Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis

Citation

Waltz, K. N. (2018). Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis (Anniversary ed.). Columbia University Press. Foreword by Stephen M. Walt. First published 1959.

Chapter Summary

The anniversary edition has eight chapters of about 240 pages, preceded by three short pieces: Stephen M. Walt's foreword to the 2018 edition (pp. vii–x), a preface to the 2001 edition and the author's 1959 preface. Columbia describes the book as an analysis of the nature of conflict between states that explores classic political philosophers, among them St. Augustine, Hobbes, Kant and Rousseau, and modern psychologists and anthropologists for ideas that explain war among states and prescribe peace. Its organising device is the three "images" of the origins of war: those that blame individual leaders or human nature, those rooted in states' internal composition, and those concerning the structure of the international system. Each image gets one chapter of analysis and one on its implications.

Chapter 1: Introduction

A 15-page opening chapter, before the first image is taken up.

Chapters 2–3: The First Image: International Conflict and Human Behavior; Some Implications of the First Image: The Behavioral Sciences and the Reduction of Interstate Violence

The first image locates the causes of war in human nature and behaviour. Chapter 2 (26 pages) sets out the image; Chapter 3 (38 pages) considers its implications through the behavioural sciences and the prospects for reducing violence between states.

Chapters 4–5: The Second Image: International Conflict and the Internal Structure of States; Some Implications of the Second Image: International Socialism and the Coming of the First World War

The second image looks at the internal organisation of states. Chapter 4, the longest chapter at 44 pages, develops it; Chapter 5 applies it to a historical case, international socialism and the coming of the First World War.

Chapters 6–7: The Third Image: International Conflict and International Anarchy; Some Implications of the Third Image: Examples from Economics, Politics, and History

The third image locates the causes of war in the structure of the international system, in the chapter's words international anarchy. Chapter 6 (28 pages) states it. Chapter 7 (37 pages) draws examples from economics, politics and history.

Chapter 8: Conclusion

A 15-page closing chapter.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3: The First Image

• The three images: the book's classification of explanations of war by whether they locate its causes in individuals, in the internal structure of states or in the international system.
• First image: explanations resting on human nature and behaviour, tested in Chapters 2 and 3 against work in the behavioural sciences.

Chapters 4–7: The Second and Third Images

• Second image: explanations based on the internal structure of states, applied in Chapter 5 to international socialism and the First World War.
• International anarchy: the structural condition of the third image, whose implications Chapter 7 illustrates from economics, politics and history.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A classification that organises a literature. The three images give a reader a way to sort claims about war, and Columbia says Waltz "influentially distinguishes" them.
• Plain architecture. Each image is stated in one chapter and followed by a chapter of implications, so the argument is easy to follow and to return to.
• A range of sources. The publisher says the book draws on classic political philosophy as well as modern psychology and anthropology, rather than only on international relations scholarship.
• Contemporary framing. Walt's foreword addresses the book's legacy and continued relevance, and the edition also carries a preface written for 2001.

Limitations

• Interstate war only. The publisher presents the analysis as a study of conflict between states, while later security studies, as Chapter 1 of Contemporary Security Studies describes, has widened from state-centric and military concerns to non-state and non-military threats.
• An argument from 1959. The text predates later debates, including those in which Waltz's work is the reference point; Contemporary Security Studies discusses his emphasis on systemic constraints alongside offensive and defensive realism.
• Long implications chapters. Chapters 3, 4 and 7 are the longest, at 37 to 44 pages each, and the historical examples in Chapters 5 and 7 take some background knowledge to follow.
• No study apparatus. The publisher's page lists no questions, glossary or other study features; this is a monograph, not a textbook.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within the security studies list, this is the classic theoretical text on the causes of war. Contemporary Security Studies (Collins) and Williams and McDonald's Security Studies: An Introduction are textbook surveys of approaches to security; Chapter 2 of the first, on realism, discusses Waltz's emphasis on systemic constraints. Browning's International Security: A Very Short Introduction is a brief introduction to the debates about whose security matters and is a lighter first step.

Two other books on the list take the argument in different directions. Mearsheimer's The Tragedy of Great Power Politics states offensive realism, in which the anarchic system pushes great powers to maximise their relative power, a position that Contemporary Security Studies contrasts with Waltz's emphasis on systemic constraints. Buzan, Wæver and de Wilde's Security: A New Framework for Analysis sets out the Copenhagen School's way of widening the security agenda beyond military threats.

How to Use This Book

The publisher states no prerequisites. Because the book discusses classic political philosophers, some exposure to political theory or international relations will help in judging the three images.

• Order: read Walt's foreword and the 2001 preface first for the book's reception, then Chapter 1.
• Core: Chapters 2, 4 and 6 state the three images; Chapter 8 pulls them together.
• Implications chapters: read each one directly after its image (3 after 2, 5 after 4, 7 after 6). If time is short, the three image chapters (2, 4 and 6) and the conclusion carry the framework.
• Alongside: read the realism chapter of Contemporary Security Studies for how the argument has been classified since, and Mearsheimer for a later development of the third-image logic.
• Write-up: summarise each image in a paragraph with one objection, then say which a given war, such as the First World War, best fits.