As it’s now the middle of June summer is finally here and I will be taking a break for a few weeks to enjoy the summer. In celebration of summer this week I will recommend three books that I have read or is in the process of reading which I would recommend to all who are interested in political economy and international relations.
World Order – Henry Kissinger
World Order is a brilliantly written book on the topic of international relations. The book takes a historical perspective to explain how the international politics of different regions in the world have developed in order to try to understand the world order. Kissinger focuses on four regions: Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the USA. Each region’s history and regional order is explained and towards the end of the book two other topics related to world order are discussed: the rise of China and the impact of technology. The book is well written and very well researched, and while all the chapters were excellent, I particularly enjoyed the section on the Middle East. In other words, the book is great, and if you’re interested in international relations, I highly recommend it.
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics – John J. Mearsheimer
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics is not for everyone, it’s a book about international relations theory and I cannot recommend it unless you have more than a passing interest in international relations. Though if the topic interests you it’s a well written book laying out Mearsheimer’s theory of offensive realism with great historical sections.
The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time – Karl Polanyi
The Great Transformation is both a history of modern capitalism and a critique of classical economics and the idea of self-regulating markets. The Great Transformation is truly cross disciplinary in that Polanyi touches on a wide range of topics and utilises several disciplines to analyse modern capitalism and the self-regulating market, from sociology to public policy.
If you have any books you can recommend about political economy and/or international relations, please share them and have a great summer! I will hopefully be back Sunday the 7th of July. You can find last week's post here.
Written by Karl Johansson, founder of Ipoleco
Cover Photo by Sharon McCutcheon from Pexels
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