ABSTRACT
For at least three generations, the mantra of U.S. political science has been “politics is about power”—with power defined as the capacity to coerce or control. Among those who study and teach international relations, the prevailing paradigm has been the so-called “realist” paradigm—the “power politics model.” Both are essentially state centered, or at least focused on institutions that are seen as possessing power, in the sense of playing a role in some way to influence the course of events.
