The King of Thought: Theory, Subject, and Waltz
In September 2008 the Department of International Politics hosted a landmark international conference to celebrate the upcoming anniversary of two of the most important books ever published in the discipline of International Relations. Both these books were written by Kenneth Waltz, who is widely recognised as the pre-eminent IR theorist since the Second World War. The conference met to discuss drafts of articles to appear in the Department’s journal, International Relations, in 2009—the 50th anniversary of the publication of Man, the State and War and the 30th anniversary of Theory of International Politics. The highly successful conference was attended by leading figures in the field from North America and Western Europe, representing a range of theoretical perspectives. Professor Waltz himself, who was made an Honorary Professor in the Department, played a full role in the conference. In addition to the double special-issue of the journal (Vol. 23, 2-3) a related book will be published towards the end of 2010 (Realism and World Politics).