An archive since 2008

75 conversations with the people who shaped how we think about world politics.

Theory Talks is a collection of long-form interviews with International Relations' leading theorists — realists, constructivists, feminists, world-systems thinkers, and everything between — conducted between 2008 and 2021 by Peer Schouten and collaborators. Read more about the project →

75 interviews
2008–2021 span
Widely cited & used in university courses around the world

Start here

Six talks that make a good entry point

Portrait of Alexander Wendt
Talk №3

Alexander Wendt

on UFO’s, Black Swans and Constructivist International Relations Theory
Portrait of Kenneth Waltz
Talk №40

Kenneth Waltz

The Physiocrat of International Politics
Portrait of John Mearsheimer
Talk №49

John Mearsheimer

on Power as the Currency of International Relations, Disciplining US Foreign Policy, and Being an Independent Variable
Portrait of Immanuel Wallerstein
Talk №13

Immanuel Wallerstein

on World-Systems, the Imminent End of Capitalism and Unifying Social Science
Portrait of Cynthia Enloe
Talk №48

Cynthia Enloe

on Militarization, Feminism, and the International Politics of Banana Boats
Portrait of James Scott
Talk №38

James Scott

on Agriculture as Politics, the Danger of Standardization and Not Being Governed

The full archive

75 talks

Portrait of Michael W. Doyle
№1

Michael W. Doyle

on Markets and Institutions

2008
Portrait of Martin Shaw
№2

Martin Shaw

on The Dialectics of War and the World State

2008
Portrait of Alexander Wendt
№3

Alexander Wendt

on UFO’s, Black Swans and Constructivist International Relations Theory

2008
Portrait of John Agnew
№4

John Agnew

on Geopolitics and the Borders of Power in IR

2008
Portrait of Timothy Sinclair
№5

Timothy Sinclair

on Social Forces, Transnational Corporations and Global Governance

2008
Portrait of Klaus Dodds
№6

Klaus Dodds

on James Bond, the Final Argument for a Geopolitical Approach to International Relations, and a Russian Flag on the Bottom of the Ocean

2008
Portrait of Joseph Nye
№7

Joseph Nye

on Teaching America to be more British

2008
Portrait of Arend Lijphart
№8

Arend Lijphart

on Sharing Power in Africa and the Future of Democracy

2008
Portrait of Robert Keohane
№9

Robert Keohane

on Institutions and the Need for Innovation in the Field

2008
Portrait of Timothy Shaw
№10

Timothy Shaw

on The Importance of BRICs and Understanding the Global South

2008
Portrait of Peter Haas
№11

Peter Haas

on Social Constructivism, the Manageability of the Market and Environmental Governance

2008
Portrait of Robert Jervis
№12

Robert Jervis

on Nuclear Weapons, Explaining the non-Realist Politics of the Bush Administration and US Military Presence in Europe

2008
Portrait of Immanuel Wallerstein
№13

Immanuel Wallerstein

on World-Systems, the Imminent End of Capitalism and Unifying Social Science

2008
Portrait of Geoffrey Underhill
№14

Geoffrey Underhill

on The Economic Crisis of the US, the Impossibility to Untangle State and Market, and the Current Value of Adam Smith

2008
Portrait of Peter Katzenstein
№15

Peter Katzenstein

on Anti-Americanism, Analytical Eclecticism and Regional Powers

2008
Portrait of Robert Hayden
№16

Robert Hayden

on Constitutional Anthropology, NATO undermining the UN Consensus and Nationalism in the Balkans

2008
Portrait of Benjamin Jerry Cohen
№17

Benjamin Jerry Cohen

on Currency Wars and reviving the ‘Political’ in International Political Economy

2008
Portrait of James Fearon
№18

James Fearon

on Conflict-Prone Societies, Defining Ethnicity and Reforming the United Nations Security Council

2008
Portrait of Frederik Söderbaum
№19

Frederik Söderbaum

on The waning State, conceptualizing the Region and Europe as a Global Actor

2008
Portrait of David Harvey
№20

David Harvey

on The Geography of Capitalism, Understanding Cities as Polities and Shifting Imperialisms

2008
Portrait of Stephen Krasner
№21

Stephen Krasner

on Sovereignty, Failed States and International Regimes

2008
Portrait of Kevin Dunn
№22

Kevin Dunn

on Identity in International Relations, the African Challenge to IR Theory, and the White-Male Bias of the Field

2008
Portrait of Kees van der Pijl
№23

Kees van der Pijl

on The Demise of Left-Wing Parties in Europe, Empires and the Current Value of Marx

2008
Portrait of Robert Bates
№24

Robert Bates

on The Politics of Coffee, Small-N Studies, and the Crumbling Definition of the State

2008
Portrait of Antonio Marquina
№25

Antonio Marquina

on The Deceit of Globalization, Energy Security and the Challenges to European Foreign Policy

2009
Portrait of Jennifer Mitzen
№26

Jennifer Mitzen

on Ontological Security, Multilateral Diplomacy, and States’ Addiction to War

2009
Portrait of Christian Reus-Smit
№27

Christian Reus-Smit

on IR Cultures, re-thinking IR and Bridging the Normative-Empirical Divide

2009
Portrait of Marysia Zalewski
№28

Marysia Zalewski

on Unsettling IR, Masculinity and Making IR Theory Interesting (again)

2009
Portrait of Peter W. Singer
№29

Peter W. Singer

on Child Soldiers, Private Soldiers and Robot Soldiers

2009
Portrait of Mary Kaldor
№30

Mary Kaldor

on Framing War, the Military-Industrial Complex, and Human Security

2009
Portrait of Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
№31

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

on Game Theory, Prediction and Fear of Logics in IR

2009
Portrait of Miriam Elman
№32

Miriam Elman

on Lakatos versus Kuhn and Progress in IR Theory

2009
Portrait of Stephen Walt
№33

Stephen Walt

on The Israel Lobby, the ‘Security’ in Security Studies, and the Structural Nature of Interstate Competition

2009
Portrait of James Ferguson
№34

James Ferguson

on Modernity, Development, and Reading Foucault in Lesotho

2009
Portrait of Barry Buzan
№35

Barry Buzan

on International Society, Securitization, and an English School Map of the World

2009
Portrait of Michael J. Shapiro
№36

Michael J. Shapiro

on Pictures, Paintings, Power and the Political Philosophy of International Relations

2009
Portrait of Robert Cox
№37

Robert Cox

on World Orders, Historical Change, and the Purpose of Theory in International Relations

2009
Portrait of James Scott
№38

James Scott

on Agriculture as Politics, the Danger of Standardization and Not Being Governed

2010
Portrait of Rita Abrahamsen and Michael Williams
№39

Rita Abrahamsen and Michael Williams

on Private Security Companies, Global Security Assemblages, and Africa

2011
Portrait of Kenneth Waltz
№40

Kenneth Waltz

The Physiocrat of International Politics

2011
Portrait of Mark Duffield
№41

Mark Duffield

on Human (In)security, Liberal Interventionism and Aid Compounds

2011
Portrait of Amitav Acharya
№42

Amitav Acharya

on The Relevance of Regions, ASEAN, and Western IR’s False Universalisms

2011
Portrait of Saskia Sassen
№43

Saskia Sassen

on Sociology, Globalization, and the Re-shaping of the National

2011
Portrait of Patrick Jackson
№44

Patrick Jackson

on IR as a Science, IR as a Vocation, and IR as a Hard Board

2011
Portrait of Qin Yaqing
№45

Qin Yaqing

on Rules vs Relations, Drinking Coffee and Tea, and a Chinese Approach to Global Governance

2011
Portrait of David A. Lake
№46

David A. Lake

on Declining American Hegemony, Dyadic International Hierarchy, and the Seductiveness of Open Economy Politics

2012
Portrait of Jean-François Bayart
№47

Jean-François Bayart

on Globalization, Subjectification, and the Historicity of State Formation

2012
Portrait of Cynthia Enloe
№48

Cynthia Enloe

on Militarization, Feminism, and the International Politics of Banana Boats

2012
Portrait of John Mearsheimer
№49

John Mearsheimer

on Power as the Currency of International Relations, Disciplining US Foreign Policy, and Being an Independent Variable

2012
Portrait of Beate Jahn
№50

Beate Jahn

on The State of Nature, Liberalism’s Other, and Classical Theory in International Relations

2012
Portrait of Yan Xuetong
№51

Yan Xuetong

on Chinese Realism, the Tsinghua School of International Relations, and the Impossibility of Harmony

2012
Portrait of Iver Neumann
№52

Iver Neumann

on The Practices of Diplomacy, Social Form, and IR of the Steppe

2012
Portrait of Ned Lebow
№53

Ned Lebow

on Drivers of War, Cultural Theory, and IR of Foxes and Hedgehogs

2013
Portrait of Ann Tickner
№54

Ann Tickner

on Feminist Philosophy of Science, Engaging the Mainstream, and (still) Remaining Critical in/of IR

2013
Portrait of Mary Elizabeth King
№55

Mary Elizabeth King

on Civil Action for Social Change, the Transnational Women’s Movement, and the Arab Awakening

2013
Portrait of Keith Hart
№56

Keith Hart

on The Informal Economy, the Great Transformation, and the Humanity of Corporations

2013
Portrait of Siba Grovogui
№57

Siba Grovogui

on IR Theory as Theology, Reading Kant Badly, and the Incapacity of Western Ideas to Travel very far in Non-Western Contexts

2013
Portrait of Daniel Levine
№58

Daniel Levine

on Hidden Hands, Vocation and Sustainable Critique in International Relations

2013
Portrait of Timothy Mitchell
№59

Timothy Mitchell

on Infra-Theory, the State Effect, and the Technopolitics of Oil

2013
Portrait of Daniel Deudney
№60

Daniel Deudney

on Mixed Ontology, Planetary Geopolitics, and Republican Greenpeace

2013
Portrait of Pinar Bilgin
№61

Pinar Bilgin

on Non-Western IR, Hybridity, and the One-Toothed Monster called Civilization

2013
Portrait of Karen Litfin
№62

Karen Litfin

on Gaia Theory, Global Ecovillages, and Embedding IR in the Earth System

2014
Portrait of Siddharth Mallavarapu
№63

Siddharth Mallavarapu

on International Asymmetries, Ethnocentrism, and a View on IR from India

2014
Portrait of Gabrielle Hecht
№64

Gabrielle Hecht

on Nuclear Ontologies, De-provincializing the Cold War, and Postcolonial Technopolitics

2014
Portrait of Jordan Branch
№65

Jordan Branch

on Google Maps, State Formation, and the International Politics of Cartography

2014
Portrait of Alexander Dugin
№66

Alexander Dugin

on Eurasianism, the geopolitics of Land and Sea, and a Russian Theory of Multipolarity

2014
Portrait of Dirk Messner
№67

Dirk Messner

on The dynamics of global change and the significance of international science and technology cooperation in the post-Western world

2015
Portrait of Loet Leydesdorff
№68

Loet Leydesdorff

on The Triple Helix: How Synergies in University-Industry-Government Relations can Shape Innovation Systems

2015
Portrait of Eyal Weizman
№69

Eyal Weizman

on The Architectural-Image Complex, Forensic Archeology and Policing across the Desertification Line

2015
Portrait of Nicholas Onuf
№70

Nicholas Onuf

on The Evolution of Social Constructivism, Turns in IR, and a Discipline of Our Making

2015
Portrait of John M. Hobson
№71

John M. Hobson

on Eurocentrism, Historical Sociology and the Curious Case of Postcolonialism

2015
Portrait of Robert Wade
№72

Robert Wade

on Zombie Ideas, Being Inside the World Bank, and the Death of Ethics in Economics after the Marginal Revolution

2015
Portrait of Kimberly Hutchings
№73

Kimberly Hutchings

on Quiet as a Research Strategy, the Essence of Critique, and the Narcissism of Minor Differences

2016
BB
№74

Bertrand Badie

on The Trump Moment, the Science of Suffering, and IR between Power and Weakness

2017
Portrait of Tarak Barkawi
№75

Tarak Barkawi

on IR after the West, and why the best work in IR is often found at its margins

2021

No talks match that search.