Beyond the Ivory Tower: International Relations Theory and the Issue of Policy Relevance

Joseph Lepgold and Miroslav Nincic

January, 2002
Paper, 192 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-11659-6
$27.00 / £16.00

The gap between academics and practitioners in international relations has widened in recent years, according to the authors of this book. Many international relations scholars no longer try to reach beyond the ivory tower and many policymakers disdain international relations scholarship as arcane and irrelevant. Joseph Lepgold and Miroslav Nincic demonstrate how good international relations theory can inform policy choices. Globalization, ethnic conflict, and ecological threats have created a new set of issues that challenge policymakers, and cutting-edge scholarship can contribute a great deal to the diagnosis and handling of potentially explosive situations.

Related Subjects

• International Affairs

About the Author

Joseph Lepgold is associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and Miroslav Nincic is professor of political science at the University of California, Davis. They are coeditors of Being Useful: Policy Relevance and International Relations Theory.

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