ABSTRACT
In response to a growing sense of dissatisfaction with the state of the world and the state of international relations research, Professor Kim has taken an alternative approach to the study of contemporary world politics. Specifically, he has adopted and expanded the cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, and transnational approach developed by the World Order Models Project (WOMP), an enterprise committed to the realization of peace, economic equality and well-being, social justice, and ecological balance. Systemic in scope and interdisciplinary in methodology, The Quest for a Just World Order explains and projects the issues, patterns, and trends of world politics, giving special attention to the attitudinal, normative, behavioral, and institutional problems involved in the politics of system transformation. Professor Kim also attempts to remedy a number of problematic features of traditional approaches, including a value-neutral orientation; fragmentation and overspecialization; overemphasis on national actors, the superpowers, and stability; and the Hobbesian image of world politics. Part 1 presents a conceptual framework for developing a normative theory of world order. Each of the four chapters in Part 2 examines a specific global crisis in depth, working within the framework laid out in Part 1. In Part 3 a variety of desirable and feasible transition strategies are proposed, and Professor Kim assesses the prospects for achieving a just and humane world order system by the end of this century.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter 1|12 pages
Introduction
part 1|80 pages
From International to World Order Politics
chapter 2|41 pages
The Transformation of World Politics
chapter 3|37 pages
In Search of a World Order Theory
part 2|206 pages
The State of the Human Condition
chapter 4|40 pages
Global Violence
chapter 5|60 pages
Global Inequities
chapter 6|49 pages
Global Human Rights
chapter 7|55 pages
Global Human Environment
part 3|44 pages
Building an Alternative World Order