Social theory of international politics

A theory intends to explain reality and make a truth claim. In this book, the theory presented does not apply to any form of social reality, and its truth claim can neither be verified, neither falsified. The author presents, somewhere from the dimness of deep metaphysical outerspace, a series of half baked philosophical assertions about IR theory that are at best incoherent and erroneous. In essence it is a pot of opportunistic eclecticism that nowhere achieves a synthesis that smells of coherence. Although he wants to explain all IR questions, he achieves to provide an understanding for none of them. What pretends to be a theory is nothing but a wolkenkuckucksheim that demonstrates the limits of a 'science' based on opportunism rather than truth, and its devoted students would probably continue joyfully to sing its praise even if it had been shown to anyones satisfaction that its presumptions were outlandish; because nothing whatsoever would count as a falsification of their beliefs. Do not buy this book if you sincerely intend to learn something about international politics, because there are much better choices around. Although the author might still be regarded as a fashion icon in his field, all he does is celebrate - under the label of positivism - the ambiguous and dubious as positive in itself. (...)