Protean Power: Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics

doi:10.1017/9781108597456

Protean Power

Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics

- You have access
- Open access
Cited by 40
Cited by
- 40
Crossref Citations

This Book has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Katzenstein, Peter J and Seybert, Lucia A 2018. Protean Power and Uncertainty: Exploring the Unexpected in World Politics. International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 62, Issue. 1, p. 80.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Shenai, Neil 2018. Social Finance. p. 29.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Behr, Hartmut 2019. Towards a political concept of reversibility in international relations: Bridging political philosophy and policy studies. European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 25, Issue. 4, p. 1212.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Eckert, Sandra 2019. Corporate Power and Regulation. p. 19.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Adler, Emanuel 2019. World Ordering.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Kennedy, Denis 2019. The Inherently Contested Nature of Nongovernmental Accountability: The Case of HAP International. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, Vol. 30, Issue. 6, p. 1393.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

O’Neill, Kate and Haas, Peter M. 2019. Being There: International Negotiations as Study Sites in Global Environmental Politics. Global Environmental Politics, Vol. 19, Issue. 2, p. 4.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Tussie, Diana and Garay, Javier 2020. INTRODUCCIÓN: (RE)PENSANDO LAS RELACIONES INTERNACIONALES: UNA AGENDA DE INVESTIGACIÓN. OASIS, p. 3.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Guzzini, Stefano 2020. Embrace IR Anxieties (or, Morgenthau's Approach to Power, and the Challenge of Combining the Three Domains of IR Theorizing). International Studies Review, Vol. 22, Issue. 2, p. 268.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Katzenstein, Peter J. 2020. Protean power: a second look. International Theory, Vol. 12, Issue. 3, p. 481.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Pelopidas, Benoît 2020. Power, luck, and scholarly responsibility at the end of the world(s). International Theory, Vol. 12, Issue. 3, p. 459.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Hellmüller, Sara Pring, Jamie and P. Richmond, Oliver 2020. How Norms Matter in Mediation: An Introduction. Swiss Political Science Review, Vol. 26, Issue. 4, p. 345.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Sazak, Selim Can 2020. Bad influence: social networks, elite brokerage, and the construction of alliances. European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 26, Issue. 1_suppl, p. 64.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Zürn, Michael 2020. Unknown effects of social innovations. International Theory, Vol. 12, Issue. 3, p. 471.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Hymans, Jacques E. C. 2020. Introduction to the symposium. The concept of protean power: change we can believe in?. International Theory, Vol. 12, Issue. 3, p. 410.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Lebow, Richard Ned 2020. Reason and Cause.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Ish-Shalom, Piki Kornprobst, Markus and Pouliot, Vincent 2021. Theorizing World Orders.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Beasley, Ryan K and Hom, Andrew R 2021. Foreign Policy in the Fourth Dimension (FP4D): Locating Time in Decision-Making. Foreign Policy Analysis, Vol. 17, Issue. 2,

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Goldbach, Toby S. 2021. Building the Aboriginal Conference Settlement Suite: Hope and Realism in Law as a Tool for Social Change. Law & Social Inquiry, Vol. 46, Issue. 1, p. 116.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

ROLLINGS, NEIL 2021. “The Vast and Unsolved Enigma of Power”: Business History and Business Power. Enterprise & Society, Vol. 22, Issue. 4, p. 893.

CrossRef

Google Scholar

Download full list

Edited by Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University, New York, Lucia A. Seybert, American University, Washington DC

Publisher:: Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:: December 2017
Print publication year:: 2018
Online ISBN:: 9781108597456
DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108597456
Creative Commons:: This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/creativelicenses

Subjects:: Research Methods in Politics, Politics and International Relations, International Relations and International Organisations, Research Methods In Politics
Series:: Cambridge Studies in International Relations (146)

Information

Contents

Metrics

Mainstream international relations continues to assume that the world is governed by calculable risk based on estimates of power. This ground-breaking work departs from existing definitions of power that focus on actors' evolving ability to exercise control in situations of calculable risk. Instead, it introduces the concept of 'protean power', which focuses on actors' agility as they adapt to situations of uncertainty. Twelve real world case studies are used to examine how the dynamics of protean and control power can be tracked in the relations among different state and non-state actors, operating in diverse sites, stretching from local to global, in both times of relative normalcy and moments of crisis. This volume argues for a new approach to IR, where the inclusion of protean power in our analytical models helps in accounting for unforeseen changes in world politics. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

