- Drezner, Daniel W.
Theories of International Politics and Zombies.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011.
ISBN 978-0-691-14783-3.
-
“A specter is haunting world politics….” (p. 109)
Contemporary international politics and institutions are based upon the
centuries-old system of
sovereign
nation-states, each acting in its own self interest in a largely
anarchic environment. This system has seen divine right monarchies
supplanted by various forms of consensual government, dictatorships,
theocracies, and other forms of governance, and has survived industrial
and technological revolutions, cataclysmic wars, and reorganisation of
economic systems and world trade largely intact. But how will this system
come to terms with a new force on the world stage: one which transcends
national borders, acts upon its own priorities regardless of the impact
upon nation-states, inexorably recruits adherents wherever its presence
becomes established, admits of no defections from its ranks, is immune to
rational arguments, presents an asymmetrical threat against which
conventional military force is largely ineffective and tempts free
societies to sacrifice liberty in the interest of security,
and is bent on supplanting the nation-state system
with a worldwide regime free of the internal conflicts which seem endemic
in the present international system?
I am speaking, of course, about the Zombie Menace. The present book is
a much-expanded version of the author's
frequently-cited
article on his Web log at
Foreign Policy
magazine. In it, he explores how an outbreak of flesh-eating ghouls
would be responded to based on the policy prescriptions of a
variety of theories of international relations, including structural
realism, liberal institutionalism, neoconservatism, and postmodern
social constructivism. In addition, he describes how the
zombie threat would affect domestic politics in Western liberal
democracies, and how bureaucratic institutions, domestic and international,
would react to the emerging crisis (bottom line: turf battles).
The author makes no claim
to survey the policy prescriptions of all theories: “To be
blunt, this project is explicitly prohuman, whereas Marxists and
feminists would likely sympathize more with the zombies.”
(p. 17, footnote) The social implications of a
burgeoning zombie population are also probed, including
the inevitable emergence of zombie rights groups and
non-governmental organisations on the international stage.
How long can it be until zombie suffrage marchers take (or shuffle) to
the streets, waving banners proclaiming “Zombies are (or at
least were) people too!”?
This is a delightful and thoughtful exploration of a hypothetical
situation in international politics which, if looked at with the right
kind of (ideally, non-decaying) eyes, has a great deal to say about
events in the present-day world. There are extensive source
citations, both to academic international relations and zombie
literature, and you're certain to come away with a list of
films you'll want to see. Anne Karetnikov's illustrations
are wonderful.
The author is professor of international politics at Tufts
University and a member of the
Zombie Research Society.
I must say I'm dismayed that Princeton University
Press condones the use of the pejorative and hurtful term
“zombie”. How hard would it be to employ the
non-judgemental “person of reanimation” instead?
April 2011 