Author: Joshua S. Goldstein
Translators: Kim, Yeongak, Kim, Jinkuk, and Baek, Changjae
Publisher: INSARANG
Published date: 2001
I read this book many years ago, and after many years, I have read it through once more for my doctoral dissertation. Over the past four or five years, I went through some mentally and physically difficult times. And that was more than enough time for me to forget how to even start my research. To get myself started again, I have been going through recent research and papers, but I still did not quite know where to begin. And then, this book felt like my last option. I chose this book to reorganize the knowledge that had been hidden away through those difficult years.
The last time I read this book was at least seven years ago or more. As far as I remember, the last time I opened this book was around my final exams, when I was studying for my final exams. At that time, the exam was for an introductory course in my major, and this book covered the fundamental content of the field.
It provides a comprehensive introduction to international relations. If you want to learn fundamental terms of international relations or political science, this book offers guidance on what to consider and how to understand the concepts in research. However, since it covers the fundamentals, you can be difficult to find deeper insights in this book. In short, this book gives you a base that you can build on to deepen your knowledge. Once you have finished reading, you can more clearly see where to dig deeper and which questions you want to explore next.
The unfortunate thing is that the copy I have is an old edition—one I picked up during my undergraduate years. In other words, it was published many years ago. That can feel like a drawback, since this book came out so long ago. Yet, while rereading it, I found that much of it still applies today. For example, I could sense the book’s age in examples it used. Most of them described the events that had taken place long ago. Some, however, were written as if the author were looking into the near future. Rereading those parts now, with the benefit of hindsight, felt almost like looking back into the past from the future. Therefore, if you’re interested, I recommend paying attention to the edition you choose. Of course, since it’s a theoretical book, it may not matter that much. Each has its advantages, so the choice is yours!
It’s really close to core text book for my major, so it’s hard to clearly recommend it to everyone. However, I’d like to recommend it to anyone Hope to recommend who needs some basic understanding on politics, especially on international studies. For me, it also helps me recover some of the pieces of political studies I had lost along the way. And although the scope of international relations has been expanding, this book stays focused on security and economics. These topics remain central and are still considered the main issues across the field. That’s why I think this book is helpful for understanding the foundations of international politics and for taking a first step toward a wider interest in political science.
I deeply hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. And if you have any related books recommendations, it would be great help if you could share them in the comments!
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