Uncertainty and Its Discontents

Peter J. Katzenstein's work addresses issues of political economy, security and culture in world politics. His recent books include Protean Power: Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics (co-edited with the late Lucia Seybert, Cambridge University Press, 2018) and the forthcoming Downfall: The End of the American Order (co-edited with Jonathan Kirshner). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science in 1987, the American Philosophical Society in 2009 and the British Academy in 2015. In 2020 he was named the 26th recipient of the Johan Skytte Prize.

• Preface; 1. Worldviews in world politics Peter J. Katzenstein; Part I. Substantialism and Relationalism: 2. Political worldviews in international relations: the importance of ideologies and foreign policy traditions Mark L. Haas and Henry R. Nau; 3. Relationality, post-Newtonian international relations, and worldviews Milja Kurki; 4. The president as mascot: relations all the way down Jairus Victor Grove; 5. Jewish questions and Jewish worldviews Michael Barnett; Part II. Accountable Agents and Epistemic Engines: 6. Weberian and relationalist worldviews: what is at stake? Henry R. Nau; 7. Oceans, jungles, and gardens: world politics and the planet Prasenjit Duara; Part III. Science and Religion: 8. Scientific worldviews in world politics: rationalization and the cosmological inheritance of the social sciences Bentley B. Allan; 9. Religious worldviews in global politics Timothy A. Byrnes; Part IV. Conclusion: 10. Of gardens, forests, and parks Peter J. Katzenstein; Index.

'As a most enlightening study on worldviews in world politics, this book explores the post-Newtonian multiverse full of uncertainties, potentialities and possibilities, challenging IR students to open up the Newtonian universe of the discipline where the rational belief in determinacy, control and causality dominates.' Yaqing Qin, Shandong University and China Foreign Affairs University