Publisher's Synopsis
For thousands of years, Realpolitik has been the pre-eminent lens through which scholars and practitioners alike have examined international politics. Nevertheless, it remains controversial, generating quarrels at both the theoretical and the empirical levels.;Positing that the vagueness of the key concepts of Realpolitik causes much of the disagreement, Cusack and Stoll argue that a computer simulation embodying those concepts can be a valuable tool for investigating, and illustrating, the theoretical properties of multi-state systems. They use their own simulation to conduct experiments concerning the paramount questions of Realpolitik - why do individual states behave as they do? What strategies enhance or minimize their success in international politics? What accounts for the basic character and dynamic of the interstate system?
