Actors-Non-State_and_Transnational_Actors

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1、TheStateandInternationalRelationsDavidA.LakeThestateiscentraltothestudyofinternationalrelationsandlikelytoremainsointotheforeseeablefuture.Statepolicyisthemostcommonobjectofanalysis.Statesdecidetogotowar.Theyerecttradebarriers.Theychoosewhetherandatwhatleveltoestablishenviro

2、nmentalstandards.Statesenterinternationalagreements,ornot,andchoosewhethertoabidebytheirprovisions.Evenscholarswhogiveprominencetonon-stateactorsaretypicallyconcernedwithunderstandingorchangingstatepractice(forexample,KeckandSikkink1998).Internationalrelationsasadisciplineis

3、chieflyconcernedwithwhatstatesdoand,inturn,howtheiractionsaffectotherstates.Similarly,statesareacommonunitofanalysisintheoriesofinternationalrelations.Manyanalystsfocusonstatesandtheirinteractionstoexplainobservedpatternsofworldpolitics.Thestateisfundamentaltoneorealism(Walt

4、z1979)andneoliberalinstitutionalism(Keohane1984).ItisalsokeyinmanyconstructivistandEnglishschooltheories(Bull1977,Reus-Smit1999,Wendt1999).Evencritical,post-modern,orfeministtheories,whichhaveariseninoppositiontoexistingformsofsocialpower,oftenfocusonproblematizingstatesands

5、tatepractice.Bothasobjectsandunitsofanalysis,internationalrelationsislargelyaboutstatesandtheirinteractions.Thisessayfirstreviewstherationalesbehindstate-centrictheoriesofinternationalrelations.Thesecondhalfexaminescriticismsandprobesthelimitsofstate-centrictheories.WhyStudy

6、theState?1Alltheoriesarebasedonsimplifyingassumptionsintendedtorenderacomplexrealityexplicable.Theoriesaretypicallygroupedintofamiliesorparadigmsbytheir1sharedassumptions.Inmakingsimplifyingassumptions,analystsplaceamethodological“bet”onthemostusefulwaytocapturetheessenceoft

7、hephenomenontheywishtoexplain.Thesearebetsbecausetheassumptionsmustbemadebeforethe2implicationsofthetheoryarefullyworkedoutandtested.Scholarscanworkforyearsorpossiblygenerationsbuildingfromasetofassumptionsbeforetheyknowwhethertheirbetwillpayoffbyprovidingapowerfulexplanatio

8、nofthedesiredphenomenon.State-centrictheoriesofinternationalrelationsassume