🧠 Key Thinkers & Works in International Relations Approaches

🧠 Idealism / Liberalism

Thinker	Work	Year	Contribution
Norman Angell	The Great Illusion	1909	War is economically irrational in an interdependent world.
Alfred Zimmern	The League of Nations and the Rule of Law	1936	Advocated collective security and international law.
Arnold J. Toynbee	Nationality & the War	1915	Nationalism as a cause of war; backed League of Nations.
Parker T. Moon	Imperialism and World Politics	1926	Analyzed imperialism through liberal lens.

🦅 Realism / Classical Realism

Thinker	Work	Year	Contribution
E. H. Carr	The Twenty Years’ Crisis: 1919–1939	1939	Critiqued idealism; introduced realism as "power politics."
Hans Morgenthau	Politics Among Nations	1948	Father of classical realism; emphasized national interest & power.
Stephen Krasner	Defending the National Interest	1978	States pursue interests despite norms or institutions.

🧊 Neo-Realism / Structural Realism

Thinker	Work	Year	Contribution
John Mearsheimer	The Tragedy of Great Power Politics	2001	Offensive realism: states seek maximum power for survival.
Christopher Layne	The Peace of Illusions	2006	Challenges liberal peace theory; power politics still rules.
Fareed Zakaria	From Wealth to Power	1998	State power = capacity + ambition; rise of states.

🔗 Neo-Liberalism / Institutionalism

Thinker	Work	Year	Contribution
Robert Keohane	After Hegemony	1984	Institutions help sustain cooperation post-US hegemony.
	Power and Interdependence (with Nye)	1977	Complex interdependence weakens the realist view.
Karl Deutsch	Political Community at the International Level	1953	Communication and integration in transnational communities.

🌍 Constructivism

Thinker	Work	Year	Contribution
Alexander Wendt	Anarchy is What States Make of It	1992	Anarchy is not fixed; social structures matter.
	Social Theory of International Politics	1999	Major work in constructivism; identity shapes state behavior.
Nicholas Onuf	The World of Our Making	1989	Coined "constructivism"; language shapes global order.

🏭 Marxist / Neo-Marxist / Critical Theory

Thinker	Work	Year	Contribution
Robert Cox	Production, Power, and World Order	1987	“Theory is always for someone and some purpose” — critical theory.
Andrew Linklater	Beyond Realism and Marxism	1989	Combined critical theory with international ethics.

💄 Feminist Approaches

Thinker	Work	Year	Contribution
Cynthia Enloe	Bananas, Beaches and Bases	1989	Shows gendered nature of global politics.
J. Ann Tickner	Gendering World Politics	2001	Critiques realism from feminist lens.
Charlotte Hooper	Manly States	2001	How masculinity constructs state identity.
V. Spike Peterson	Gendered States	1992	Gendered nature of sovereignty and security.
Chandra Mohanty	Feminism Without Borders	2003	Postcolonial feminism; critiques Western universalism.

🎭 Post-Structural / Postmodern Approaches

Thinker	Work	Year	Contribution
Richard Ashley	The Poverty of Neorealism	1984	Critique of Waltz’s theory; calls realism reductionist.
James Der Derian	On Diplomacy: A Genealogy of Western Estrangement	1987	Explores power and knowledge in diplomacy.

🧭 Bonus: Classic + Revisionist Syntheses

Thinker	Work	Year	Contribution
Michael W. Doyle	Ways of War and Peace	1996	Compares realism, liberalism, Marxism; includes democratic peace theory.

⚡️ Tips to Remember for UGC NET:

• Realism = Carr, Morgenthau, Mearsheimer
• Liberalism = Wilson, Keohane, Nye
• Constructivism = Wendt, Onuf
• Marxism = Cox, Wallerstein
• Feminism = Tickner, Enloe, Mohanty
• Postmodernism = Ashley, Der Derian
• Linklater = Critical ethics + Frankfurt school influence