficient explanatory heft or not. If they don’t, do ‘critical’ theories of power offer more lucid and comprehensive alternatives? For example, do Marxist, constructivist, or bio-political characterizations of power remain too abstract for the ‘real world’, or do they help us comprehend and explain the international system we now live in more fully? This is our charter for this week; it is also the foundation for the weeks to come. So, happy reading to all and thank you for your continued interest in the ISN.