Power and Interdependence(Robert Keohane,Joseph S. Nye)

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Introduction
Keohane, Robert O. and Nye, Joseph S., Power and Interdependence, 3rd Edition*\ This landmark book, an original work by two of the most renowned scholars in the field, continues to offer a rich theoretical approach to understanding contemporary world politics and valid general prescriptions for policy. Power and Interdependence was written to construct a way of looking at the world of politics that helps us understand the relationships between economics and politics, and patterns of institutionalized international cooperation, while retaining key realist insights about the roles that power and interests play in world politics. The new Third Edition has been thoroughly updated to include analyses of the effects of new technologies and growing globalism on power and interdependence in today’s world. For those interested in international relations and politics.


An alternative to Hans Morgenthaus "Realism?"

In recent years the effects of the "internet age" to foster "globalism" has been described by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, among others. In the current circumstances, it seems as if old notions of power politics by nation-states is just an inaccurate way of looking at international relations. What other ways are there? Keohane and Nye, writing originally in the mid-1980s, describe a "theoretical" framework for what they refer to "interdependence." They illustrate their theory with examples of international monetary negotiations relating to the IMF, in negotiations relating to the Law of the Sea, and US-Canada relations. They state that increasingly major corporations or working government bureaucracies, working apart from the institions of the State Department in the US (for example), reach out to their counterparts across national boundaries. Speaking as someone who has had mid-level military assignments in other nations, it seems to me gratifying that these kinds of situations are presented and discussed. However, I agree with the Afterword in the 1989 edition of the book written by the authors themselves, that states that their treatment in this book is focused on areas where realism was not intended to apply in the first place. Also, they acknowledge (on page 159) that in the kinds of circumstances that "interdependence" applies, domestic politics makes foreign policy decisions subordinate to private interests. I think Hans Morgenthau would say that the role of those making decisions for nations in national security areas need to be leaders in determining national interests and applying policy based on (realist) analysis, and not followers on domestic politics. From my own point of view, lack of focus on "national interests" has caused US foreign policy to be disjointed and opportunistic in recent years.