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'Apparently overtaken by events in the very days of its first publication, Carr's Twenty Years Crisis has never been more pertinent to the discussion of international relations than it is to-day: in a world beset by the twin extremes which he excoriated, a craven and short-sighted realism on the one hand, and an unanchored and irresponsible idealism on the other, Carr's astute arguments should be central to our analysis of, and response to, the world of the twenty-first century.' - Fred Halliday
'The Twenty Years' Crisis is one of those books that somehow never goes out of date. It brings into sharp focus a lot of the core questions that anyone grappling with the complexities of International Relations needs to confront, and it sets a standard of clarity and vigour of prose that has few competitors in the contemporary IR literature.' - Professor Barry Buzan, University of Westminster
'...now is the time to relaunch The Twenty Years' Crisis as a basis for rethinking the problem of world order in a time of greater complexity and uncertainty. [Carr's] exposure of the power relations underlying doctrines of the harmony of interests is especially pertinent to a serious understanding of the ideology of globalization today, while his careful discussion of the need to balance power and morality warns against the hypocrisy of contemporary great-power crusading.' - Professor Robert Cox, Emeritus Professor, York University, Canada
'In the 20th century E.H. Carr was one of the most original and interesting thinkers about international relations. Carr's insights into the nature of international affairs warrant attention. Everyone interested in international politics should read this book.' - Robert Gilpin, Eisenhower Professor Emeritus of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
'the net influence of the book...is mischievous.' - Norman Angell
'brilliantly reasoned.' - R.W. Seton-Watson
'A brilliant, provocative and unsatisfying book.' - Martin Wight
'Carr is the consummate debunker who was debunked by the war itself.' - Arnold Toynbee
'Professor Carr has shown the entire inadequacy of Professors Zimmern and Toynbee: who will demonstrate the entire inadequacy of Professor Carr?' - Richard Crossman
'The Twenty Years' Crisis is one of those books that somehow never goes out of date. It brings into sharp focus a lot of the core questions that anyone grappling with the complexities of International Relations needs to confront, and it sets a standard of clarity and vigour of prose that has few competitors in the contemporary IR literature.' - Professor Barry Buzan, University of Westminster
'...now is the time to relaunch The Twenty Years' Crisis as a basis for rethinking the problem of world order in a time of greater complexity and uncertainty. [Carr's] exposure of the power relations underlying doctrines of the harmony of interests is especially pertinent to a serious understanding of the ideology of globalization today, while his careful discussion of the need to balance power and morality warns against the hypocrisy of contemporary great-power crusading.' - Professor Robert Cox, Emeritus Professor, York University, Canada
'In the 20th century E.H. Carr was one of the most original and interesting thinkers about international relations. Carr's insights into the nature of international affairs warrant attention. Everyone interested in international politics should read this book.' - Robert Gilpin, Eisenhower Professor Emeritus of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
'the net influence of the book...is mischievous.' - Norman Angell
'brilliantly reasoned.' - R.W. Seton-Watson
'A brilliant, provocative and unsatisfying book.' - Martin Wight
'Carr is the consummate debunker who was debunked by the war itself.' - Arnold Toynbee
'Professor Carr has shown the entire inadequacy of Professors Zimmern and Toynbee: who will demonstrate the entire inadequacy of Professor Carr?' - Richard Crossman
Product Description
E.H. Carr's Twenty Years' Crisis is a classic work in International Relations. Published in 1939, on the eve of World War II, it was immediately recognized by friend and foe alike as a defining work in the fledgling discipline. The author was one of the most influential and controversial intellectuals of the twentieth century. The issues and themes he develops in this book continue to have relevance to modern day concerns with power and its distribution in the international system.
Michael Cox's critical introduction provides the reader with background information about the author, the context for the book, its main themes and contemporary relevance. Written with the student in mind, it offers a guide to understanding a complex, but crucial text.
Michael Cox's critical introduction provides the reader with background information about the author, the context for the book, its main themes and contemporary relevance. Written with the student in mind, it offers a guide to understanding a complex, but crucial text.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book can be summed up in one word, "elegent". The argument put forward by Carr is as important today as it was in 1939. He mercilessly cuts through Inter-war Idealism and lays its many flaws open for the reader to see. Carr then moves on to put forward his theory of International Relations which ultimately evolved into the Realist school of thought (which arguably is still to this day the most important school of thought in International Relations).
If this was all Carr did then his book would be a masterpiece. However he does more and in my opinion achieves more than any other theorist from the realist school of thought. Although he criticises Inter-war Idealism he is still wise enough to accept that it does have important ideals that we should strive for in International Relations. Therefore The Twenty Years Crisis can in some ways be seen as a bridgeing book that takes the best aspects from Inter-war Idealism and joins them to his Realist theory. This is why I believe the book can be described as elegent and why any serious student of International Relations should read this book.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is only around 200 pages long but expresses exactly what the author meant concisely and with style.
