Argument and Change in World Politics

Arguments have consequences in world politics that are as real as the military forces of states or the balance of power among them. Neta Crawford proposes a theory of argument in world politics which focuses on the role of ethical arguments in fostering changes in long-standing practices. She examines five hundred years of history, analyzing the role of ethical arguments in colonialism, the abolition of slavery and forced labour, and decolonization. Pointing out that decolonization is the biggest change in world politics in the last five hundred years, the author examines ethical arguments from the sixteenth century justifying Spanish conquest of the Americas, and from the twentieth century over the fate of Southern Africa. The book also offers a prescriptive analysis of how ethical arguments could be deployed to deal with the problem of humanitarian intervention. Co-winner of the APSA Jervis-Schroeder Prize for the best book on international history and politics.

ISBN 0521002796   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780521002790 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 762 Publisher Cambridge University Press   Published in Cambridge Imprint Cambridge University Press   Series editor Smith, Steve, Biersteker, Thomas, Brown, Chris Format Paperback   Series ISSN 81 Publication date 25 Jul 2002   Series title Cambridge Studies in International Relations Library of Congress JZ1306 .C73 2001   Height (mm) 228 DEWEY 320.9   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY edition DC21   Spine width (mm) 32 Pages 488   Academic level Professional / Scholarly, Tertiary education

		List of illustrations
		List of tables
		Acknowledgments
		Introduction		1
1		Argument, belief, and culture		11
2		Ethical argument and argument analysis		82
3		Colonial arguments		131
4		Decolonizing bodies: ending slavery and denormalizing forced labor		159
5		Faces of humanitarianism, rivers of blood		201
6		Sacred trust		249
7		Self-determination		291
8		Alternative explanations, counterfactuals, and causation		343
9		Poiesis and praxis: toward ethical world politics		399
		App.: African decolonization		436
		Select bibliography		440
		Index		457

'... exceptionally rich, an impressive synthesis of numerous theoretical approaches and a compelling historical narrative.' International Affairs

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