Protean Power: Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics

·
· Cambridge Studies in International Relations Book 146 · Cambridge University Press
Ebook
355
Pages
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More

About this ebook

Mainstream international relations continues to assume that the world is governed by calculable risk based on estimates of power. This ground-breaking work departs from existing definitions of power that focus on actors' evolving ability to exercise control in situations of calculable risk. Instead, it introduces the concept of 'protean power', which focuses on actors' agility as they adapt to situations of uncertainty. Twelve real world case studies are used to examine how the dynamics of protean and control power can be tracked in the relations among different state and non-state actors, operating in diverse sites, stretching from local to global, in both times of relative normalcy and moments of crisis. This volume argues for a new approach to IR, where the inclusion of protean power in our analytical models helps in accounting for unforeseen changes in world politics. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

About the author

Peter J. Katzenstein has served as President of the American Political Science Association and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, the American Philosophical Society and the British Academy. He has been the recipient of the Helen Dwight Reid Award, the Woodrow Wilson prize for the best book published in the United States on international affairs and the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize as well as five honorary degrees of European and Chinese universities. He has taught at Cornell for over forty years.

Lucia A. Seybert is a Professorial Lecturer at American University, School of International Service. She is a former Title VIII Research Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a recipient of a number of research grants and fellowships, including from the American Council of Learned Societies.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.