Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation: An Introduction to Theory and History

Written by renowned scholar and former policymaker Joseph Nye, Jr. and new co-author David A. Welch, Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation is a brief and penetrating introduction to the study of world politics in an era of complex interdependence.

This text deftly employs lessons from both theory and history to evaluate conflict and cooperation among global actors and to provide students with a resilient analytical framework. From twentieth and twenty-first century conflicts to global trade and finance, global governance, and the information revolution, Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation, formerly known as Understanding International Conflicts, expands substantially on previous editions of this classic work to provide a lucid and thought-provoking survey of international relations today.

Joseph S. Nye is University Distinguished Service Professor at and former Dean of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He also served as a Deputy to the Undersecretary of State in the Carter Administration, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Clinton Administration, and Chair of the National Intelligence Council.

David A. Welch is CIGI Chair of Global Security at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo.