Robert Jervis (1940–2021)

This book is interesting for the first 100 pages when the author discusses the theory of system effects: complex interactions where several elements combine to produce results that can not be understood separately, where behavior alters the environment and where no variables can be considered independent. But for the remaining 200 pages he restricts his analysis to the history of diplomacy and the writing becomes restless when every new paragraph gives a new example. I would have liked to see fewer examples, but with a broader scope in other areas of social science. The book is now of interest mostly to diplomacy enthusiasts.… (mehr)