Waltz and World History
The Paradox of Parsimony
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4444242 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Barry Buzan (0000-0002-7922-5194), Richard Little (0000-0002-4922-9629) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 446-463 |
| Publication date | 2009-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Relations (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-1178 • E-ISSN: 1741-2862 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0047117809340467 |
| OpenAlex | W1989755685 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
This article provides a critique of Waltz's work from the perspective of world history. It shows how Waltz's commitment to a highly parsimonious theoretical approach paradoxically both sets up the possibility of his theory being universally applicable, and undermines its prospects as a viable approach to understanding world history. Using the key concepts from Waltz's work - units, systems, structure, process - we show the detailed grounds on which his theory fails to apply to such large swathes of time and place, so that its claims to universality fall, even though it can usefully be applied to some times and places. We also show its shortcomings in relation to the essential historical task of periodization. We argue that international relations needs to engage more with world history, and that the task of doing so will fall to approaches other than Waltz's
Art history · Epistemology · Periodization · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Relation (database) · Sociology · Universality (dynamical systems) · Waltz · World history · Artificial Intelligence · Asian Studies and History · Computer Science · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,3 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2020 (5) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |