Includes bibliographical references (p. 387-432) and indexes.

Pt. I. The Original Text: Classical Realism and Quantitative International Politics. 1. The role of paradigms in scientific inquiry: a conceptual framework and a set of principles for paradigm evaluation. 2. The role of the realist paradigm in the development of a scientific study of international relations. 3. Research design: defining and operationalizing the realist paradigm. 4. Theory construction as a paradigm-directed activity. 5. Data making as a paradigm-directed activity. 6. Research as a paradigm-directed activity. 7. Evaluation: the adequacy of the realist paradigm. 8. Theory and research in the 1970s: the emerging anomalies -- Pt. II. Neorealism and Neotraditionalism: International Relations Theory at the Millennium. 9. Retrospective: neorealism and the power of power politics. 10. The promise and potential pitfalls of post-modernism: the need for theory appraisal. 11. The realist paradigm as a degenerating research program: neotraditionalism and Waltz's balancing proposition. 12. Mearsheimer's multipolar myths and the false promise of realist policy prescriptions: the empirical inaccuracy of the realist paradigm. 13. Challenging the relevance and explanatory power of the realist paradigm: the debate on the end of the Cold War. 14. Conclusion: the continuing inadequacy of the realist paradigm.

In this new and much-expanded edition of his classic study, John Vasquez examines the power of the power politics perspective to dominate inquiry, and evaluates its ability to provide accurate explanations of the fundamental forces underlying world politics.

Description based on print version record.