Conversations with History: Kenneth Waltz

[Australiano75]

And the UN is as only as strong as its members initiatives.

[Lukeatk1]

Can anyone clarify the difference between Waltzs pre and post cold war accounts of the international stage?

[Kate90Grace]

Very good point he made about the "need" for rogue states to develop nuclear weapons as that was the only way of deterring the US; I never thought of it like that before. A highly informative interview (even with the sketchy opening and closing music).

[lynnliulian]

what's with the obsession of those non-stop repetition,what? is he a stutter or something like that?

[bhav213]

somebody please make a remix of his 'wha-wha-wha' over a techno beat!!

[SecularNumanist]

If you want to hear a good deconstruction of this guy, read "The Logic or Anarchy" by Jones, Little and Buzan. Pretty indepth but it points out the incoherence of his theories

[Maurofelixful]

It is quite funny how he speaks about Gaddafi, Saddam as "survivors"... now the question is... have they reached the end of their insanity or is there something else going on in the world right now?

[TheLand153]

International institutions are bounded by the level of sovereignty ceded or lent to said institution by national governments whom can back out at any time.

[Setzer]

I think he kind of glossed over Saddam Hussein. The threat of him attacking us with a nuclear weapon was probably not that great. And the probability that he would give that weapon to terrorists is also not likely. But if he did have one he would've become an even more dangerous thug. He could invade other countries again and then we'd be in a much tougher spot than in the 90s.

[bradmax1]

@Setzer : I think he was completely right about Saddam. He couldn't attack the US or Europe or anyone else with nuclear weapons because he did not have those - never did. The regjme had lost much of its military capabilities after the sanctions, which crippled the Iraqi economy and made for Saddam impossible any adventure abroad. All the coercive resources of the regime went for maintaining internal stability.

[Setzer]

@bradmax1 Leaving aside the issue of WMDs, I think the world and Iraq are much better off without him. Let's consider the genocide of the Kurds and the mass graves. Saddam wasn't just a bad guy; he was an intolerably bad guy who murdered his own people, and I think that you can agree with me that it's a darn good thing he's dead.

[falafelhotdog]

feb 2003? wtf this sounds and looks like something from the 70s

[tzarjez]

these state is merely the sum of the capital and property owned and control by its citizens. the state derives its power from the citizens not vice versa. therefore the person and their interests is the dominant factor in IR not the state

[airhealth]

@tzarjez this my friend is what he calls reductionism. :)

Sure institutions won't exist without the constituent parts. But once formed, over time the institutions take on a life of its own and develop its own at least partially independent interests and identity. Big bureaucracies have a way of doing that.

[Crankdatification]

Reminds me of My Cousin Vinny

[TheCanye88]

sounds like someone went to IR 101 today

[spacerumsfeld]

Uh...uh....uh....uh....uh...

[1888junkteam]

excellent worker!

[miguelbsilva2]

Waltz could be more specific to the question about the new transnational terrorism and redefine his concepts on active unites. It's time to update your theory Waltz!

[drewpasttenseofdraw]

where are the black guyus

[sengokuranse]

you know how he divides political scientists in two worlds; the pioneer and a follower... I just thought he gave the intervewer a check...lol jk

[alonelychild]

The sound is aweful

[MarzioMaria]

Great! Kenneth RULEZ!

[scottyinphoenix]

My god, I wish that Kreisler would stop with the "wha-wha-wha-wha-what i-i-i-i-is...." It is so distracting

[Elynwyd]

@scottyinphoenix

No kidding! I'm German and I can express myself better in a conversation. But maybe he is too smart and has too many ideas floating in his head to form a straigt sentence.. :-D

[aaronsdavis]

@scottyinphoenix yeh why the hell dosnt he write the questons down pre interview lol? Cant help but like the absent minded proff dealy though....Just write the bloody questions down, Kreislermiester!!!!!!!

[mdoob11]

i hate his weezing lol, maybe my volume is too loud, but hearing that disgusting "im about to die cuz im fat, old, and unhealthy" really grinds my gears.

[rpaddon]

His idea of anarchy is a lack of government. There is no supra-national government that is able to effect the behavior of a state. The UN has no teeth and has been shown to be ineffective.

The State is still supreme, though the nature of the game has changed. The military is no longer the primary way that states attain power, economic coercion has become increasingly important in a world where large scale conflict is avoided as much as possible.

[cornfrosties123]

yeah, except states still might have interested in war for natural resources...other than that states would avoid war for the economics side...

[NikMend]

@rpaddon there is a Supra National Organization: the European Union.

The UN is a different entity, it is an International Organization..

[Willis2992]

@rpaddon To ignore non state actors in the international system is entirely dubious however. After all hasn't Western Foreign policy of hte past ten years been almost entirely influenced by 9/11? That to me is the critical flaw of his theory.

[Australiano75]

@rpaddon Economy=military=power. Simple.

[Zito7803]

I do not agree with Waltz about his idea of the anarcistic international political arena. As i see it the world politics is shaped around an hieracic system were the strongest states do help each other when one of them are in some kinde of problem. Just look at the whey strong economic states back eachother up in the negotiations whit the developing countries at the Doha conference. These summits do show that the further up the hierarcic system a state is placed the better for other strong state

[skyzophenix]

interesting... but thanks to people like him i'm having a test on tuesday :P

[iliaxip]

very nice..interesting to see how he thinks

[redkierkant]

odd to see such a great mind so uncomortable in a social situation...or is it? i find that most great minds are socially akward. what do you think

[JimBobJenkins]

He doesn't seem uncomfortable here...

[cornfrosties123]

he seems comfortable to me.

[EnricoKlotter]

nice :)