'Protean Power is the most important statement on power in international relations in over a decade. Ambitious, creative, and analytical, it sets out a new agenda for imagining how power operates in world politics. The authors make a compelling case that power can be divided between protean and control. Control power dominates much thinking in international relations, with the presumption that one actor forces another to do something against its will. Protean power highlights the improvisational and creative responses to conditions of uncertainty. This distinction directs attention to the uncertainties and social capacities that provide a stage for actors to creatively engage the world and in ways that have the unintended effects of transforming it; the possibility of agency for even the weakest actors; the imperative to distinguish more fully between ‘power to’ and ‘power over’; how, when, and why control power is sandwiched by protean power; and how protean power itself can scramble existing social relations and usurp control power. A masterful volume that not only hits the ‘reset’ on discussions of power in international relations theory, but also helps us understand the bewildering and unanticipated changes that have occurred over the last half-century.'

Michael Barnett - George Washington University, Washington DC

‘In a world where uncertainty permeates the most important policy and theoretical questions, this book is indispensable. The authors take us to the heart of ‘protean' power. Decisions based on planning for risk differ from decisions based on managing uncertainty. If you've not thought about the difference, this book will help you through that process. It has theory and cases. A vital read for everyone.'

Peter Gourevitch - University of California, San Diego

‘Katzenstein and Seybert argue convincingly that power should not be viewed only in terms of control under conditions of risk. World politics is also a realm of uncertainty, in which ‘agile innovation' generates important effects. Protean Power is an important contribution to international relations theory.'

Robert O. Keohane - Professor Emeritus, Princeton University, New Jersey

‘This important book expands not only our theories of power, but also our understanding of America's future in the world.'

Joseph S. Nye - Harvard University, Massachusetts

- Aa Reduce text
- Aa Enlarge text

View selected items
Save to my bookmarks
Export citations
Download PDF (zip)
Save to Kindle
Save to Dropbox
Save to Google Drive
Save content to
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .

To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Please be advised that item(s) you selected are not available.
You are about to save
Your Kindle email address

Please provide your Kindle email.

@free.kindle.com @kindle.com (service fees apply)

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Total number of HTML views: 0

Total number of PDF views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

Total views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

Protean Power

Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics

This Book has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Book description

Reviews

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Contents

11 - Changing History?: Innovation and Continuity in Contemporary Arms Control
pp 229-245

1 - Protean Power and Control Power: Conceptual Analysis
pp 3-26

2 - Uncertainty, Risk, Power and the Limits of International Relations Theory
pp 27-56

12 - From Green to REDD: Protean Power and the Politics of Carbon Sinks
pp 246-264

Part 2 - Protean Power: Embracing Uncertainty
pp 57-144

Part 5 - Conclusion
pp 265-266

3 - Protean Power and Revolutions in Rights
pp 59-78

13 - Power Complexities and Political Theory
pp 267-301

4 - Protean Power in Movement: Navigating Uncertainty in the LGBT Rights Revolution
pp 79-99

5 - Border Collision: Power Dynamics of Enforcement and Evasion across the US–Mexico Line
pp 100-123

6 - High-Tech: Power and Unpredictability at the Technological Frontier and in Bitcoin
pp 124-144

References
pp 302-343

Part 3 - Mixed Worlds: Agility Meets Ability
pp 145-226

7 - Firms in Firmament: Hydrocarbons and the Circulation of Power
pp 147-165

8 - Incomplete Control: The Circulation of Power in Finance
pp 166-187

9 - Terrorism and Protean Power: How Terrorists Navigate Uncertainty
pp 188-208

10 - Slumdog versus Superman: Uncertainty, Innovation, and the Circulation of Powerin the Global Film Industry
pp 209-226

Index
pp 344-355

Part 4 - Protean Power between Risk and Uncertainty
pp 227-264

11 - Changing History?: Innovation and Continuity in Contemporary Arms Control
pp 229-245

12 - From Green to REDD: Protean Power and the Politics of Carbon Sinks
pp 246-264

Cambridge Studies in International Relations: 146
pp 356-364

Part 5 - Conclusion
pp 265-301

13 - Power Complexities and Political Theory
pp 267-301

References
pp 302-343

Index
pp 344-355

Cambridge Studies in International Relations: 146 - Series page
pp 356-364

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Protean Power

Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics

Book description

Reviews

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Save Search

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views