What would happen to international politics if the dead rose from the grave and started to eat the living? Daniel Drezner’s groundbreaking book answers the question that other international relations scholars have been too scared to ask. Addressing timely issues with analytical bite, Drezner looks at how well-known theories from international relations might be applied to a war with zombies. Exploring the plots of popular zombie films, songs, and books, Theories of International Politics and Zombies predicts realistic scenarios for the political stage in the face of a zombie threat and considers how valid—or how rotten—such scenarios might be.
This newly revived edition includes substantial updates throughout as well as a new epilogue assessing the role of the zombie analogy in the public sphere.
Awards and Recognition
- Honorable Mention for the 2011 PROSE Award in Government & Politics, Association of American Publishers
Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. His books include All Politics Is Global (Princeton). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Zombie Research Society.
- Preface
- Introduction … to the Undead
- The Zombie Literature
- Defining a Zombie
- Distracting Debates about Flesh-Eating Ghouls
- The Realpolitik of the Living Dead
- Regulating the Undead in a Liberal World Order
- The Social Construction of Zombies
- The Supergendered Politics of the Posthuman World
- A Very Important Note about Zombie Networks
- Neoconservatism and the Axis of Evil Dead
- Domestic Politics: Are All Zombie Politics Local?
- Bureaucratic Politics: The “Pulling and Hauling” of Zombies
- We’re Only Human: Psychological Responses to the Undead
- Conclusion … or So You Think
- Epilogue: Bringing the Brain Back In
- Acknowledgments to the First Edition
- Acknowledgments to the Revived Edition
- Notes
- References
- Index
"One of the most creative books about international relations you will ever read and one of the smartest."—Peter Beinart, author of The Icarus Syndrome
"Bless Dan Drezner for this book which punches huge holes in the hokum of American foreign policy thinking. Our theories in this business have been thin and often very costly, and if it takes Drezner's 'zombie attack' to puncture their bloat, so be it. Besides, the book is fun."—Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and former New York Times columnist
"Drezner is to the zombie attack what Thucydides is to the Peloponnesian War—he is its great chronicler. As witty as he is insightful, Drezner has taken old ideas and traditions in international relations and brought them back to life."—G. John Ikenberry, Princeton University
"This book fills a gnawing gap in the international relations literature and adds flesh to those bones by communicating key international relations theories in a fresh, fun, and effective way."—Daniel Nexon, Georgetown University
"This interesting, thoughtful, and engaging book nicely integrates the classics of zombie work with theories of international politics to make sense of human—and nonhuman—behavior. This is the only international politics textbook that will make students frequently laugh and think at the same time. Indeed, this textbook is food for brains, which may, of course, only attract more zombies."—Stephen Saideman, McGill University
