"The King of Thought" Conference (videos)

In this occasion, I wanted to share with you all a wonderful conference held at Aberystwyth University, and entitled "The King of Thought: Theory, Subject, and Waltz." It not only celebrated the 30th and 50th anniversary of Kenneth N. Waltz's two most influential books on world politics but also the enormous intellectual impact of Waltz's own thinking on a whole generation of international students, professors, and practitioners, all along the 20th Century, and certainly the 21st as well. Thus, the "king of international thought," comes up not at all as an exageration.

The distinctive flavor of the conference, though, is that it is goes beyond simple idolatry. Far from that, the multiple presentations—by some of Waltz's most ferocious intellectual critics—constitute some of the most trenchant critiques to Waltz's traditional arguments. From nuclear policy, and the meaning of theory, to the causes of war, and the constant debate regarding "change" and "continuity," this conference represents an intelligent, and respectful way to scrutinize and also praise Waltz's thought... all at once. Enjoy!

Note: All videos are in .wmv format, for which you will need Windows Media Player or some encompassing program, such as The KMPlayer)

DESCRIPTION:

In September 2008, the Department of International Politics hosted a landmark international conference to celebrate the upcoming anniversary of two of the most important books ever published in the discipline of International Relations.  Both these books were written by Kenneth Waltz, who is widely recognised as the pre-eminent IR theorist since the Second World War.  The conference met to discuss drafts of articles to appear in the Department’s journal, International Relations, in 2009—the 50th anniversary of the publication of Man, the State and War and the 30th anniversary of Theory of International Politics.  The highly successful conference was attended by leading figures in the field from North America and Western Europe, representing a range of theoretical perspectives.  Professor Waltz himself, who was made an Honorary Professor in the Department, played a full role in the conference.  In addition to the double special-issue of the journal (Vol. 23, No. 2 and No. 3) a related book will be published towards the end of 2010 (Realism and World Politics).



CONFERENCE PROGRAMME:


MONDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER

7.30-9.00 pm: INTRODUCTORY ROUNDTABLE (video)

The indispensable books in our field
Nicholas Rengger, Tim Dunne, Ken Booth, Chris Hill, Caroline Kennedy-Pipe, and Kenneth Waltz

TUESDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER

9.15 am-10.45 am: STRUCTURAL REALISM 1 (video)

Reckless states and realism
John Mearsheimer

Waltz’s theory of theory
Ole Wæver

11.15am-12.45: STRUCTURAL REALISM 2 (video)

Structure: what structure?
Nicholas Onuf

Big and important things in IR: neorealism and the neglect of changes in statehood
Georg Sørensen

1.45pm-3.15 pm: HISTORIOGRAPHY (video)

Waltz and American liberalism
Michael Foley and Michael C. Williams

Waltzian neorealism, classical realism and human nature
Chris Brown


3.45- 5.15 pm: ‘HUMAN NATURE’ (video)

‘Man’ in the mirror: human nature and world politics
Neta Crawford

Man and woman and war
Jean Bethke Elshtain

WEDNESDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER

9.00 am – 10.30 am: THE CAUSES OF WAR (video)

Understanding Man, the State and War
Hidemi Suganami

Lost in transition: a critical analysis of power transition theory
Richard Ned Lebow and Benjamin Valentino


11.00 am – 12.30am: SECURITY UNDER ANARCHY (video)

Nuclear weapons and the stag hunt
Nicholas J. Wheeler

Change and Continuity in International Politics – unipolarity, hegemony and counterpower?
Cornelia Beyer

1.15 pm – 3.00 pm: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE (video)

Human interconnectedness
Andrew Linklater

Anarchy, legitimacy, hegemony: how hierarchical can international society be?
Ian Clark

Waltz and world history: the paradox of parsimony
Barry Buzan and Richard Little

3.15 pm – 4.15 pm: CLOSE AND Q&A (video)

50 and 30 years on
Kenneth Waltz