The enduring logic of the three images: Kenneth N. Waltz's Man, the State, and War

There is little need to belabour the question of whether Kenneth Waltz's Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis (1959, MSW) is a classic text of International Relations (IR). ¹ No matter how one defines the term, MSW unequivocally is a classic. Although much of Waltz's fame derives from his landmark book, Theory of International Politics (1979), ² establishing structural realism or neo-realism as a dominant paradigm, Waltz's exposition of the ‘third image’ — the anarchy among states — in his earlier book lays the foundation for the systemic theory of realism that he develops later. Waltz himself attributes the durability of MSW ‘to the continuity of international politics’, which he argues is best explained by the enduring ‘anarchic structure of international politics’ (p. xi). The fact that MSW not only remains in print, but continues to be widely read by both undergraduate students and senior scholars is a testimony to the significant contribution that the book makes to the study of international politics. By developing three distinct images or, if you like, three distinct levels of analysis, for investigating the cause of war, Waltz makes a profound and lasting contribution to the field and it is incredibly difficult to imagine how IR would have evolved if he had not written this book.