While it has been seen as a realist attack on idealism Carr actually sees realism and idealism as two concepts - the first epitomised by the bureaucrat who takes existing power structures into account in decision making and sees the differences between each case but has no interest in changing the system and no motivation to , the second epitomised by philosophers like Woodrow Wilson who are concerned only with the ideal they wish to achieve, treat every case the same as one to be changed to the ideal and don't pay enough attention to how they can get from the existing power structure to the new one they aspire to create.
Carr says pure realism would lead to stagnation with no-one having the motivation to make any change for better or worse - while pure idealism will always fail to achieve its aims because of its utopianism.
His solution is a balance between the two - having ideals to aim at but also taking into account existing power stuctures and thinking about how they can be changed to achieve ideals.
His analysis of the liberal theory of 'the harmony of interests' is interesting and pretty much an attempt to apply Marx's ideas of the 'false consciousness' of the 'proletariat' to international politics to explain why governments of countries harmed by the existing system often believe it is in their interests as much as the dominant states' interests - and why dominant states end up believing that what is in their interest is in every country's interest despite the inevitable conflicts of interest in reality.
The flaw in his argument is to personify states and assume that equality among states is the same as equality among individual people to the extent that he believed Germany and Italy should be allowed to have European and North African empires to match the British and French empires as a means of avoiding war.
This ignored the obvious unfairness and brutality of all empires towards the people of their colonies.
Carr's advocacy of a policy of appeasement also led to many shunning him at the time he wrote 'The Twenty Years' Crisis' and even today. To be fair to Carr the holocaust was not public knowledge in Britain in 1939. It's impossible to know what he would have written had he known about it - but very possible that it would have changed his mind.
His main point was that the status quo suited the countries which won the first world war and imposed an international system which benefitted them - free trade being 'the paradise of the economically strong' but not of countries with weaker economies which could not compete in it.
It might well be that if this unrestricted free trade regime hadn't been imposed the great depression and the surge in support for fascism and communism caused by mass unemployment could have been avoided.
Few if any people or books are perfect and 'The Twenty Years' Crisis' remains a masterpiece and relevant to this day despite any flaws in it or E.H. Carr.
While it has been seen as a realist attack on idealism Carr actually sees realism and idealism as two concepts - the first epitomised by the bureaucrat who takes existing power structures into account in decision making and sees the differences between each case but has no interest in changing the system and no motivation to , the second epitomised by philosophers like Woodrow Wilson who are concerned only with the ideal they wish to achieve, treat every case the same as one to be changed to the ideal and don't pay enough attention to how they can get from the existing power structure to the new one they aspire to create.
Carr says pure realism would lead to stagnation with no-one having the motivation to make any change for better or worse - while pure idealism will always fail to achieve its aims because of its utopianism.
His solution is a balance between the two - having ideals to aim at but also taking into account existing power stuctures and thinking about how they can be changed to achieve ideals.
His analysis of the liberal theory of 'the harmony of interests' is interesting and pretty much an attempt to apply Marx's ideas of the 'false consciousness' of the 'proletariat' to international politics to explain why governments of countries harmed by the existing system often believe it is in their interests as much as the dominant states' interests - and why dominant states end up believing that what is in their interest is in every country's interest despite the inevitable conflicts of interest in reality.
The flaw in his argument is to personify states and assume that equality among states is the same as equality among individual people to the extent that he believed Germany and Italy should be allowed to have European and North African empires to match the British and French empires as a means of avoiding war.
This ignored the obvious unfairness and brutality of all empires towards the people of their colonies.
Carr's advocacy of a policy of appeasement also led to many shunning him at the time he wrote 'The Twenty Years' Crisis' and even today. To be fair to Carr the holocaust was not public knowledge in Britain in 1939. It's impossible to know what he would have written had he known about it - but very possible that it would have changed his mind.
His main point was that the status quo suited the countries which won the first world war and imposed an international system which benefitted them - free trade being 'the paradise of the economically strong' but not of countries with weaker economies which could not compete in it.
It might well be that if this unrestricted free trade regime hadn't been imposed the great depression and the surge in support for fascism and communism caused by mass unemployment could have been avoided.
Few if any people or books are perfect and 'The Twenty Years' Crisis' remains a masterpiece and relevant to this day despite any flaws in it or E.H. Carr.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Edward Carrs tretise is the foundational text for anyone studying IR from a western perspective. Cars gives the philosophical foundations behind the different schools of thought in IR academia. A must for IR stduents.
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