International Relations - Case Studies

Indeks : p.208 - 215 ; p.191 - 207 ; The central assertion of this book is that states pursue social actions to serve self-identity needs, even when these actions compromise their physical existence. Three forms of social action, sometimes referred to as "motives" of state behavior (moral, humanitarian, and honor-driven) are analyzed here through an ontological security approach. It develops an account of social action which interprets these behavior as fulfilling a nation-state's drive to secure self identity through time. The anxiety which consumes all social agents motivates them to secure their sense of being, and thus it posits that transformational possibilities exist in the "Self" of a nation-state. It consequently both challenges and complements realist, liberal, constructivist, and post-structural accounts to international politics.