ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the multiple ways Raymond Aron made an important, and under-appreciated, contribution to International Relations (IR) scholarship through an ambitious, pluri-disciplinary, intellectual agenda and an effort to weave together research and public debate. It discusses Aron's contribution to International Relations, by gathering a diverse group of internationalists, historians and political theorists. The book illustrates how Peace and War can ultimately be read as an attempt to identify the scope for agency, and thus that the three "images" all matter in varying proportions depending on the context. It explores the consequences of this approach for a truly sociological contribution to IR theories. The book also illustrates how a number of Aron's concepts are worth exploring in order to enrich contemporary discussions in IR. It shows how Aron operated with concepts through his contribution to the French strategic debate and the European construction.
