An argument for the classical realist approach to world politics

Professor Jonathan Kirshner's most recent book, An Unwritten Future: Realism and Uncertainty in World Politics, identifies the fundamental flaws of classical realism’s would-be successors, and shows how this older, more nuanced, and sophisticated method for studying world politics better explains the formative events of the past.

Kirshner also reveals how this approach is ideally equipped to comprehend the vital questions of the present—such as the implications of China’s rise, the ways that social and economic change alter the balance of power and the nature of international conflict, and the consequences of the end of the US-led postwar order for the future of world politics.