This volume focuses on the assessments political actors make of the relative fragility and robustness of political orders. The core argument developed and explored throughout its different chapters is that such assessments are subjective and informed by contextually specific historical experiences that have important implications for how leaders respond. Their responses, in turn, feed into processes by which political orders change. The volume's contributions span analyses of political orders at the state, regional and global levels. They demonstrate that assessments of fragility and robustness have important policy implications but that the accuracy of assessments can only be known with certainty ex post facto. The volume will appeal to scholars and advanced students of international relations and comparative politics working on national and international orders.
Richard Ned Lebow Book order






- 2024
- 2022
Inspector Khan of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary investigates the murder of a serpent-tongued Cambridge professor whilst fending off the romantic overtures of an interfering local reporter. An escalating cat-and-mouse game develops between the police and a murderer who cannot control his impulses. It leads to a dramatic and humourous denouement in Berlin. This is a classic English murder mystery with the twist that the chief detective is a first-generation, well-educated, South Asian Muslim, who effectively exploits the often-stereotypic response of others to him to benefit his policing.
- 2022
Introduction -- Part 1. Principles of Justice in the West -- Justice in Confucianism -- Justice in Mohism, Legalism, Daoism -- Comparing East and West -- Part 2. International "Order" -- Justice and Order Between America and China -- Reimagining World Order -- Conclusion -- Smart Power and Great Learning.
- 2022
What kinds of knowledge do international relations theories seek? How do they search for it and claim to have found it? Lebow uses his answers to these questions to say something important about the theory project in IR, and in the social sciences more generally.
- 2020
The updated edition features three substantial new chapters, including a prologue and an epilogue, alongside fresh insights on World War I. It retains the influential typology of international crises and critiques of deterrence, while emphasizing agency and incorporating political psychology to analyze irrational policy-making. The new content reevaluates previous arguments, offering a critical assessment in light of developments following the Cold War, making it a vital resource for understanding contemporary international relations.
- 2020
Taming Sino-American Rivalry
- 272 pages
- 10 hours of reading
"Competition between America and China has intensified since 2009, creating even greater risks of conflict. Why is this so and what can be done about it? Feng Zhang and Ned Lebow identify the mistakes China and America made in their mutual relations and explain their causes and consequences. Drawing on international relations theory and historical lessons they develop a holistic approach to conflict management and resolution. It is based on a sophisticated staging of deterrence, reassurance, and diplomacy. Minimal deterrence combined with multiple forms of reassurance and sustained diplomatic efforts to reduce or finesse key areas of conflict offer the promising pathway for America and China to enhance their security and buttress their self-esteem"--
- 2020
Ethics and International Relations
- 270 pages
- 10 hours of reading
Foreign policies consistent with generally accepted ethical norms are more likely to succeed, and those at odds with them to fail. Constructing original data sets and analysing multiple case studies, Lebow makes an empirical case for ethics in international relations.
- 2019
Challenging the prevailing ideologies of both the Alt-Right and the national security establishment, this book presents an alternative vision for American foreign policy rooted in a tragic understanding of life and politics. The author, a distinguished scholar, critiques bipartisan approaches and emphasizes the significance of core American values in shaping both domestic and international policies. By offering a fresh perspective, the work aims to inspire a new congress and president to redefine America's role on the global stage.
- 2018
The Rise and Fall of Political Orders
- 444 pages
- 16 hours of reading
A new theory by one of the world's leading scholars of international politics, analysing the rise, evolution, decline, and collapse of political orders, and exploring the impact of late-modernity upon the survival of democratic and authoritarian regimes. For students and scholars of IR, political theory, history, sociology and social psychology.
- 2018
Richard Ned Lebow: A Pioneer in International Relations Theory, History, Political Philosophy and Psychology
- 196 pages
- 7 hours of reading
This is the first of four volumes to be published as part of this book series, on the life and work of Richard Ned Lebow. In a career spanning six decades, Richard Ned Lebow has made important contributions to the study of international relations, political and intellectual history, motivational and social psychology, philosophy of science, and classics. He has authored, coauthored or edited 30 books and almost 250 peer-reviewed articles. These four volumes are excerpts from this corpus. The first volume includes an intellectual autobiography, bibliography, and assessments of Lebow's contributions to diverse fields by respected authorities. It shows how a scholar's agenda evolves in response to world events and his efforts to grapple with them theoretically and substantively. It elaborates pathways for addressing these events and their consequences in an interdisciplinary manner, and offers new concepts and methods for doing so. Richard Lebow's research bridges international relations, psychology, history, classics, political theory and philosophy of science. He is author, coauthor, or editor of 34 books and almost 250 peer reviewed articles. Contributors to the book are: Simon Reich – Mervyn Frost - Janice Gross Stein - Stefano Guzzini – Markus Kornprobst - Harald Müller - Christian Wendt - Robert English.